BREAKING NEWS: Sports memorabilia dealer admits scamming collectors in bizarre, $350M fraud and forgery scheme
One of the largest sports collectibles forgery rings in the hobby has been busted in a bizarre fraud and forgery case that is still developing.
The Westfield (Ind.) Police Department raided two locations on Tuesday and Wednesday, loading semi-trucks with seized items. The department confirmed Wednesday night that it discovered a dead body at one of the locations. Police did not release the name of the individual, but confirmed that they died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Sports collectibles dealer Brett Lemieux published a post in the Facebook group Autographs 101 admitting to forging millions of athlete autographs and holograms over the past 20 years under the company name Mister Mancave.
“Mistermancave has sold over 4 million items. Yes million. Surpassed 350 million in sales,” Lemieux stated in his manifesto on Wednesday.
Longtime autograph authentication expert Steve Grad confirmed the raid and posted about it Wednesday on X.
“Huge forger finally went down yesterday... insane details are floating out there today. One of the biggest on eBay. Insane stuff. Maybe one of the biggest forgery rings in the history of autographs. Stay tuned,” wrote Grad, the principal authenticator at Beckett Authentication and co-owner of Grad Collection.
Grad called the number of forgeries and fake items “staggering.”
“It's gonna blow away Operation Bullpen. It will make that look like small beans,” Grad wrote about the major fraud and forgery case from the late-1990s.
On Wednesday night, the Westfield Police confirmed that it had executed a search warrant in the 16800 block of South Park Dr. regarding a counterfeit sports memorabilia scheme. According to police, it extended its search on Wednesday to the 300 block of Hoover Street, where it found an individual who was deceased with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It did not release the name of the deceased individual.
Westfield is about 20 miles north of Indianapolis in Hamilton County. The 340 E. Hoover St. property is owned by Club Wag Investments LLC. According to Hamilton County property records, Brett Lemieux is listed as the registered agent for the company.
The City of Westfield provided no additional information and said the investigation is ongoing with assistance from the FBI.
Lemieux said Mister Mancave sold and produced items with fake holograms from some of the largest companies in the sports collectibles industry.
“It was an addiction,” Lemieux wrote. “How many items can I sell and give a front of a huge company. I did it for years. Purchased millions of dollars of legit items. Mixed it until [name withheld] found the hologram connect. Then I had the bank roll to buy even more. Do more signings. Every one item from a signing turned into 10,000. And it was certified. 95% of the [Patrick] Mahomes and Aaron [Judge] on the market are sold by me. Basically every autograph sold in the last 25 years you should have it looked at. It’s fake and someone sold it to you other than me. I wish I had the exact dollar number of money taken in from this and I’ll go to my grave never knowing. I kept this secret from everyone.”
In his post, Lemieux names multiple accomplices in the forgery operation. SCD is withholding those names since they are not verified as being involved in the longstanding scam.
Lemieux goes on to say that his family and friends had no idea what was going on. The business was run so well that even employees who worked for him didn’t have a clue that the items that they were selling were forgeries.
“The building was seized and I let it happen,” Lemieux wrote on Facebook. “The run is done. There’s over 500-700 MILLION dollars in value of holograms and cards in there. Let that sink in. Every company I’ve touched is now my b****. That was my goal. Once you came at me or spoke my name I went after you and your company directly. Intentionally.”
In Lemieux’s post, he admits that he hopes that the companies which he forged signatures and holograms won’t try to hide that this happened.
“I want to expose it all and how big of operation you all knew was going on but grasp how big it was,” he wrote. “I wish I could write a book about this.”
Lemieux said authorities raided the building housing the memorabilia in Westfield, a suburb of Indianapolis.
“It was a thrill having every athlete in every sport from every authentication company at your fingertips to produce the signature flawless, authenticate it with flawless bootleg holograms and then sell it for half of what a company does by the 1,000s,” Lemieux wrote. “That’s all I spent my time and my life on. What was the next item to do. Next name. Next flawless signature.
“I was addicted. It was a rush. I wanted out. But the money was too good. I can make [$]100,000 in a week if I wanted to. The fact that not one dealer that knew what we were doing to the industry, or when I took their exclusive, no one ever picked up a phone to confront me. That baffled me. I told multiple dealers I will ruin you and your exclusive. They knew better.”
Lemieux stated that some companies started making changes to combat forgeries, but added that he and Mister Mancave made changes as well. Lemieux posted that he worked on an autograph pen machine eight hours a day perfecting signatures that would pass any certificate of authenticity.
“You will see a boom in bad autographs with good stickers hitting the market like a firestorm,” Lemieux wrote. “I sold over 2 million in just holograms to every avenue I could.”
Lemieux ended his Facebook rant by saying: “Enjoy the industry all.”
A message to Lemieux for further comments was not returned.