Remember the Mexican TV Host in a Wedding Dress Who Proposed to Tom Brady at Media Day? She's in ICE Custody After 5 Years on the Run, Charged in a $160 Million Fraud Scheme.
As Super Bowl Media Day stunts go, it's hard to argue that Ines Gomez Mont didn't pull the greatest one of all time when she donned a bridal gown and proposed to Tom Brady back in 2008. The GOAT of football meeting the GOAT of shameless grandstanding. In fact, that week in Arizona worked out much better for Gomez Mont than it did for Brady, as she achieved temporary internet fame, and he suffered the cruel fate that has forever since been identified by the numbers 18-1.
Little could we have known in the wake of The Super Bowl That Shall Not Be Named that Brady's career would only continue to get better for another 15 years, and that Ines' fame would become infamy, as Pat posted about in 2021:
While Ines's would-be husband is now an NFL owner, makes $35 million a year, and is returning this weekend to the place where there's a giant statue of him, things are not working out quite so well for her:
NY Post - The 43-year-old Mexican journalist was taken into custody on fraud charges, five years after she went on the run regarding an alleged $160 million fraud scheme, according to the Sun.
Mont was pictured in handcuffs while being escorted away by two ICE agents. …
Mont and her husband, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Puga, are being accused of using shell companies, sham contracts and false invoices to bring in money from Mexico’s Interior Ministry and laundering the proceeds
.
Puga, dubbed the “King of the Invoice Mills,” allegedly masterminded the entire operation.
He’s also reportedly accused of running an extensive network of connections involving politicians, former government officials, lawyers, businessmen and celebrities.
Following her arrest, Mont remains in US custody pending immigration proceedings and any formal extradition process, per the Sun.
For the record, that description of Ines in that X post is less than flattering. The English translation of which is, "from glamour to being detained and with the most stretched-out face ever." Now I'm not one to judge women on their appearance. But it is fair to point out that spending five years on the lam is not kind to a fugitive from justice:
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Yikes. "Why the long face?" indeed. That's some fine detective work by law enforcement to even recognize this once lovely TV presenter who captivated two nations with her grace and charm.
Scott Halleran. Getty Images.But let me just remind you all that these are only allegations of using shell companies, sham contracts and false invoices, money laundering, and running an extensive network of connections involving politicians, former government officials, lawyers, businessmen and celebrities. Ines and the "King of Invoice Mills" are still entitled to their day in Mexican court.
So for now, I'm going to withhold judgment until all the evidence has been presented. And try not to let this destroy my faith in the attention whores who pull zany stunts at Super Bowl Media Day for social media clout. All I'm going to suggest to any would be fraud schemers, if you ARE going to steal $160 million, find better cosmetic surgeons.
On a final note, as bad as that weekend was for the GOAT, he dodged a bullet on that proposal.