Mastro/Legendary Article in Today's NY Daily News

[bcornell]

I'm looking at this excerpt from the article:

Lichtman also says that Forman was the victim of shill bidding and other fraudulent activities under investigation by the FBI. "It is an open secret in the industry that Mastro Auctions engaged in massive shill bidding and other fraud against the public and we would want the balance to reflect that," Lichtman says. "We look forward to seeing the bidding records and seeing the truth about Mastro's fraud."

Is it actually known what the FBI is investigating? I thought that could only be inferred, since they haven't disclosed it. And can Mastro be made to reveal the bidding records for any or all of their auctions? I certainly want to know if I got ripped off by shill bidding at any point in the past 7 or so years, but isn't the burden of proof on the bidder?

On another note, this is a well written piece of journalism. It details the story, provides substantiated quotes from the people mentioned (minus Bill Mastro) and the writer doesn't provide his own conclusions, but lets the readers do that for themselves. There have been some shoot-the-messenger attacks on O'Keeffe here in the past, but it looks to me like he's doing his job.


Bill

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bcornell

I'm looking at this excerpt from the article:

Lichtman also says that Forman was the victim of shill bidding and other fraudulent activities under investigation by the FBI. "It is an open secret in the industry that Mastro Auctions engaged in massive shill bidding and other fraud against the public and we would want the balance to reflect that," Lichtman says. "We look forward to seeing the bidding records and seeing the truth about Mastro's fraud."

Is it actually known what the FBI is investigating? I thought that could only be inferred, since they haven't disclosed it. And can Mastro be made to reveal the bidding records for any or all of their auctions? I certainly want to know if I got ripped off by shill bidding at any point in the past 7 or so years, but isn't the burden of proof on the bidder?

On another note, this is a well written piece of journalism. It details the story, provides substantiated quotes from the people mentioned (minus Bill Mastro) and the writer doesn't provide his own conclusions, but lets the readers do that for themselves. There have been some shoot-the-messenger attacks on O'Keeffe here in the past, but it looks to me like he's doing his job.

Bill

Okeefe and I talk every now and then. I used to not really care for him but now I like him. Things change. He's just doing his job. I hope he goes to the National as I would love to meet him.

[oldjudge]

If the rumors I have heard are true, there is another bidder who owes Mastro Auctions about $400,000. If this amount and Dave's amount were paid I would guess that all the consignors could be paid and at least part of this ugly saga put to rest.
One thing I don't understand is that if Silk Road holds an ownership position in both Mastro Auctions and Legendary Auctions why, if the amounts still owed consignors are not too large, doesn't Silk Road advance Mastro the funds to pay off the consignors and lift the cloud off Legendary. Then at least their investment in Legendary might have a chance of paying off. Otherwise, I agree with the other posters who are not optimistic about Legendary's chances of survival.

[Peter_Spaeth]

According to a court papers filed in the Northern District of Illinois, Bill Fisher owes Mastro a number in the low 6 figures, but has declared bankruptcy. I don't know if that is who Jay is referring to, or if there is yet another debtor in the picture.

[daviddbreadman]

This guys flip flops more than Obama! (sorry for the political position there LOL) He puts out self promoting article in the PSA SMR stating how the new Legendary is tops with ethics and etc etc. Behind the scenes he's telling people "too bad you're out the money, you are too small for me to worry about (at $250,000 at that!! too small???). Then he gets roasted and panics and sends emails trying to do damage control and selectively paying people (I do hope that the individual did get his $5k recently).

There is no doubt the tomfoolery in essentially closing Mastro and reopening under Legendary was done for two reasons. Bill Mastro had to go, easy enough, but just to dump him and be left with Mastro without Bill Mastro is still a problem, so lets also get rid of the debts and create a new name, screw those we owe, the people we need for our business, so we can make more money for ourselves.