prosecution

February 10, 2016 By Jason DeBord

Former Mastro Auctions President Doug Allen Sentenced To 57 Months In Federal Prison

As mentioned last week, Federal prosecutors were seeking a four year prison sentence for Doug Allen, the former President of disgraced sports memorabilia auction house Mastro Auctions. U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman went further than that in the case of shill bidding and fake memorabilia, sentencing Doug Allen to 57 months, a much stiffer sentence than the 20 months co-defendant Bill Mastro is serving. Allen attempted to obstruct the FBI investigation after learning of it, which would seem to have earned him a longer prison sentence. [Read more…]

February 3, 2016 By Jason DeBord

Daily News Updates Their Ongoing Investigation on Mastro Auctions Fraud Case; Prosecutors Seek Four Year Prison Sentence for Doug Allen

Michael O’Keeffe with the New York Daily News continues to chronicle the ongoing saga surrounding Mastro Auctions and the Justice Department’s prosecution of principals from the sports memorabilia auction house, based on the FBI investigation that began in 2007. Yesterday, prosecutor filed papers with the Chicago federal court seeking a 57 month prison term for former Mastro Auctions president, Doug Allen, as a result of his “outright contempt” for law enforcement. [Read more…]

April 3, 2011 By Jason DeBord

Alteration of Historic Lincoln Document in National Archives Highlights Issues Related to Manipulation of Genuine Assets and Authentication

Earlier this year, a story broke about the discovery that a genuine document produced by Abraham Lincoln had been altered in order to make it more historically significant. While the identification and preservation of historic documents is outside the scope of the same in the entertainment/popular culture memorabilia field, the story is instructive none the less, and highlights the ease with which genuine material can be altered to make it more important and valuable. [Read more…]