Doug Allen to plead guilty.....

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by WhenItWasAHobby

Leon,

Here's an excerpt from an article for criminal statute of limitations:

Federal statutes are only applicable to federal crimes. Typically, those are crimes which violate a congressionally mandated law or take place on federal property. Mail fraud and burglarizing or vandalizing a federally owned property are examples of what can be considered a federal crime.

Each type of federal crime has it's own type of statute of limitations however there is no statute of limitations for federal crimes punishable by death. Certain federal terrorism crimes do not have a statute of limitations either. Otherwise, prosecution for other federal crimes must begin within 5 years from the time the offense was committed. There are a few exceptions, such as arson, art theft, particular crimes against financial institutions and various immigration offenses which all carry statutes of limitations longer than the five-year norm.

No matter the applicable statute of limitations, the time period can be extended because of certain circumstances. For example, when the accused is a fugitive or the case involves charges of wartime fraud against the government, the statute of limitations can be lengthened.

Examples of federal crimes that receive extended statutes of limitations:

20 years for major theft of art work
10 years for arson, certain crimes against financial institutions and immigration offenses
8 years for non-violent violations of the terrorism-associated statutes

http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc...s-state-crimes

So in this instance, it appears that 5 years is the statute of limitations because I don't see any of those exceptions applying here.

But, your statement is generally true for civil liability unless it was something that should have been discovered with reasonable diligence. However, PSA does have a buy-back policy, which should be the easiest avenue for recovery.

I am not a lawyer so everything I am about to say is purely from an ignorant bystander with questions.

I am sure $50K+ cards don't go through the regular channels and there is not a run of the mill grader looking at it purely for insurance purposes. So I don't see how these cards were graded without knowing exactly who they were doing it for.

The investigation I am talking about is if they were knowingly grading cards that shouldn't have been(or not given a grade above Authentic) for their own financial gain. If they indeed were knowingly helping Mastro and Co. I am sure they weren't doing it purely to gain more business but rather they were enjoying other financial gains.

IF PSA is found to have been knowingly grading cards for others to help with financial gain or in anyway boost the company's financial statements wouldn't, as a Publicly Traded Company, they fall under the SEC? Isn't there a Statute of Limitations similar to what Leon brought up in SEC cases?

You mentioned the refund policy, but as was shown with the (s)Nodgrass Cycle they wouldn't return it for the original buyer of that card and he was stuck with a card everyone knew was a fraud but that PSA wouldn't do anything about, so I don't think they could stand behind that "guarantee" if this does play out.