Today's Wash. Post has major piece re the BB card fraud

[SMPEP]

Jeff - I've never met you. And I do believe you are trying to do the right thing.

But the question I raise to you - is that even possible?

Is there anyone connected to this hobby that can truly be an honest arbiter?

Every card taken out of circulation by the FBI - makes other cards more valuable. Are those in your collection? Or the collections of friends of yours?

Every owner of high end cards has an interest in the outcome. Some gain by preserving the status quo. Some gain from the destroying the status quo.

So all an FBI investigation can do at this point is shuffling the winners and losers.

The only guaranteed loser is the history of the hobby - as cards are taken out of circulation. And while some cards can easily be removed from the hobby with minimal impact, some of these cards are truly scarce to begin with and valuable regardless or doctoring. Taking them out of the hobby just makes the hobby poorer and the owners of the unremoved cards richer.

The approach you are describing throws the baby and the bathwater out. And the real loser is the hobby.