gblowfish
01-31-2014, 01:31 PM
Sorry if posted before, heard this being discussed on my morning drive:
Eli Manning and the New York Giants will wage a battle against what they called a meritless lawsuit filed Wednesday in New Jersey that claims that the quarterback and his team sold bogus “game-worn” jerseys, helmets and other bogus collectibles to unsuspecting customers.
“The Giants told me this suit is completely without merit and I have no reason to believe otherwise,” Manning said Thursday as his brother Peyton prepared to play in Sunday's Super Bowl. “The Giants are going to fight it and so will I.”
The New Jersey memorabilia dealer who filed the suit, in fact, has a dubious past — even by the dog-eat-dog standards of the sports collectibles industry. Eric Inselberg, who filed the complaint in Bergen County Superior Court, was linked in 2007 to a fake Michael Jordan warmup jacket scam that helped spark an exhaustive Chicago FBI investigation into fraud and corruption in the sports memorabilia industry that continues to this day.
Earlier this week, Chicago-based agents were among the federal law enforcement officers who raided and searched the Arkansas home and office of memorabilia dealer John Rogers, who owns one of the world’s largest photo archives, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
“The suit is completely without any merit whatsoever and we will defend it vigorously,” the Giants said in a statement. “We will not otherwise comment on pending litigation.”
Former NFL quarterback Archie Manning — the father of Eli and Peyton Manning — said the family was blind-sided by Inselberg’s allegations.
“It’s a bombshell, and it’s a bombshell to him, too,” Manning said Thursday of his son’s reaction. “Eli’s always tried to do what’s right. It’s Super Bowl week, and you’ve got to create a story out there but I don’t know anything about it.”
He later said the family would “get through that.”
The Chicago FBI investigation that included Inselberg also led Bill Mastro, the former owner of Mastro Auctions and once the most influential executive in sports memorabilia, to plead guilty to fraud in October and acknowledge that he had trimmed the world’s most valuable baseball card, a T206 Honus Wagner card once owned by NHL great Wayne Gretzky that sold for $2.8 million in 2007. He awaits sentencing in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Inselberg was one of six memorabilia dealers accused of selling counterfeit game-used jerseys to trading card companies and other buyers in 2011. The other dealers pleaded guilty, but Inselberg chose to fight the charges.
The Justice Department dropped its case against Inselberg in May of 2013 after his lawyers claimed Giants employees and other witnesses had lied to federal agents and the Illinois grand jury that indicted Inselberg. The lawsuit, the court papers say, is an attempt to make the Giants accountable for the false statements that led to Inselberg’s indictment.
“When the government came knocking on the Giants’ door, the response was a cover-up that threw Inselberg under the bus,” the lawsuit claims.
The suit claims that Giants employees created and sold dozens of fake items “for personal gain and out of cold indifference to the importance fans and memorabilia collectors place on authentic pieces of sports history.”
The lawsuit by Eric Inselberg is filed a day before the NFL holds a press conference during Super Bowl week to detail efforts to stop the flow of counterfeit merchandise and tickets.
The lawsuit by Eric Inselberg is filed a day before the NFL holds a press conference during Super Bowl week to detail efforts to stop the flow of counterfeit merchandise and tickets.
The suit alleges those items include a helmet on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame that Manning purportedly wore during the team’s Super Bowl upset of the New England Patriots six years ago.
Manning, according to the suit, participated in the scheme because he wanted to keep items he wore in significant NFL contests. The fraud was well-known among Giants players and equipment managers, the lawsuit added.
New York attorney and sports memorabilia collector Jeff Lichtman told the Daily News that while he does not know if the allegations leveled against Manning are true, Inselberg’s suit is yet more evidence that collectors need to do their homework. Obtaining items directly from athletes or their reps doesn’t mean they are authentic.
“It should tell you something about the hobby that even when you get an item from players, it may not be the real deal,” Lichtman said. “You wouldn’t spend $100,000 on a car without checking it out. Why spend that kind of money on memorabilia without checking it out?”
NFL officials, meanwhile, remained tight-lipped about the allegations that Manning and Giants employees were involved in the sale of bogus memorabilia. Instead, they focused on warning consumers about criminals attempting to sell counterfeit NFL gear.
“The only thing I know about it is what I read this morning. There were allegations that were made. There hasn’t been any findings. There might not be,” Anastasia Danes, NFL vice president for legal affairs, told a press conference Thursday morning. “I don’t have a response. I don’t know anything about it other than what I read in the complaint in the story.”
