Bill Mastro Prison Sentence Explained

[Eric]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...icle-1.1306273

Prosecutor explains why feds agreed to 30 months or less for sports memorabilia king Bill Mastro
One angry collector said he believed the government is going easy on Mastro because of his political connections. Mastro’s brother is political powerbroker Randy Mastro, who was a New York City deputy mayor during Rudy Giuliani’s administration.

BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013, 1:03 AM

BRIDGET MONTGOMERY

Bill Mastro's sentence of 30 months or less is considered too light for some.
A prosecutor says the government agreed to a plea deal that would send Bill Mastro to prison for 30 months or less because it is difficult to determine exactly how much money the disgraced sports memorabilia king stole from collectors through shill bidding.

In a memorandum filed in Chicago federal court on Tuesday, Assistant United States Attorney Nancy DePodesta acknowledged that prosecutors believe Mastro stole up to $1 million from collectors through shill bidding, while Mastro’s defense team says the one-time king of cards stole less than $70,000 from bidders.

“Determining the loss for purposes of the (federal sentencing) guidelines was a complicated endeavor, requiring a lot-by-lot, bid-by-bid analysis of tens of thousands of records,” DePodesta wrote. “In arriving at the agreed-upon maximum sentence, the government considered the uncertainty inherent in its calculation.”

Both sides agree Mastro scammed more than 50 bidders but less than 250, according to Tuesday’s filing.

The explanation, however, didn’t appease collectors who say they were ripped off by Mastro Auctions.

“The idea that a 30-month cap on Mastro’s prison sentence is somehow sufficient is a slap in the face to Mastro’s victims,” said New York attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who represents collectors who say they were scammed by Mastro Auctions.

“It’s a slap in the face to the thousands of victims that the government has made such an effort to rationalize such a light sentence. Where is the effort to make sure the victims are made whole?”

One angry collector said he believed the government is going easy on Mastro because of his political connections. Mastro’s brother is political powerbroker Randy Mastro, who was a New York City deputy mayor during Rudy Giuliani’s administration.

“From what I’ve heard, the losses were well over seven figures,” the collector said. “But Bill Mastro has powerful friends in high places.”

DePodesta’s filing said the plea deal is valuable because “it sends a deterrent message to others in the auction industry.”

Mastro dominated the sports memorabilia industry for more than a decade before he shut down his Illinois company in 2009 in the midst of an FBI investigation into fraud and shill bidding. A federal grand jury handed down an indictment in July that accused Mastro of running crooked auctions and altering the world’s most famous and valuable baseball card, the Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner. Mastro has been charged with one count of fraud.

Mastro pleaded not guilty last year, but he was prepared to change that plea and accept a sentence that would have sent him to prison for 30 months or less when he appeared in Chicago federal court in February. But U.S. District Court Judge Ronald A. Guzman balked at the agreement, telling DePodesta he needed more information before he could approve it.

Guzman said he wanted to know why the feds agreed to a sentence of 30 months or less when the maximum penalty for fraud is 20 years in prison. De Podesta said in February that the government initially pursued a sentence of 63-to-78 months in prison, but the government agreed to the 30-month cap because it could not reach an agreement with Mastro attorney Michael Monico on the damages to Mastro Auctions bidders.

Mastro is scheduled to return to Chicago federal court on Tuesday to enter a guilty plea. Monico did not return a call for comment.

Under the plea deal, Mastro does not have to testify against other defendants in the case, including Doug Allen, his longtime business associate who faces 14 counts of fraud. The court papers say Mastro has agreed to be interviewed by federal investigators and has provided “valuable information” about the case.

Mastro acknowledged “having cut the sides to the T206 Honus Wagner card despite prior statements to the contrary,” the papers said.

The card, christened as the "Gretzky T206 Wagner," currently belongs to Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, who paid a record $2.8 million for it. In "The Card: Collectors, Con Men and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card," two Daily News reporters wrote that the card had been cut from a printer’s sheet before Mastro bought the Wagner card in 1985 at a Hicksville, L.I. collectibles shop for $25,000.

The card was further trimmed by Mastro to make it appear as if it has been carefully preserved for decades after it was removed from a pack of cigarettes in 1909, an act Mastro forcefully denied for many years.

The upgrade not only improved the appearance of the card, but it increased its value significantly and helped spark the trading card and sports memorabilia boom of the 1980s and 1990s.

Auction houses earn their money by charging buyers and consigners a percentage of the final price of an item they sell, and DePodesta’s filing said numerous consigners helped Mastro jack up the prices of items in his auctions.

Bidders played a role, too, the document said: “Many potential bidders knew or should have known that shill bidding was present in the auction, but were willing to pay an inflated value of an item in order to own it.”



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...#ixzz2PSEJBNvI

[cohibasmoker]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...icle-1.1306273

Prosecutor explains why feds agreed to 30 months or less for sports memorabilia king Bill Mastro
One angry collector said he believed the government is going easy on Mastro because of his political connections. Mastro’s brother is political powerbroker Randy Mastro, who was a New York City deputy mayor during Rudy Giuliani’s administration.

BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013, 1:03 AM

BRIDGET MONTGOMERY

Bill Mastro's sentence of 30 months or less is considered too light for some.
A prosecutor says the government agreed to a plea deal that would send Bill Mastro to prison for 30 months or less because it is difficult to determine exactly how much money the disgraced sports memorabilia king stole from collectors through shill bidding.

