Changes at Mastro

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Posted By: Dave S

Agree with Jim VB...

It will be interesting to see if any indictments are actually handed down by the Grand Jury in Chicago. As the FBI is involved, the US attorney must feel that there is something that is worth investigating. Speculating on who and what isn't really fair since we are all innocent until proven guilty, (except where the Patriot Act is concerned) or if you try to sell a "fake" Wagner on eBay, for those of you who remember those threads and Mr. Gumbel's report...

But it seems like many here are quick to throw O'Keeffe under the bus even though he is a serious sports journalist reporting on the facts for a major newspaper. Why kill the messenger?! He's not doctoring cards or shill bidding on auctions -- if anyone is found guilty of defauding others, they should be punished, whether it's baseball cards, wine, mortgages or anything else. Isn't the hobby better off not being perceived full of scammers and fraudsters? Does anyone think the investigations into all of the mortgage fraud is unfair or unfounded?

And on that subject, as a wine collector, I was horrifed to read "Billionaires Vinegar", which is an amazing book about the systemic fraud by one Hardy Rodenstock on all the unsuspecting buyers at Christie's auctions, of which I was one. Christie's has been around since the 1700's and is considered to be one of the premier auction houses in the world and they were not immune from this BS either. They may have even known that Rodenstock was a fraud, but continued to sell his wife for outrageous sums of money while collecting huge commissions. Rodenstock, a German national was sued in civil court in NY, decided it wasn't going well, and simply opted out of the process and left the USA. A large default jugement was entered against him, and the plaintiff's are in the process of trying to collect, which may never happen. The positive is that he will never be able to sell wine through another auction again, and others will think twice before attempting the same, but I don't think the author of BV was out to ruin the wine auction market.

It seems like that no matter what the collectible, there will always be unscupulous people out there trying to take advantage of unsuspecting honest people who just want their own special piece of history, and that sucks. Isn't that why we needed grading companies in the first place? And what if those grading companies are not honoring the public trust they claim to protect? Aren't we all damaged?

So I second Jim's line:

"Whatever O'Keefe's motives, if it cleans up the hobby, we'll all be better off."

Hear hear.