Mastro sentencing update

[Peter_Spaeth]

As many of the letters submitted to the Court attest,3 Bill’s public
confession had such a profound effect precisely because he was a pioneer within the industry,
professionalizing and improving the experience for consignors and collectors alike.
Those letters provide the specific, first-hand evidence of Bill’s profoundly positive
influence on the industry despite his transgressions.

Marshall Fogel, a former prosecutor,
practicing attorney, and nationally known collector of baseball memorabilia for more than 25
years, witnessed the growth of the sports memorabilia industry from its early beginnings. (Ex.
3). He credits Bill with transforming a “nascent struggling hobby” into the “thriving $100
million per year industry” that it is today. According to Mr. Fogel, Bill’s creation of descriptive,
detailed auction catalogs not only increased public access to quality memorabilia, but also
“single handedly legitimized the sports collectibles industry.” Mr. Fogel credits Bill as the
person “who introduced the trend of writing clear descriptions of items, including information on
provenance,” which helped “collectors obtain higher quality inventories with greater value than
ever thought possible.”


James Spence, an independent autographed memorabilia authenticator, similarly
describes Bill “as a trailblazer in legitimizing the sports memorabilia industry.” (Ex. 4). Mr.
Spence believes that Bill “deserves exclusive credit for pioneering what has become today’s
standard of integrity in the autographed memorabilia business.” It was Bill’s commissioning of
authenticators like Mr. Spence to “separate authentic items from those which were forgeries”—
previously undetected in the industry—that allowed Mastro Auctions to be “the first to offer a
product that would garner both universal trust and authentic value.” Mr. Spence recalls that,
before Bill’s “intervention” into the authentication of items, it was the standard practice for
auction houses to accept and sell any items from large consignors, regardless of authenticity.
Importantly, other auction houses, dealers, and collectors eventually followed Bill’s example,
which is why Mr. Spence concludes that the sports memorabilia industry has “been a better
business environment ever since Bill’s involvement.”


John Scott, a former auction house owner who has been involved in the baseball card and
sports memorabilia industry since 1976, has written a letter of support for Bill even though they
were once fierce competitors. (Ex. 5). He too describes Bill as someone who “promoted value”
in the industry and as a “proponent of authentication.” Even though Mr. Scott often competed
with Bill to obtain collection consignments, Mr. Scott recalls that Bill and his companies were
always “professional and congenial.” Bill has openly and frankly discussed his misconduct with
Mr. Scott, leaving him certain that Bill is genuinely remorseful for the harm that he has caused
clients and the industry.

Thomas O’Connell, a longtime hobby journalist and the former editor of Sports
Collectors Digest, has written extensively about the sports memorabilia industry and auctions.
(Ex. 6). He has known Bill for about 25 years and has spent a significant amount of time with
him while writing articles about Mastro Auctions. Mr. O’Connell believes that “many of the
important auction rules and safeguards for both consignor and bidder were heartily championed
by Bill over the last 20 years.” Despite Bill’s offense conduct, Mr. O’Connell can state with
“assurance that the sports memorabilia hobby/industry is deeply indebted to him for much of the
work that he has done and in his efforts to raise the profile of his business and to ensure that the
hobby was as honest and as transparent as possible.”


Rex Stark, a full-time dealer in historical Americana for 37 years, also recognizes Bill as
someone who has “contributed tremendously to the high visibility and nationwide appeal of
sports collecting today.” (Ex. 7). Just as Bill has confessed to others, Bill admitted his
transgressions to Mr. Stark, and expressed his remorse to him. Still, Mr. Stark considers Bill to
be “one of the most honest, reliable, and hardworking people in the business.” As an industry
insider for nearly four decades, Mr. Stark believes that Bill’s “public acceptance of responsibility
will highlight conduct that is in fact very commonplace in the world of auctions,” and that Bill
will, in this way, “once again contribute to making the auction business more reliable and
transparent.”