In a memorandum filed in Chicago federal court on Tuesday, Assistant United States Attorney Nancy DePodesta acknowledged that prosecutors believe Mastro stole up to $1 million from collectors through shill bidding, while Mastro’s defense team says the one-time king of cards stole less than $70,000 from bidders.

“Determining the loss for purposes of the (federal sentencing) guidelines was a complicated endeavor, requiring a lot-by-lot, bid-by-bid analysis of tens of thousands of records,” DePodesta wrote. “In arriving at the agreed-upon maximum sentence, the government considered the uncertainty inherent in its calculation.”

Both sides agree Mastro scammed more than 50 bidders but less than 250, according to Tuesday’s filing.

The explanation, however, didn’t appease collectors who say they were ripped off by Mastro Auctions.

“The idea that a 30-month cap on Mastro’s prison sentence is somehow sufficient is a slap in the face to Mastro’s victims,” said New York attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who represents collectors who say they were scammed by Mastro Auctions.

“It’s a slap in the face to the thousands of victims that the government has made such an effort to rationalize such a light sentence. Where is the effort to make sure the victims are made whole?”

One angry collector said he believed the government is going easy on Mastro because of his political connections. Mastro’s brother is political powerbroker Randy Mastro, who was a New York City deputy mayor during Rudy Giuliani’s administration.

“From what I’ve heard, the losses were well over seven figures,” the collector said. “But Bill Mastro has powerful friends in high places.”

DePodesta’s filing said the plea deal is valuable because “it sends a deterrent message to others in the auction industry.”

Mastro dominated the sports memorabilia industry for more than a decade before he shut down his Illinois company in 2009 in the midst of an FBI investigation into fraud and shill bidding. A federal grand jury handed down an indictment in July that accused Mastro of running crooked auctions and altering the world’s most famous and valuable baseball card, the Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner. Mastro has been charged with one count of fraud.

Mastro pleaded not guilty last year, but he was prepared to change that plea and accept a sentence that would have sent him to prison for 30 months or less when he appeared in Chicago federal court in February. But U.S. District Court Judge Ronald A. Guzman balked at the agreement, telling DePodesta he needed more information before he could approve it.

Guzman said he wanted to know why the feds agreed to a sentence of 30 months or less when the maximum penalty for fraud is 20 years in prison. De Podesta said in February that the government initially pursued a sentence of 63-to-78 months in prison, but the government agreed to the 30-month cap because it could not reach an agreement with Mastro attorney Michael Monico on the damages to Mastro Auctions bidders.

Mastro is scheduled to return to Chicago federal court on Tuesday to enter a guilty plea. Monico did not return a call for comment.

Under the plea deal, Mastro does not have to testify against other defendants in the case, including Doug Allen, his longtime business associate who faces 14 counts of fraud. The court papers say Mastro has agreed to be interviewed by federal investigators and has provided “valuable information” about the case.

Mastro acknowledged “having cut the sides to the T206 Honus Wagner card despite prior statements to the contrary,” the papers said.

The card, christened as the "Gretzky T206 Wagner," currently belongs to Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, who paid a record $2.8 million for it. In "The Card: Collectors, Con Men and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card," two Daily News reporters wrote that the card had been cut from a printer’s sheet before Mastro bought the Wagner card in 1985 at a Hicksville, L.I. collectibles shop for $25,000.

The card was further trimmed by Mastro to make it appear as if it has been carefully preserved for decades after it was removed from a pack of cigarettes in 1909, an act Mastro forcefully denied for many years.

The upgrade not only improved the appearance of the card, but it increased its value significantly and helped spark the trading card and sports memorabilia boom of the 1980s and 1990s.

Auction houses earn their money by charging buyers and consigners a percentage of the final price of an item they sell, and DePodesta’s filing said numerous consigners helped Mastro jack up the prices of items in his auctions.

Bidders played a role, too, the document said: “Many potential bidders knew or should have known that shill bidding was present in the auction, but were willing to pay an inflated value of an item in order to own it.”



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...#ixzz2PSEJBNvI

Interesting article.

The Justice Department is laced with appointees from the Obama Administration who I believe would love to prosecute a Republican - especially one with ties to Giuliani. If politics did play a part in the sentencing, another possible explanation may be where the trial was held - Chicago.

Politics aside,

I also wonder why Mastro did NOT have to testify against the other defendants?

I wonder why all of them weren't charged with RICO statute?

I wonder if Bill and the boys will have to forfeit personal property?

Lesson to be learned? Steal thousands of dollars, hire expensive lawyers and get sent to club Fed for a few Months - that isn't a bad deal at all.

Just some thoughts

[earlywynnfan]

I've always felt Marino got a slap on the wrist, too. Perhaps our hobby just isn't that important to the rest of the world.

Ken

[ChrisCavalier]

I've always felt Marino got a slap on the wrist, too. Perhaps our hobby just isn't that important to the rest of the world.

All the more reason communities, like this one, are so important to help collectors.

-Chris

[staindsox]

If politics did play a part in the sentencing, another possible explanation may be where the trial was held - Chicago.

Nope, not at all. Mastro operated out of Chicago, so it went to trial in that district of the Federal court system.