Massive Sports Memorabilia Forgery & Fraud Scheme Unravels, Leaving One Dead & Collectors In Shock

A shocking tell-all Facebook post revealing details of the potentially largest forgery and fraud scheme in sports memorabilia collecting history is rippling through the industry this week with lasting consequences to come.

In the now deleted post, Brett Lemieux, a 45-year-old resident of Westfield, Indiana and founder of sports memorabilia site Mister ManCave claimed to have sold millions of counterfeit items with net profits exceeding $350 million.

The post went on to name alleged co-conspirators, one of whom has vehemently denied the allegations and is hiring an attorney, telling Cllct "I said five sentences to Brett my whole life. He makes me look like I was part of the whole thing. I never talked to him on the phone and don't even know what he looks like."

As the story spread across social media, many hobby enthusiasts said they were surprised at the size and scope of fraud being claimed, but not that Lemieux was involved, sharing their own stories of past negative experiences with him and his various business entities.

Lemieux was also sued by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s office in 2013 after customers complained they never received items they had paid for, resulting in an order to pay restitution to the victims.

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Shortly after the Facebook post started to go viral, news broke that when Westfield police were attempting to serve a search warranty of one of Lemieux's properties, they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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The man who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after investigators in the Indianapolis area began unraveling what they say was a counterfeit sports memorabilia operation has been identified.

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The FBI is assisting with the ongoing investigation, with multiple trailers full of evidence reportedly taken from the scene, and has referred media to the Westfield Police Department which has not yet released any further details.

The fallout from this scandal is likely to be far-reaching and long-lasting with the spectre of millions of potentially fraudulent items and/or forged signatures still floating in the market looming large over the hobby.

While it's too early to say whether or not the size and scope of the fraud is actually as large as Lemieux claimed, Sports Collectors Digest says they expect this scandal to have "a significant impact on the hobby."

Another industry news outlet, Sports Collectors Daily, says the scheme is a "wake-up call" to memorabilia collectors, quoting several who had run-ins with Lemieux in the past or had spotted red flags about Mister Mancave's operations.

Counterfeiting Scheme ‘A Wake-Up Call’ To Memorabilia Collectors

Red flags went up last winter when an avid collector saw a group of Wayne Gretzky pucks weren’t hand signed. Now, the man who may have been behind the scheme is dead and law enforcement is investigating how big it all might be.

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The Shopify-powered website for Mister Mancave is still active with items showing available for sale, but associated Amazon and eBay stores appear to have been taken down after the news broke.

The website and eBay store should not even existed, according to a ruling in another legal action against Lemieux in 2018 that apparently was never strictly enforced - though strangely the ruling did explicitly allow him to continue selling on Amazon.

Amazon has not responded to request for comment as of time of publishing.

eBay issued a statement on the investigation today, saying “We are aware of an ongoing investigation regarding a sports memorabilia and autograph dealer based in Westfield, Indiana. eBay has zero tolerance for criminal activity on our platform and will cooperate fully with law enforcement as they investigate.”

But Pawn Stars alum and current principal authenticator at Beckett Authentication Services, Steve Grad, didn't pull any punches about what he feels are failures in eBay's business practices and leadership that have led to autograph forgeries being a huge problem on the site.

Grad went on to say he believes eBay has a moral question to answer - but the company apparently values money over safety and trust.

Stay tuned for updates in this developing story.