"Two men pleaded guilty last week to federal charges stemming from a 15-year operation that prosecutors said bartered fake baseballs and bats purportedly signed by Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner and Cy Young."
""a scheme to defraud and to obtain money from victims, including art galleries, auction houses, and individual buyers ... by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses and concealment of material facts.""
""We have to be vigilant, we have to be aware," said Ryan Hoge, president of grading and authentication at Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). "And if [we] start seeing different styles or large quantities of something where the style is slightly off, we'll circle the wagons.""
Two Michigan brothers, Donald and Mark Henkel, pleaded guilty to federal mail and wire fraud charges tied to a 15-year operation selling forged sports memorabilia. The brothers admitted using vintage pens to forge signatures, creating false provenances and employing co-conspirators as "straw sellers" to verify fraudulent item histories. Examples include creating false provenances for items later sold for about $120,000; admitted losses to victims totaled $780,000 for Donald Henkel and $332,500 for Mark Henkel. The investigations have prompted changes in authentication practices as fraudsters exploit pandemic-driven demand and online sales platforms. Industry leaders emphasize increased vigilance and scrutiny.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]