Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

[gingi79]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

I hereby apologize to Mark and Samets. I will amend my post: I don't think anybody here cares, other than three of us.

I'm willing to bet quite a few folks on this site; and so many others, care quite a lot.

"The list" casts shade on quite a wide range of people within our very small population of hobb(ies).

It's my sincerest hope the truth comes out and vindicates those who were swindled versus those who propagated fraud, dishonesty and corruption.

[Dewey2007]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

Count me in as someone who cares too. I don't post on here much anymore but still check out the site often. I think you just have a different type of collector demographic here as opposed to the Net54 site among other things so that's why this thread is not getting the same type of responses. I don't think it's from a lack of caring though. I think most everyone wants to see our hobby thrive.

I still bid in auctions every once in awhile and I sure in the hell don't want to get shilled so I'm glad that something is finally being done to address this practice and let's hope that the message it sends is a strong one.

[earlywynnfan]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

I don't think anybody here cares.

I hereby apologize to Mark and Samets. I will amend my post: I don't think anybody here cares, other than three of us.

[G1X]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

I don't think anybody here cares.

I care, and most sports memorabilia collectors should care. Certainly anyone in the hobby who has ever been burned should care. Not only should they care, they should be rejoicing that something is being done to prosecute those who choose to profit in this hobby through criminal activity.

It is blatantly dishonest and criminal actions such as this that continue to drag the hobby through the sludge at the bottom of the outhouse. Having seen many a fox guard the hen house during my 41 years in the game-used hobby, it is a refreshing site to see the involvement of law enforcement and prosecution of those who are guilty of crimes. Perhaps things won't be "business as usual" now that some of the foxes have gone to jail.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

[Samets]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

I don't think anybody here cares.

That's quiet a blanket statement.

I bought stuff from these clowns! I care.

[earlywynnfan]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

Doug Allen sentenced today to 57 months:
http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com...-to-57-months/

I don't think anybody here cares.

[nickacs]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

Doug Allen sentenced today to 57 months:

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/doug-allen-sentenced-to-57-months/

[Eric]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

From NY Daily News...

Prosecutors seek four-year prison term for ex-Mastro Auctions president Doug Allen

Sports memorabilia executive Doug Allen is learning that it is not a good idea to piss off the Justice Department.

Prosecutors filed papers in Chicago federal court Monday asking a judge to sentence Allen, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2014, to 57 months in prison because of the former Mastro Auctions president's "outright contempt" for law enforcement.

The feds say the stiff sentence — nearly three times longer than the 20 months co-defendant Bill Mastro is now serving — is warranted because Allen attempted to obstruct an FBI investigation into fraud in sports memorabilia and continued to participate in the shill bidding scheme that was the downfall of what was once the industry's most prominent auction house even after he learned the Illinois company was under investigation.

"Defendant's participation in the instant fraud scheme for seven years demonstrates he has disrespect for the law," Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Owens and Steven J. Dollear wrote. "During that time, defendant had multiple opportunities to end the fraud but did not. Instead of stopping after he learned about the FBI investigation in 2007, defendant continued with the fraud scheme - which demonstrates little respect for the law."

Allen also continued to shill bid even after the Daily News reported in 2007 that Mastro Auctions was the target of an FBI investigation into fraud in the sports memorabilia industry, according to the filing.

Allen is scheduled to appear for sentencing Feb. 8 before U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman in Chicago.

Defense attorneys filed papers last week asking Guzman to sentence Allen to 18 months in prison, arguing that Mastro, the founder and chief executive of the company, was the mastermind of the shill bidding scheme. But the government's response says Allen wasn't just a Mastro underling, but an active participant in the fraud.

Prosecutors said at Allen's 2014 plea hearing that they would ask Guzman to send the Mastro Auctions president to prison for more than 12 years because he attempted to obstruct the FBI investigation. The government said Allen, who had promised to cooperate with investigators in exchange for leniency, warned business associate John Rogers — also under investigation — that he would be wearing a wire for the FBI. Rogers later told the government that Allen had told him about the wire, which the feds say put agents who executed a search warrant at Rogers' home at risk.