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/giants-lawsuit-manning-team-fake-memorabilia-merit-article-1.1596396#ixzz2s0ROol8Z
Eli Manning and the New York Giants will wage a battle against what they called a meritless lawsuit filed Wednesday in New Jersey that claims that the quarterback and his team sold bogus “game-worn” jerseys, helmets and other bogus collectibles to unsuspecting customers.
“The Giants told me this suit is completely without merit and I have no reason to believe otherwise,” Manning said Thursday as his brother Peyton prepared to play in Sunday's Super Bowl. “The Giants are going to fight it and so will I.”
The New Jersey memorabilia dealer who filed the suit, in fact, has a dubious past — even by the dog-eat-dog standards of the sports collectibles industry. Eric Inselberg, who filed the complaint in Bergen County Superior Court, was linked in 2007 to a fake Michael Jordan warmup jacket scam that helped spark an exhaustive Chicago FBI investigation into fraud and corruption in the sports memorabilia industry that continues to this day.
Earlier this week, Chicago-based agents were among the federal law enforcement officers who raided and searched the Arkansas home and office of memorabilia dealer John Rogers, who owns one of the world’s largest photo archives, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
“The suit is completely without any merit whatsoever and we will defend it vigorously,” the Giants said in a statement. “We will not otherwise comment on pending litigation.”
Former NFL quarterback Archie Manning — the father of Eli and Peyton Manning — said the family was blind-sided by Inselberg’s allegations.
“It’s a bombshell, and it’s a bombshell to him, too,” Manning said Thursday of his son’s reaction. “Eli’s always tried to do what’s right. It’s Super Bowl week, and you’ve got to create a story out there but I don’t know anything about it.”
He later said the family would “get through that.”
The Chicago FBI investigation that included Inselberg also led Bill Mastro, the former owner of Mastro Auctions and once the most influential executive in sports memorabilia, to plead guilty to fraud in October and acknowledge that he had trimmed the world’s most valuable baseball card, a T206 Honus Wagner card once owned by NHL great Wayne Gretzky that sold for $2.8 million in 2007. He awaits sentencing in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Inselberg was one of six memorabilia dealers accused of selling counterfeit game-used jerseys to trading card companies and other buyers in 2011. The other dealers pleaded guilty, but Inselberg chose to fight the charges.
The Justice Department dropped its case against Inselberg in May of 2013 after his lawyers claimed Giants employees and other witnesses had lied to federal agents and the Illinois grand jury that indicted Inselberg. The lawsuit, the court papers say, is an attempt to make the Giants accountable for the false statements that led to Inselberg’s indictment.
“When the government came knocking on the Giants’ door, the response was a cover-up that threw Inselberg under the bus,” the lawsuit claims.
The suit claims that Giants employees created and sold dozens of fake items “for personal gain and out of cold indifference to the importance fans and memorabilia collectors place on authentic pieces of sports history.”
The lawsuit by Eric Inselberg is filed a day before the NFL holds a press conference during Super Bowl week to detail efforts to stop the flow of counterfeit merchandise and tickets.
The lawsuit by Eric Inselberg is filed a day before the NFL holds a press conference during Super Bowl week to detail efforts to stop the flow of counterfeit merchandise and tickets.
The suit alleges those items include a helmet on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame that Manning purportedly wore during the team’s Super Bowl upset of the New England Patriots six years ago.
Manning, according to the suit, participated in the scheme because he wanted to keep items he wore in significant NFL contests. The fraud was well-known among Giants players and equipment managers, the lawsuit added.
New York attorney and sports memorabilia collector Jeff Lichtman told the Daily News that while he does not know if the allegations leveled against Manning are true, Inselberg’s suit is yet more evidence that collectors need to do their homework. Obtaining items directly from athletes or their reps doesn’t mean they are authentic.
“It should tell you something about the hobby that even when you get an item from players, it may not be the real deal,” Lichtman said. “You wouldn’t spend $100,000 on a car without checking it out. Why spend that kind of money on memorabilia without checking it out?”
NFL officials, meanwhile, remained tight-lipped about the allegations that Manning and Giants employees were involved in the sale of bogus memorabilia. Instead, they focused on warning consumers about criminals attempting to sell counterfeit NFL gear.
“The only thing I know about it is what I read this morning. There were allegations that were made. There hasn’t been any findings. There might not be,” Anastasia Danes, NFL vice president for legal affairs, told a press conference Thursday morning. “I don’t have a response. I don’t know anything about it other than what I read in the complaint in the story.”
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/giants-lawsuit-manning-team-fake-memorabilia-merit-article-1.1596396#ixzz2s0ROol8Z