Certainly Didn’t Expect to See that at the National.

[RL]

Originally Posted by glynparson

The ass kissing of this prick is pathetic.

I agree

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by RL

I agree

I can't believe that he will be permitted to be a part of the hobby in any fashion.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Yoda

I can't believe that he will be permitted to be a part of the hobby in any fashion.

Permitted by whom?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Permitted by whom?

The hobby police.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Leon

The hobby police.

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[Lobo Aullando]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

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[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by Leon

The hobby police.

LOL, good one Leon!

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by Yoda

I can't believe that he will be permitted to be a part of the hobby in any fashion.

What does that even mean? He spent a significant time in jail away from his family. If you think this is nothing spend a day or two behind bars yourself and see if you still think it is nothing. How much did you lose as a result of Mastro? No one wants to answer the question. I’m going to guess very little if anything.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

What does that even mean? He spent a significant time in jail away from his family. If you think this is nothing spend a day or two behind bars yourself and see if you still think it is nothing. How much did you lose as a result of Mastro? No one wants to answer the question. I’m going to guess very little if anything.

I never lost a cent with this guy but I did lose a lot with people like him. As a kid I had a dealer like Bill sell me a 181 Ruth that was fake. Did I lose money? Sure, if it was real when I went to sell it I was probably out 15-20k. The greater sin was loss of trust.
Bill chose to risk being away from his family out of his own personal arrogance and hubris, shame on him for risking his family for business. Why would a man even risk being away from his children by breaking the law?
Bill chose to betray people's trust for profit. Would you do the same?
Seriously, would you sell me an altered card knowing I was bidding on it as genuine?
Would you treat me so poorly as a bidder that you would have your friends shill bid so I paid more?
Would you victimize your family and clients the way Bill did? I'm guessing no.
He might of showed up at the Natty with hat in hand looking for forgiveness but he certainly hasn't made amends to the people he victimized.
He sounds like a nice guy, believe me, all guys like that are likable, that's their gig. I would question his moral compass and integrity as a human but that's just me.
He didn't rip me off but he has a reputation for ripping people off so I would take a hard pass on him being a part of my life.

[oldjudge]

Phil-I’m not saying that Bill did nothing wrong, he did and he paid the price for it. All I am saying is that now that he paid the price he should be free to live a happy and productive life. I wasn’t at the National but I doubt that Bill came hat in hand begging forgiveness. He probably came to visit with some old friends. If I was there I would have loved to have seen him.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Phil-I’m not saying that Bill did nothing wrong, he did and he paid the price for it. All I am saying is that now that he paid the price he should be free to live a happy and productive life. I wasn’t at the National but I doubt that Bill came hat in hand begging forgiveness. He probably came to visit with some old friends. If I was there I would have loved to have seen him.

No doubt, it's clear that he has made friends over the course of his involvement in this hobby. I've also had friends that I have had to distance from myself and my family due to their behavior. Paying the price should actually be making all of his victims whole, not just the Feds, I would posit he's halfway home but that 2nd half is the hardest part. To be clear, he sacrificed his family for greed, not sure he could ever make that up to his children. Think about the thought process of a man who would do that, he made that decision all by himself as an adult male with a family when no one was looking, that's a big moral leap that reveals a mans character.

[Mozzie22]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Phil-I’m not saying that Bill did nothing wrong, he did and he paid the price for it. All I am saying is that now that he paid the price he should be free to live a happy and productive life. I wasn’t at the National but I doubt that Bill came hat in hand begging forgiveness. He probably came to visit with some old friends. If I was there I would have loved to have seen him.

So you'd have no problem with him getting back into the card business if he decided to?

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by Mozzie22

So you'd have no problem with him getting back into the card business if he decided to?

If there is nothing legally in place that precludes him from doing this then I would have no problem with it. That said, I don’t think it would happen.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

What does that even mean? He spent a significant time in jail away from his family. If you think this is nothing spend a day or two behind bars yourself and see if you still think it is nothing. How much did you lose as a result of Mastro? No one wants to answer the question. I’m going to guess very little if anything.

Jay, I only meant I assumed, as others pointed out, that at his sentencing he was prohibited from ever engaging in the collectibles industry again.
In 2005 or so, when I decided to fold the Full Count tent, I auctioned off the inventory and my personal collection via Kevin Struss to Mastro. With Kevin as my watchdog, I doubt there was any hanky panky but the results were indifferent. For example, I sold a M101-5 RC of Ruth SGC 5.5 personally graded by Derek Grady when he was with SGC and received about $15,000. I shudder to think what that card would fetch in today's market.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Jay, I only meant I assumed, as others pointed out, that at his sentencing he was prohibited from ever engaging in the collectibles industry again.
In 2005 or so, when I decided to fold the Full Count tent, I auctioned off the inventory and my personal collection via Kevin Struss to Mastro. With Kevin as my watchdog, I doubt there was any hanky panky but the results were indifferent. For example, I sold a M101-5 RC of Ruth SGC 5.5 personally graded by Derek Grady when he was with SGC and received about $15,000. I shudder to think what that card would fetch in today's market.

He isn't prohibited.

[Santo10Fan]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

He isn't prohibited.

This is accurate. Mastro (de facto) promised Judge Guzman he would never work in the hobby after his release. The judge's sentence took that into account, in addition to the Catholic charity/volunteering as mitigating factors. Mastro pled guilty to mail fraud which carried up to a five-year sentence; instead he received a shade over a year and a half.

But if he ever turned up in front of Guzman again for a hobby-related crime...watch out. At sentencing he'd be effed with a capital "F".

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Santo10Fan

This is accurate. Mastro (de facto) promised Judge Guzman he would never work in the hobby after his release. The judge's sentence took that into account, in addition to the Catholic charity/volunteering as mitigating factors. Mastro pled guilty to mail fraud which carried up to a five-year sentence; instead he received a shade over a year and a half.

But if he ever turned up in front of Guzman again for a hobby-related crime...watch out. At sentencing he'd be effed with a capital "F".

Right, but I think where people may be confused is that it isn't actually part of his sentence, as it sometimes is, for example, in insider trading convictions.

[RL]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

What does that even mean? He spent a significant time in jail away from his family. If you think this is nothing spend a day or two behind bars yourself and see if you still think it is nothing. How much did you lose as a result of Mastro? No one wants to answer the question. I’m going to guess very little if anything.

how long were you locked up for?

[Luke]

If I owned Memory Lane I would be pissed to find out that this guy was behind my booth. Terrible optics no matter what the story is.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Luke

If I owned Memory Lane I would be pissed to find out that this guy was behind my booth. Terrible optics no matter what the story is.

He may have been talking to the owner, they do have something in common, and in any event I am sure ML will be fine.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

He may have been talking to the owner, they do have something in common, and in any event I am sure ML will be fine.

Sounds Crazy but I agree with both Luke and Pete. I think it might be something as simple as Pete says but unfortunately the optics are not good at the moment(maybe as more time passes.) But of course the Auction House will be fine