Posted By:
MarkI understand the article. My take is that accusing Mastro of shilling was a natural, knee-jerk reaction to finding out the taxpayers' money was misappropriated. By that I mean the state of Ohio has recently learned that tens of millions of dollars has been wrongfully invested in coins, beanie babies and penny baseball cards.
The state will naturally want an accounting as to exactly how that money was spent. Since the money was spent at an auction house, the state will naturally raise the issue of shilling (per Leon, auction houses are routinely accused of this practice). If the money had been spent on sports bets, I'm sure the prosecutor would investigate to make sure the bets weren't rigged. I expect the prosecutor here will have the power to require Mastro to reveal the names of the underbidders and those underbidders will be contacted, so the truth should prevail.