Doug Allen to plead guilty.....
 

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...icle-1.1888759

Say it isn't so Joe....I mean Doug.

I wonder how this impacts Legendary Auctions?

But I have emails from Doug in which he denied shill bidding or committing any fraud in the hobby. And I have a phone message he left me denying the same! He assured me he would never engage in fraud and that I could be comfortable in bidding in his auctions! I'm stunned!

Well, I never saw this one coming I can tell you that.

Have you seen their latest auction? It's as if they turned over the cushions on their couch and whatever they found comprised the auction. I can say this: I wouldn't trust the authenticity of a single autograph or game used item in their auction. Nearly anyone who matters in that auction house is a crook and in desperate times, crooks act desperately -- even more desperately than when they were making money.

Hey Jeff, let us know how you really feel :)

Bad timing for him. Smack dab in the middle of the National. Yikes.

Wonder why their stuff keeps bringing tons of money?? A lot of collectors evidently still trust and believe in them...

Remember what PT Barnum said?

Addicts don't care where they score.

Mr. Allen won't be the first boss to continue to run his organization from federal prison

Sure, plenty of dishonest consigners conspired with Mastro and Doug to shill their items up. Some even on this board.

Does this now mean you won't be giving Mr. Allen a glowing character reference when he comes up for sentencing? ;)

Jeff- I hear what you are saying, but who on this board? I have done several deals with you and I know your integrity and honesty...To me, if this is in fact true, it should be brought out in the forum. Maybe it has and I missed it...

What's the difference? You know who all the consigners are in a particular auction?

Fair enough. Bad question on my part I guess, sorry...

Really nah...couldn't be...gee I wonder who? :D

Boy this hobby sure needs to be cleaned up. Its like the bank mess these big auction houses think there to big to fail

delete...

My cynical opinion is:

I doubt anyone could out-do Steven Cummings' scathing letter to the court about Mastro which was penned back in early 2013.

I bid in Legendary Auctions once. I have stated it before on this board. I will never bid in another Legendary Auction. Once was enough.

My opinion is that all of the old, original auction houses operated around the fringe - if not outright shill bidding, they all write glowing descriptions of items that defy logic. Bill just got too greedy and was caught and burried his understudies with him. My guess is Oser will keep LA going without Doug if necessary. Which of the old guard auction houses do you consider squeaky clean enough to get your business? REA?

None.

lol

Every one of them has had their legal issues.

So instead you deal with all the solid citizens on Ebay?

Duplicate post--sorry

If Billy and Doug end up in the same minimum security joint, we should try to organize a card show there - a sort of conjugal card show? Bring all of our reprints, trimmed, bleached...

eBay is not perfect. I have numerous stories about that matter, but eBay at least has some framework of a system flawed as it is for the customer. If you totaled all the cards I have picked up from eBay and all of the cards I have picked up from auction houses, the weight would be greatly in favor of eBay, but the total from both is nowhere near forty per cent of my of collection.

As Doug (or anyone for that matter) surveys the landscape of this wondrous hobby, is there any reason for him to assume he won't be welcomed back with open arms as long as he can put his hands on the goods?

In a word, no.

An Al Qaeda fundraiser would set records in this hobby if it had the material.

And as long as they are willing to send anyone a free catalog or magnet. :)

Received my catalog today. Thanks, Ayman!!

One would hope the court would impose, along with a jail sentence, a sentence that would tell these guilty parties that they are not to have anything to do with this hobby either for ten years or for life.

I suspect that wont happen though.

Doug and Bill will be on supervised release once they leave prison. If they violate their terms of release -- such as committing fraud -- they could be returned to prison. I'm certain they will be closely watched upon release. That at least one or both of them cooperated or attempted to cooperate against any and everyone in the hobby that they could have should at least give would be co-conspirators some pause upon dealing with them again, however. Because obviously anyone who would not only steal from their friends but them try to put their friends in prison is not someone most sane people would want to go near.

Why did the guys running the National let these guys run a live auction let alone have a booth. I would be afraid the government would cease the stuff and the auction winners would never get there items. Totally wrong that these guys were even a loud in the building. Wish I was a fly on the wall at there booth to see what comments were said as people went by

Had Doug pleaded at the time? If not, he is presumed innocent.

Well, just because you're presumed innocent in connection with a criminal case doesn't mean a private organization has to rent space out to someone accused of a massive fraud in that very industry. However, if you cleared out all the felons from renting tables out at a baseball card show it could get a bit lonely inside.

To quote the great line from Ben Hur, "bravely spoken." :eek:

Lol, so true.

I was not at the National this year, but if it was like years past, they ran their auction independent of the actual National. They rented a space in Cleveland to hold their event. The organizers of the National can't stop that.
JimB

Well, at least as a fall-back plan, they can always be PSA Authorized Dealers in 5 years.

At the show Allen and Theotkis were chasing collectors like an ugly girl at a Sadie Hawkins dance. It was pretty funny to watch.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...html?track=rss

Now Mark is guilty what's going on? :)

--

+1

No offense and not a shot at the OP but who cares? It’s not like Legendary Auctions is a major corporation who has tens of thousands of innocent people working for them. This isn’t GM going under, or Boeing it’s an auction house. An auction house which like most in our hobby is made up of a handful of people at best with a few exceptions.

Being blunt Legendary Auctions is a business run by a handful of now well documented crooks who spun off from another now well documented crook/crooks. Who cares what happens to these guys, let alone the shell they operated their crimes under or were linked too.

We all should be furious about this or at the very least just be happy we got our winnings/paid on consignments drop the mic and move on from these jack wagons.

They on the other hand should pay the price for preying on their clients who trusted them, and the hobby that gave them the opportunity to make a great living. Not a lot of folks get the chance these guys did in life. Such a shame greed had to have them piss it away. I can’t even figure why anyone would want to be friends with these guys now. Let alone wonder or think about what happens to their business.

Just my two cents…

John, you clearly never received a free catalog. Or consigned items to Mastro/Legendary and shill bid your lots up. Or needed Doug or Bill to maybe throw a few bucks at you and that thin reed of a hope was enough for you to defend them. As for what remains of Legendary what remains of them now? Their auctions are filled with nothing and the people who run the place are going to jail.

First off, I never once bid on their auctions so I think you misinterpreted my question as if I would be on suicide watch to learn Legendary is now defunct.

Like you, my hope is that Legendary is now out of business permanently and not run by some puppet management until Allen and company return from the hoosegow.