What did Dave Kohler do, I actually have no idea.

allegedly...

Anyhow, it's not like being a convicted felon has ever prevented anyone from running an auction house. If Memory serves me well, that is. Or am I driving in the wrong Lane?

Ryan, what cases are those?

x

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...icle-1.1121644

And Bill Mastro is cooperating against Doug Allen!!!

I'm just happy this happened long after Steinbach's passing. I remember when he was with Pat Quinn and I used to look forward to their listings in SCD.

This should be interesting.

Mastro, the founder of Mastro Auctions and the brother of Randy Mastro, Rudy Giuliani's former deputy mayor and longtime aide, was charged with one count of wire and mail fraud. His attorney, Michael Monico, said he expects the case will be resolved without a trial, indicating that Mastro is cooperating with authorities.

Mastro dropped out of the hobby in 2009, after he shut down Mastro Auctions, which once generated as much as $50 million a year in sales. He sold his legendary memorabilia collection in 2010.

"Bill accepts responsibility for the actions that led to this case," Monico said. "For many years, Bill has dedicated himself to religious and charitable works."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...#ixzz21gsqbCBq

Cooperating indeed! I am suprised these quotes from Mastro's lawyer in the Daily News report didn't turn up in the US Attorney's press release:

"Bill accepts responsibility for the actions that led to this case," Monico said. "For many years, Bill has dedicated himself to religious and charitable works."

OldJudge, as for a trial timeframe, I'd think sometime between Jan 2013 and Sept 2013, as things now stand. And things are fluid. I doubt additional charges would be brought before trial, this seems something to which thought was given, so I'd think it's been thought through. And, a trial isn't a certainty...

Help friends, help strangers who need help... but don't throw a boat anchor to a drowning enemy. If that enemy deserves bad, then it will find him, without you getting involved. Don't tempt Karma... I wish them all well with it. I long for the days before grading, card investing, and the like; when cards were affordable and there was little incentive to trim or doctor a card.

The King is dead. Long live the King. It is really easy to hope someone goes to jail or even dies for the mistakes they made. It is amazing to me just how quick you can go from great to a piece of garbage. I think some of you might remember when Mastro was the king and you where his subjects.

I am more interested in all the people that authenticated for the King. Those are the people that allowed his royal subjects to buy and buy and buy. The card was always known to be a joke. Read the book or better yet play dumb.

Mastro, like me, has already cut a deal. I can tell you that none of you are going to be happy. BigJJ is wrong. Federal is a lot better than state. I know. He will go to a camp and do his time. He did not kill, rape or sell drugs to anyone. He did what many of you know. He lied cheated and defrauded people. This will pass like most things until the next guy gets arrested. Then the outrage will begin again. Welcome to Net 54. Shelly Jaffe net 54 member Leon wanted to make sure who posted this.

Funny when someone gets in trouble with the law they are all of a sudden religious

If the feds asked SGC to give there opinion on the PSA 8 wagner would it matter? In 2001 an SGC employee told me the story about how the wagner was trimmed yet PSA graded it. That is an authenticator respected by the hobby. Would that hold water in court, SGC vs PSA in a way. Just a thought. How could the feds prov the card was trimmed unless they have video tape of someone cutting the card. How could they prove this. It is a rumor thats rung through our hobby for years. If he is proven not guilty in the end should we think the wagner was never trimmed?

Since Bill is reported to be cooperating, and to have taken responsibility for his past actions, perhaps he admitted it. Or perhaps he admitted it in the past to someone else who came forward.

Wowsers.

Sounds like this card will have an * next to it.



Sad to see $ made this happen.

Amen.

Um, I mean - I agree.

-1. I'm ecstatic, and will remain so.

Bill

Me too, Bill. Now that the light is on it is going to be very satisfying watching the cockroaches run.

"sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants"--Justice Louis Brandeis

I wonder what this means for "Legendary Auctions". Certainly some type of press release or communication is in order to reinforce cosignor and bidder confidece.

With Bill finally admitting that the Wagner is trimmed, PSA will also have a lot of explaining to do. And I imagine the current owner of the card is due some serious restitution. What a f**king mess.

Frank
 

Grading did not bring out the card doctors they were here well before grading. It did however make some of the better ones loads of money.

Ahhh retribution.

Card doctoring was rampant in the early 90s when PSA started. Although it did not work out perfectly in practice, I think it did deter, and has deterred, at least the more blatant fraud. It was very helpful to me in learning who could be trusted and who could not in the days of buying blind through SCD ads.

Speaking of card doctors
 

From the FBI Press Release:

The Code of Conduct also provided certain assurances that Mastro Auctions would disclose information about auction items that were altered or restored. After the code was published, Mastro and Allen allegedly failed to disclose alterations and caused restoration work to be done on baseball trading cards, despite assurances that no such work would be performed.

If it was admitted that the Wagner was trimmed, it appears other cards were doctored also, since there are allegations of "restoration work".

The next set of questions that beg to be asked, "Which cards?" "Were they graded by a TPG company?" "Which company" "Who restored them?"


http://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-rel...r-collectibles


As for my take of Third Party Grading, it was good initially in screening out a lot of amateur doctoring, but has failed miserably in detecting the many of the advanced alterations that are rampant in the industry today.

would a press release really reinforce consignor and bidder confidence?

I hope the truth will be made arround this psa 8 wagner by the FBI, if it is legit or altered.

Well, when Doug would leave messages on my answering machine in 2006-7 about how wrong I was to accuse him and Mastro of fraud I always felt better. Of course, he continued to rip me and countless others off. But I still felt better.

Jeff, "accuse" takes the accusative LOL -- accuse HIM.

What the hell are you talking about?

I guess they don't teach grammar at inferior law schools.

Lololol.

What's the over/under on the Dreier collection finding a new auction home?

I'm astounded they chose Legendary in the first place...certainly they knew they were under FBI investigation.

My understanding is they have a vested interest in the company so it's really not that astounding. I am not positive of that but that is what I have heard.

It would be appropriate for Legendary to put out some sort of release indicating who actually owns the place and what they will be doing going forward. And an honest press release for once.

Didn't Legendary promise it would disclose auction lots of its owners, or was that only its employees?

Oh, and all of the contents of the baseball muckraking blog White Betsy were wiped yesterday with the announcement, "I have been asked to remove the contents of this website, and I have complied."

The other baseball muckraking web site was still standing as of this writing, in fact, we can't wait for its next report.

I just received a voice mail from Doug Allen stating the Driers don't have a financial interest in Legendary. I apologize if I made an error in my previous statement.

He used his one call on that?
;)

Now THAT made me laugh out loud.

Allen
 

+1

Glyn is right on. Grading exposed some of the quick and dirty card doctors, and some with a few more basic skills, such as running the card through a paper press to enlarge it, then cutting it back to standard size. It educated many of us as to what to look for back in the early to
mid-'90's in buying unslabbed cards, and which dealers to avoid.

Larry A. Smith

Now that's funny!

Best guys,

Larry

Hilarious.

Maybe someone else placed the call for him.

He used his one call on that?
 

Sitting at work and burst out laughing. Everyone is looking now like "what the hell is Ed doing." Busted.

Just like Mastro and Allen.

that was funny. lol.

It just shows how important Leon is.