Friday, March 2, 2018

Dude Gonna Do Time In Federal Pound Him In The Ass Prison


There is a story in the Sports Card Daily that is a perfect example of a scammer ripping off a naïve collector. The scammer has been grabbed and is awaiting trial, but as I re-read the story something additional caught my attention.

What happened is Thomas Martin Beatty Jr. from Omaha, Nebraska was selling four cards; a 1952 Topps Mantle, a 1957 Topps Mantle, a 1957-58 Topps Bill Russell and a 1965 Topps Joe Namath, on eBay last year and eventually made a deal with a buyer out of Massachusetts last August for $117,500 for all four cards. The buyer paid through wire transfer and Beatty sent the cards through the USPS. This is information that is all fact. Now on to the troubling part.

In the end it turned out that all four cards were reprints and Beatty was knowingly selling them as original and graded cards. The US Attorney’s office got involved and an investigation was done and during the investigation the authorities found that Beatty had more than $2,000 in counterfeit bills in his home. He has been charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and possession of counterfeit money. I do not know how the US Attorney's office got involved.

I have two questions; first, how as it that the buyer purchased original and graded cards without knowing?  Unless the grading company was a fly by night (looking at you GMA) who couldn’t tell the difference or the flips from a PSA or BGS was fake. If I were spending $117k on four graded cards you can be certain I am going to verify each cert # to make sure it is listed, and it is the same card that PSA or BGS has in their registry.

Second, how long do you think he will get? I looked in to it and this guy is going to do serious time all for selling reprint cards as original cards.

Mail fraud is up to $1 million in fines and/or 30 years in prison
Wire fraud is up to $250k fines and/or 20 years in prison
Possessing counterfeit money is up to $250k fines and/or 20 years in prison
Money laundering is up to $500k fine and/or 20 years in prison

+1 if you got the Office Space reference in the title.

3 comments:

  1. I wouldn't be dropping 117K on any 4 cards period. Even if I had it.

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  2. Not sure I'm at the point where I want the guy to get gang raped in prison, but I hope he serves long enough to learn from his mistake and come out a better human being with a second chance in life. However... if the guy happens to be a career criminal who has done stuff like this before... them maybe he needs to experience a nice pounding.

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  3. Just think how many subscriptions to Vibe you could get with $117K? A whole lot more than 40.

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