The filing also says Allen deserves the stiffer sentence because Allen, not Mastro, contacted collectors to sell what he purported to be an 1860 Cincinnati Red Stockings trophy ball and Elvis Presley after the items had been returned to the auction house because they had been proven to be fakes. Allen also instructed a card restorer to alter a rare and valuable T206 Eddie Plank card without notifying bidders. Altering cards is considered an egregious violation of hobby practices.

The filing estimates the loss due to Allen's crimes is more than $550,000 but less than $1.5 million. But the real damage will never be known because Mastro ordered an employee to destroy company records in 2003.

As the Daily News first reported this weekend, the victims of Mastro's shill bidding include Yankee general managing partner Hal Steinbrenner and former ESPN and MSNBC broadcaster Keith Olbermann.

Mastro Auctions was the leading sports memorabilia auction house for most of the 1990s and 2000s, and it led the way as the company evolved from a mom-and-pop hobby into a sophisticated industry. The company went out of business in 2009 in the wake of the investigation led by the Chicago FBI.

Allen and Theotikos founded Legendary Auctions when Mastro Auctions became defunct. Mastro, Allen and Theotikos were named as defendants in an indictment returned by a Chicago grand jury in 2012.

Mastro, the brother of former New York City deputy mayor Randy Mastro, acknowledge in court that he had altered the world's most expensive baseball card, the T206 Honus Wagner once owned by NHL legend Wayne Gretzky.

As two Daily News reporters wrote in their book "The Card," the alteration increased the card's value significantly and helped spark the sports memorabilia boom of the 1990s. The Wagner currently belongs to Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, who paid a record $2.8 million for it in 2007.

[bravesfanjd]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

Actually the list was compiled and presented to the courts by the Allen's attorneys not the FBI.

From the NY Daily news:
Documents filed in Chicago federal court by attorneys for a sports memorabilia executive charged with fraud suggest now-defunct Mastro Auctions stole more than $30,000 from Yankee general managing partner Hal Steinbrenner through shill bidding.

According to the documents filed by lawyers for former Mastro president Doug Allen, the Yankee owner was gouged by Mastro Auctions as he bid on more than a dozen lots in 2007 and 2008. The court papers do not identify the items Steinbrenner bid on or purchased from Mastro Auctions, which offered vintage baseball cards and other sports memorabilia to affluent collectors before it went out of business in 2009, but a review of Mastro Auctions catalogues indicates the Yankee boss spent thousands of dollars on unopened packs of late ‘60s and early ‘70s Topps baseball cards.

Thank you for the correction I had read many different things that made it out to be a govt list. I apologize for posting misinformation

[metsbats]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

From what I understand it was a list put together by the FBI based on records that where not destroyed

My biggest issue with the list is that you see repeatedly the cosigners using the same shillers over a series of different auctions which shows me that it wasn't just a one time helping a buddy not lose money it was a calculated effort to make the item sell for more.

Maybe shilling is just part of the accepted idea of bidding for items in Auction houses and in general but the truth is collectors as a whole need to say enough

Josh

Actually the list was compiled and presented to the courts by the Allen's attorneys not the FBI.

From the NY Daily news:
Documents filed in Chicago federal court by attorneys for a sports memorabilia executive charged with fraud suggest now-defunct Mastro Auctions stole more than $30,000 from Yankee general managing partner Hal Steinbrenner through shill bidding.

According to the documents filed by lawyers for former Mastro president Doug Allen, the Yankee owner was gouged by Mastro Auctions as he bid on more than a dozen lots in 2007 and 2008. The court papers do not identify the items Steinbrenner bid on or purchased from Mastro Auctions, which offered vintage baseball cards and other sports memorabilia to affluent collectors before it went out of business in 2009, but a review of Mastro Auctions catalogues indicates the Yankee boss spent thousands of dollars on unopened packs of late ‘60s and early ‘70s Topps baseball cards.

[bravesfanjd]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

Just my 2 cents in looking over this really quick, Case is over 8+ years old and Doug Allen would have thrown Shoeless Joe Jackson's name into the list if that is what his legal team advised him to do to help reduce his sentence.

