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A very special and serious message from Hank Lee.

As many of you are aware, yesterday I made a court appearance to plead guilty to my actions.

I did a really bad thing, and there's no turning the clock back. My actions have affected myself, my family, my friends, my business and the magic community which has supported me for the past 37 years. It was stupid and senseless and the worst thing I have ever done in my life. I am publicly apologizing and have separated myself from the business I love.

I am aware that apologizing does not fix things. It is only a first step in the healing process.

The synopsis of the court proceedings which has appeared online, of course, listed the maximum penalties and fines. God willing these will not come to pass. The federal court system works on a point system which, until now, I was completely unaware of. When the sentencing hearing happens in July, everything will be taken into account.

For me, it is important that I write this. You have been my customers and friends for a really long time and I needed to let you know where things stand.

Hank Lee

Harry Levy appeared in U.S. District Court in Boston Friday to plead guilty to charges stemming from charging a customer of his Medford magic store over $500,000 in unauthorized fees and misleading federal investigators.

Levy, 61, of Lexington is scheduled to return to court July 20 to be sentenced.

The owner of Hank Lee's Magic Factory signed a plea agreement earlier this month on the charges, which stem from him making 134 unauthorized transactions on a customer's American Express card totaling $561,927 between 2009 and 2011, according to court documents.

He appeared in court Friday to waive indictment and formally enter guilty pleas.

In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors won't charge him with wire fraud or aggravated identity theft, according to a plea agreement.

When he is sentenced, Levy will have to forfeit assets including the $561,927 stemming from the credit card fraud, according to the plea agreement.

The agreement calls for Levy to "take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that assets subject to forfeiture are not sold, disbursed, wasted, hidden or otherwise made unavailable."

The credit card charge carries up to a 15 year sentence and the false statements charge 5 years, but the plea agreement said prosecutors will be seeking the "low end" of sentencing guidelines. The agreement also calls for Levy to pay restitution.

The agreement did not call for Levy to close the Magic Factory, and its website has remained open and taking orders as of Friday afternoon.

Lexington Man Convicted of Credit Card Fraud and Misleading Investigators in Federal Investigation

APRIL 20, 2012

BOSTON - A Medford magic store owner was convicted today in federal court for making more than $560,000 in unauthorized charges to the credit card of a long-time customer and for trying to cover up the crime afterward.

Harry P. Levy, 61, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to one count of credit card fraud and one count of making false statements and false records in a federal investigation.

At today’s plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial, the Government’s evidence would have proven that from July 2009 through May 2011, Levy, owner of Hank Lee’s Magic Factory in Medford, made approximately $561,927 in unauthorized charges to the American Express card of a victim who was a long-time customer of Levy’s. Levy made these charges himself, but when the victim’s employees discovered the fraud, Levy claimed that it had been carried out by foreign customers who had used the victim’s credit card to pay for merchandise they had ordered. Levy even provided the victim some foreign invoices to bolster this story. Levy then repeated this story to federal investigators multiple times, although he wavered between claiming whether or not the victim had authorized the purchases and whether or not the store had shipped the merchandise. Levy also responded to a grand jury subpoena with well over 100 false documents, including the supposed invoices from foreign customers all over the world. As a result of Levy’s repeated false statements and false documents, agents searched the magic store in February 2012, where they discovered additional evidence that Levy’s story was false.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 20, 2012. Levy faces up to 15 years in prison for credit card fraud and five years for making false statements and false records, to be followed by three years of supervised release. He faces an order of forfeiture, restitution and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss, whichever is highest.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, Robert Bethel, Inspector in Charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service, and Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott L. Garland of Ortiz’s Cybercrimes Unit.

Because of Aron and Bonnie and the ever popular Elves, the ship that is Hank Lee's Magic Factory has been righted and will continue to
serve your magical needs now and in the future.

For all our friends who have been following my personal saga, D-Day as we have come to call it at home, was supposed to be July 20th. Well, the 20th came and went, and the government postponed everything until the 6th of September. All of us would really like the matter to come to a close and move on to the next phase, whatever that may be.

Magic Factory Owner Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Credit Card Fraud: Harry Levy, the owner of Hank Lee's Magic Factory in Medford, was sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday for committing credit card fraud and misleading investigators, according to a court official. Judge Patti Saris handed down the sentence in a hearing Thursday morning at U.S. District in Boston. Levy's attorney unsuccessfully argued for him to avoid prison time and serve six months in a halfway house, six months house arrest and three years probation instead, according to court filings. Levy, 61, of Lexington, pleaded guilty in April to making over $560,000 in fraudulent charges to one customer's credit card over a two year span starting in 2009, then lying about the charges to investigators, according to court filings. His plea agreement also requires him to pay restitution to the victim.

For me, the 6th of September will be etched into my memory for the rest of my life. It marked the end of a long and terrible road for me personally, for my family and for the company.
I want to thank all of you who have stuck by us through this horrible period. You are true friends. And, we all care deeply for you.
The judge says I should go away for a while. To think about what I did. As hard as this will be, I cannot disagree with her. But, nothing happens now until the 29th of October.
It is important to let you know that Hank Lee’s Magic Factory will continue to operate, with or without me, Hank Lee. The truth is, it will probably run better. Aron has been learning the ropes. And, with help from Steven and Don, he is doing a really good job. There have been some bumps in the road, of course. But, the learning curve is steep.
The good news for me is that the waiting is over. I have spent the past months with the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head. It has been a debilitating time. Now, I will face the punishment for my deeds, knowing that the punishment has both a beginning and an end.

Hank Lee's Magic Factory
Email Newsletter
Friday, October 26th

Greetings from all of us at Hank Lee’s Magic Factory.

We here at Hank Lee’s all knew it was coming. Despite Herculean efforts by Steve and Aron and Don, the handwriting was on the wall. As Steve put it, “this is such a nuanced business; it is impossible for a person to learn every phase in a short time.” I want to personally thank both of them for trying so hard to make it work.

It’s been a long and wonderful road; nearly four decades in business. But, we have made the difficult decision to close Hank Lee’s Magic Factory. Sunday, October 28th will be our last day of operation.

I want to thank all of our customers and friends for their support over the past 37 years. There are no better people than you, anywhere.

I want to assure you that this closure is not forever. We will reorganize and we will be back.

If you have Gift Certificates or Reward Points, hold onto them. When we re-open, we will honor all of them.

If you have items on back order, be assured that we are working feverishly to get them out to you.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Friday without our weekly Excitement. So, for the last time, check it out.
Hank


I want to personally thank all of you for what has truly been a lifetime of joy.
Hank Lee

I want to assure you that this closure is not forever. We will reorganize and we will be back.

You might have heard that Tricksupply bought Hank Lee's inventory, what is the connection?

We have recently purchased the inventory of Hank Lee's Magic factory and combined it with the wholesale inventory that we were offering for sale through other dealers. The amount of inventory is vast and it is taking us a lot of time to add the items to our website. You will find many unique items that are not available at other stores amongst the best of what the marketplace has to offer.

On the topic of Hank Lee we will make a few comments but aside from that feel it is a private matter. We have done business with Hank Lee over the years and everything was handled correctly.

We know a lot of customers that have good things to say about Hank Lees Magic factory and have heard the stories of those that were less happy. We also have followed the news on the recent events connected to Hank Lee and like most of you could not believe what was happening.

We do want to share that there was a huge amount of stock that we have transferred to our Las Vegas warehouse.

We are not affiliated with Hank Lee other than the fact that we purchased the inventory.

Should you look for items from Hank Lee's Magic factory catalogues please let us know and we will try and locate them for you in our warehouse.