The Feds and The Hobby: What do we know?

[Eric]

There isn't much information about what went down at the National Sports Collectors Convention this past weekend. Here's a shot in the dark analysis of what has been reported.

Federal agents spent several hours Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the National, sports memorabilia's largest annual convention, issuing subpoenas to appear before a grand jury investigating fraud in the memorabilia business. (O'Keeffe Aug 2, 2008)

Three days? That suggests a lot of conversations. As people have said, it's convenient to have all of the major hobby players in the same location. It also makes a point. The FBI's physical presence at such a high profile event really makes a statement that they're watching the hobby and they're not going away.

Regarding subpoenas, (I am not a lawyer) it appears those who get subpoenaed are not necessarily suspected of wrongdoing. People who are subpoenaed provide information to a grand jury about illegal actions done by someone else. Besides testimony, paperwork can be subpoenaed.

The feds talked to all the major auction houses, authentication companies and many others... (GUU quoting people at the National Aug 3, 2008)

Hobby executives who have talked to the agents in the past year say the agents have asked about "shill bidding," (O'Keeffe Aug 1, 2008)

It will be interesting to see if final prices for game used items go down in the near future. Sure, the economy is a factor so perhaps it would have happened anyway BUT if an auction house was shill bidding and they know the Feds are watching, that activity should not continue.

Agents from the FBI and United States Postal Service also questioned other dealers and authenticators at the National, the hobby's largest annual memorabilia show. (O'Keeffe Aug 1, 2008)

The Postal Service was there as well. They must have records of something questionable being shipped. Abuse the postal service and it's a federal offense. See, I'm a genius!

Friday federal agents questioned employees of Professional Sports Authenticator (O'Keeffe Aug 2, 2008)

Collectors and dealers say PSA inflates grades for cards submitted by big-volume customers such as Mastro Auctions. (O'Keeffe Aug 2, 2008)

The target of the investigation appears to be Illinois-based Mastro Auctions, sports memorabilia's largest auction house, although other businesses and individuals may also be involved. (O'Keeffe Aug 2, 2008)

Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor," (O'Keeffe Aug 2, 2008)

Seems like many pieces of the same puzzle. Does this suggest that cards were doctored and sold as original? Perhaps. We know from the Kellen Winslow helmet that a facemask was replaced on an item and not disclosed. Could this have happened with cards?

There's a lot of speculation here and a lot to digest. The FBI stepping in here will make things ugly, but ultimately will be good for the hobby. Dave Grob has been talking about how this hobby needs to be regulated for years and years. Perhaps this is a major step to get there.

Auction houses should be accountable. Authenticators should be certified (and have contact information) Conflicts of interest should be removed. Item modifications should be disclosed.

This is an interesting and important story to follow. If people have information they think is pertinent to the story, we know the FBI reads the forum every day. We can be an active part in cleaning up the hobby.

[earlywynnfan]

Eric, I'd love to help you out with your little FBI/subpoenas/Cleaning up the hobby thingie, but there is much bigger and more important hobby news going on right now:

Did you hear that GUU isn't being run with the explicit purpose of making 100% of the readership happy 100% of the time??

SOMETHING'S GOTTA BE DONE!

Then perhaps we can get to the minor issues of card doctoring, fake memorabilia, people getting ripped off for thousands. Right after I surf the web for publicity photos of Angelina's new baby.

Priorities, people!!
Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com
(Accepting any emails, except from Yankees fans)

[mvandor]

Eric, can you enable your PM's?

[Eric]

just enabled 'em...