Another Fake Favre And Much, Much More

A few days ago, news stories began appearing about a prominent sports marketing agent awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal charges in a case involving Super Bowl tickets and fake game-worn NFL jerseys. It is well worth reading the Sports Collectors Daily version of it here.

Court papers obtained by Sports Collectors Daily include an admission by this agent stating that from 2000 to 2003, he was able to purchase dozens of authentically-made NFL player jerseys from a Berlin, Wisconsin manufacturer (i.e. Ripon Athletic) and falsely represent them to collectors as game worn.

The article states that an unnamed trading card company wound up with some of the jerseys between 2000 and 2002 and cut them up for use on cards. Also interesting is this paragraph from the story:

"Between December of 2002 and February of 2003, Ornstein also sold or consigned 45 jerseys represented as having been worn in the 2002 season to an unnamed sports memorabilia auction company. Again, Ornstein and his associates provided false COAs. The government’s case indicates 20 of the jerseys sold for a price of over $30,000. The fate of those jerseys isn’t revealed in the court documents."

Well, I can reveal more information about this here.

In March of 2003 American Memorabilia held an auction which included a group of supposedly game-worn "NFL Properties" jerseys. All were from the 2002 season, and came with COA's from Lou Lampson and NFL Properties. And yes, a Brett Favre jersey was among them. At the start of the auction, 21 jerseys were listed, but an Emmitt Smith jersey was pulled before the auction close, making a total of 20 jerseys sold. I added up the prices realized for all 20, and the total came to $30, 942.23. The bogus Favre jersey ended at $3, 699.93. The catalog images of the jerseys can be seen above and below:

So who ended up with these fraudulent jerseys? Were these some of the ones an unnamed card company acquired? Are some of these still in the hands of unknowing private collectors? When and how were the other jerseys sold? Who else was involved?

This is an important story, and one in which more details will eventually surface.