Feds Say Up to 90% of Memorabilia Is Fake

Think that autographed Mark McGwire baseball that you've been eyeing on an online auction site is a steal? Buy it, and you just might be right, according to U.S. law enforcement officials. A federal investigation shows that 50% to 90% of memorabilia being sold in today's $1 billion market could be fake.
      During a recent investigation that ended on April 11, the U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI and Internal Revenue Service busted a multimillion-dollar ring that was trafficking in counterfeit sports and celebrity memorabilia. Operation Bullpen began in 1997 and ended with the arrest of 25 people and the seizure of more than $10 million in counterfeit memorabilia and the forfeiture of several million dollars in assets.
      As part of this investigation, a FBI agent posed as an executive exporting sports memorabilia to Pacific Rim nations. The Government seized, among other things, thousands of counterfeit photographs, bats, balls, jerseys, helmets, lithographs, magazines, gloves, hockey sticks, guitars, and record albums. Items seized included counterfeit memorabilia containing the forged signatures of Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Tony Gwynn.
      Typically, a trader along the distribution chain obtains a certificate of authenticity attesting to the genuineness of the items containing athlete or celebrity signatures, but some certificates are simply prepared by a distributor fraudulently filling out blank forms that were mass produced.