From what I understand it was a list put together by the FBI based on records that where not destroyed

My biggest issue with the list is that you see repeatedly the cosigners using the same shillers over a series of different auctions which shows me that it wasn't just a one time helping a buddy not lose money it was a calculated effort to make the item sell for more.

Maybe shilling is just part of the accepted idea of bidding for items in Auction houses and in general but the truth is collectors as a whole need to say enough

Josh

[5toolplayer]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

Just my 2 cents in looking over this really quick, Case is over 8+ years old and Doug Allen would have thrown Shoeless Joe Jackson's name into the list if that is what his legal team advised him to do to help reduce his sentence.

I'm only going to go off of my dealings with both Ken & Chris & the Goldin Auctions staff. Nothing but professionalism and respect each and every time I've done business with them. Ken has gone above and beyond more then once to make sure I'm taken care of even when its over a small error in the listing or something in that nature.

They have been top notch since the first day I consigned item #1 with them and I'll continue to support them because I have no reason not to.

[Guttapercha]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen!

If I may give my opinion. I have met both Chris and Ken over the years as a consigner and seller. The people at Goldin auctions have gone above and beyond in helping with my collecting quest. I have never had a problem. Ken has gone way above his time and professionalism to help in teaching, discussing, and guiding me with game used items, many of which were not even in his auctions!
He works his butt off in promoting your items and gets top dollar for doing so.

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Mastro List Submitted By Doug Allen

I am aware, as is Ken, that his name appears as a consignor on the list made public by Doug Allen as part of his attempt to reduce his jail sentence. Ken will not be discussing this matter on any public forum, a matter that is over eight years old and references when he was a private collector five years before Goldin Auctions was formed. However, if it is important for you to hear from him, he will discuss this matter personally with you and has done so with a number of members already. His email address is Ken@GoldinAuctions.com.

I also want to ensure our friends, consignors, bidders and business partners that this list has nothing to do with the current business of Goldin Auctions. When founded in the summer of 2012, Goldin Auctions was built with the interests of bidders and consignors in mind. From its beginning, it was explained to me that Goldin Auctions has implemented extensive ethics, rules and compliance safeguards built in to protect bidders and consignors including:

1. Goldin Auction employees do not have access to maximum bids. Our auction software provider has turned off, at our request, our ability to see your proxy/ceiling bids. A maximum bid placed online will never be known or seen by us in order to hold our auction process to the highest industry standards. This is for both bidder and consignor protection.

2. Goldin does not have access to passwords. While that can often cause an inconvenience when someone forgets their password, it gives bidders the assurance that their account is safe.

3. Goldin has a reserve system. We state the rules on reserves, and they are posted online. This avoids issues of hidden reserves or using shill bidding to meet a hidden reserve.

4. We use the highest authenticity procedures in the business. We will not sell non-authenticated items; we do not issue our own LOAs; we rely on the most respected industry experts for all authentications. In addition, as many of you know, even with these procedures in place we will still routinely pull items during an auction if there is a third-party authenticator error. Further, as many of you have experienced, when concern over an item is brought to our attention we are extremely responsive to any questions.

5. We implement limited credits for any new bidders. We do not give new bidders unlimited bidding rights with us when they register. We restrict them with a strict bidding limit until they have been proven to be credit worthy and legitimate users. Even with other auction references, we still place limits on most bidders initially to protect all other auction bidders and consignors.

For a complete list of our compliance rules, you can click the link below:

https://www.goldinauctions.com/rules.aspx

When I joined Goldin Auctions in February 2013, I researched the way the company was established and made a post as to why I was joining Goldin Auctions. As you know from my creating Game Used Universe in 2005, the credibility of the industry is of utmost importance to me and I will only associate with an entity I believe is committed to consistently doing what is right. I do not feel anything has changed with regard to Goldin Auctions. If it did, I would not continue in my position with them.

Sincerely,
Chris

[kellsox]

Re: Mastro Shill Bid list!

It is easy for the site/forum that is a significant vehicle of advertising for an auction house to preach patience while auctions were running/concluding.