Chris Morales appears in court for an autograph case, read about the results.

[Lordstan]

Originally Posted by mdschulze

Is there some legal loophole here that I'm missing? Why hasn't this clown been locked up along with Coach's Corner? With all the evidence that is against him, and with no rebuttal from Morales on these public accusations, you'd think the Feds would have stepped in and closed him down by now.

It's just a matter of time before he authenticates a signature from Jesus and Coach's Corner has it up for auction.

Mike,
NOW up for auction on CC

It's an 8x10 with an incredibly important inscription.


This one is 11x17 and came from the Iscariot collection.




Mark

[mdschulze]

Nice job Mark... title it, "Holy Crap" and submit it to Mr. Morales and let him know that one of your ancestors acquired the sigs himself, in person, and that they have been locked in an old cedar chest up in the attic for the last 2000 years!

@ Mr. Williams: Nice article and research... I enjoyed reading it, thanks!

@ Big Dave: I didn't realize that they couldn't be held legally responsible for their actions/opinions. If authenticators have this to fall back on to cover their a$$es, then why aren't there more self proclaimed authenticators out there? Given today's economy and the increased amount of scammers, it's surprising that more people don't jump on the bandwagon... at least temporarily until they are exposed.

Additionally, I don't think it would be too hard to see where the fakes are being originated.... maybe a little heat from the Feds towards CC would turn up some names. Makes me wonder why this hasn't been done already. Is it because the Feds see this as a waste of time or for some other agenda that I'm missing?

[RichardSimon]

There has been an anonymous e mail which circulated a while ago.
It named several people as suppliers of CC.
Three of the four names did not surprise me at all.
However, the e mail did not offer any evidence of their guilt.

[thetruthisoutthere]

There are approximately 4,000 auctions listed by CC every month. I would bet a ton of money that all of their autograph auctions (vintage, cut sigs, historical) are supplied to CC by less then ten people. Maybe less than five. It's incredible the tens of thousands pieces of garbage that both Lee Trythall and Scott Malack have flooded the market with. It's insane that it still continues. The majority of it "authenticated" by Chris Morales, Forensic Investigator, and Ted Taylor (TTA & Stat Authentic).

[mdschulze]

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere

There are approximately 4,000 auctions listed by CC every month. I would bet a ton of money that all of their autograph auctions (vintage, cut sigs, historical) are supplied to CC by less then ten people. Maybe less than five. It's incredible the tens of thousands pieces of garbage that both Lee Trythall and Scott Malack have flooded the market with. It's insane that it still continues. The majority of it "authenticated" by Chris Morales, Forensic Investigator, and Ted Taylor (TTA & Stat Authentic).

This was my thought exactly! I can picture 3-4 guys sitting around the table with a couple of beers knocking out autographs and laughing about everyone they're screwing. I wonder how much $$ these guys have scammed out of people since they started? This pisses me off to the extreme to find worthless people out there who screw people out of their money, regardless of what industry it's in. What do you do to stop these guys? You and several others have written informative articles that can be easily accessible on the internet, but now what? It's frustrating to see this info out there with no rebuttals from the guilty and no pending criminal charges.

[thetruthisoutthere]

There is a ton of information on the web about the thousands of GAI authenticated forgeries with Mike Baker's name on the COA. But check out the below Ebay seller. Look at his photographs of the GAI cert. He conveniently cuts the GAI cert just above where Mike Baker's name would read. Of course, these Mike Baker certed forgeries are very obvious without the GAI cert.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mickey-Mantle-Si...item3cb962aa91

FAT-1.jpg

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mickey-Mantle-Wi...item3cb9629a98

FAT-2.jpg

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mickey-Mantle-Te...item3369008071

FAT-3.jpg

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by mdschulze

This was my thought exactly! I can picture 3-4 guys sitting around the table with a couple of beers knocking out autographs and laughing about everyone they're screwing. I wonder how much $$ these guys have scammed out of people since they started? This pisses me off to the extreme to find worthless people out there who screw people out of their money, regardless of what industry it's in. What do you do to stop these guys? You and several others have written informative articles that can be easily accessible on the internet, but now what? It's frustrating to see this info out there with no rebuttals from the guilty and no pending criminal charges.

Very true, Mike. The people who create this garbage and those that sell that garbage have absolutely no conscience.

[benjulmag]

is that Mr. Morales plies his trade in an unlicensed profession. In contrast to professions such as law, medicine, actuary, autograph authentication is an unregulated and unlicensed profession. So anybody, regardless of the person's competence or integrity, may practice it. The way to stop unscrupulous authenticators is to have licensing requirements. That will require that prospective practioners demonstrate competence in the area, as well allow the licensing authority to revoke the license of unscrupulous or incompetent licensees. Without that, it is truly the wild west out there, making it quite difficult to obtain criminal convictions.

I might add that it wouldn't be a bad idea for auction houses too to be licensed. Perhaps that might weed out some of the more unscupulous players.

[oriolesbb6]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

Mike,
NOW up for auction on CC

It's an 8x10 with an incredibly important inscription.


This one is 11x17 and came from the Iscariot collection.




Mark

Holy Sh*t thats funny