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Feds hunt for fraud at National Sports Collectors Convention
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Sunday, August 2nd 2009, 4:00 AM
CLEVELAND - Federal agents investigating fraud in the sports memorabilia business roamed the aisles of the National Sports Collectors Convention for the second consecutive year, issuing subpoenas to hobby executives for auction invoices and other records.
Two agents - one from the FBI, the other from the United States Postal Service - also questioned auction house officials, dealers and authenticators on Friday and yesterday at the National, the hobby's largest annual sports memorabilia show, held this year at the International Exposition Center near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
The list of executives who received subpoenas or were interviewed by the agents represents some of the biggest names and largest businesses in sports memorabilia, including Grey Flannel, Heritage Auctions, B&E Collectibles, Historic Auctions, Hunt Auctions, SportsCard Guaranty, Lelands, Professional Sports Authenticators and Legendary Auctions.
"They wanted to talk about the show," said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage. "That's all I can say about it."
An industry executive told the Daily News that the agents are gathering information about auction houses, dealers and authenticators who knowingly sell counterfeit jerseys, bogus game-used bats and other tainted memorabilia. The executives who received subpoenas or were questioned by the feds are not necessarily targets of the investigation, he said, but they may have information that will assist the agents in what has been a two-year probe.
The Daily News first reported in July of 2007 that the Chicago division of the FBI, whose "Operation Foul Ball" smashed a multistate autograph forgery ring during the 1990s, initiated an investigation into shill bidding and fraud by Mastro Auctions, once sports memorabilia's largest auction house. Other sports memorabilia businesses may also be targets of the two-year-old probe.
Mastro Auctions folded earlier this year, and several former employees, including president Doug Allen, bought the company's assets and formed Legendary Auctions. Allen was issued a subpoena just before the start of his company's auction Friday night at the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland.
In addition to the Chicago-based investigation, a New York FBI agent is also trying to determine if historic documents pulled from Hunt's All-Star Game auction two weeks ago - letters to baseball pioneer Harry Wright - were stolen from the New York Public Library. As the Daily News reported last week, rapper-turned-baseball historian Peter Nash has tried to link Rob Lifson of Robert Edwards Auctions to the stolen documents in what sources called a revenge campaign after Nash lost a bitter court battle with Lifson. The FBI agent, according to the sources, is investigating whether Nash or Lifson has sold or distributed stolen memorabilia, an allegation Lifson has strongly denied.
Collectors and dealers who attended the 2008 National in Rosemont, Ill., said the presence of the federal investigators at the convention caused consternation among some on hand. Mastro officials abandoned their booth, leaving just one employee to hold down the fort for much of the show.
But the dealers and collectors who recognized the agents seemed downright comfortable with them this year. The feds, young men dressed casually, looked more like sports fans than law-enforcement agents, and they moved easily from booth to booth, examining display cases.
Many dealers said the nation's tough economic times dampened attendance and spending at the National, but the recession did not seem to be an issue for many wealthy collectors.
A restored T206 Honus Wagner card, for example, sold for more than $200,000 at Legendary Auctions' House of Blues event. The winning bidder was a dealer named Chris Galbreath. Galbreath later said he purchased the card on behalf of John Rogers, the Arkansas businessman who spent $1.62 million last year on a T206 Wagner at Mastro's 2008 National auction.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...#ixzz0N2AtxcBv
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Sunday, August 2nd 2009, 4:00 AM
CLEVELAND - Federal agents investigating fraud in the sports memorabilia business roamed the aisles of the National Sports Collectors Convention for the second consecutive year, issuing subpoenas to hobby executives for auction invoices and other records.
Two agents - one from the FBI, the other from the United States Postal Service - also questioned auction house officials, dealers and authenticators on Friday and yesterday at the National, the hobby's largest annual sports memorabilia show, held this year at the International Exposition Center near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
The list of executives who received subpoenas or were interviewed by the agents represents some of the biggest names and largest businesses in sports memorabilia, including Grey Flannel, Heritage Auctions, B&E Collectibles, Historic Auctions, Hunt Auctions, SportsCard Guaranty, Lelands, Professional Sports Authenticators and Legendary Auctions.
"They wanted to talk about the show," said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage. "That's all I can say about it."
An industry executive told the Daily News that the agents are gathering information about auction houses, dealers and authenticators who knowingly sell counterfeit jerseys, bogus game-used bats and other tainted memorabilia. The executives who received subpoenas or were questioned by the feds are not necessarily targets of the investigation, he said, but they may have information that will assist the agents in what has been a two-year probe.
The Daily News first reported in July of 2007 that the Chicago division of the FBI, whose "Operation Foul Ball" smashed a multistate autograph forgery ring during the 1990s, initiated an investigation into shill bidding and fraud by Mastro Auctions, once sports memorabilia's largest auction house. Other sports memorabilia businesses may also be targets of the two-year-old probe.
Mastro Auctions folded earlier this year, and several former employees, including president Doug Allen, bought the company's assets and formed Legendary Auctions. Allen was issued a subpoena just before the start of his company's auction Friday night at the House of Blues in downtown Cleveland.
In addition to the Chicago-based investigation, a New York FBI agent is also trying to determine if historic documents pulled from Hunt's All-Star Game auction two weeks ago - letters to baseball pioneer Harry Wright - were stolen from the New York Public Library. As the Daily News reported last week, rapper-turned-baseball historian Peter Nash has tried to link Rob Lifson of Robert Edwards Auctions to the stolen documents in what sources called a revenge campaign after Nash lost a bitter court battle with Lifson. The FBI agent, according to the sources, is investigating whether Nash or Lifson has sold or distributed stolen memorabilia, an allegation Lifson has strongly denied.
Collectors and dealers who attended the 2008 National in Rosemont, Ill., said the presence of the federal investigators at the convention caused consternation among some on hand. Mastro officials abandoned their booth, leaving just one employee to hold down the fort for much of the show.
But the dealers and collectors who recognized the agents seemed downright comfortable with them this year. The feds, young men dressed casually, looked more like sports fans than law-enforcement agents, and they moved easily from booth to booth, examining display cases.
Many dealers said the nation's tough economic times dampened attendance and spending at the National, but the recession did not seem to be an issue for many wealthy collectors.
A restored T206 Honus Wagner card, for example, sold for more than $200,000 at Legendary Auctions' House of Blues event. The winning bidder was a dealer named Chris Galbreath. Galbreath later said he purchased the card on behalf of John Rogers, the Arkansas businessman who spent $1.62 million last year on a T206 Wagner at Mastro's 2008 National auction.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...#ixzz0N2AtxcBv
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