Latest news with #counterfeiting
Irish Times
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
A counterfeiter's suicide note lifts the lid off a seedy corner of US sporting culture
At 9am last Tuesday, the City of Westfield police in Indiana pulled up to a warehouse on South Park Drive, armed with a search warrant and a fleet of semi trucks that indicated they knew exactly what they were looking for. As part of a continuing investigation into fraud and counterfeiting, they confiscated thousands of items of sports memorabilia. The following day, the same crew fetched up at a property on Hoover Street bent on adding to their pile of evidence. Upon entering those premises, however, they also discovered the body of Brett Lemieux, owner of both businesses, with a shotgun by his side. In the hours in between the first raid and the second, Lemieux apparently realised the jig was up, logged on to a private Facebook group and wrote a lengthy posting lifting the lid off an especially seedy corner of US sporting culture. The proprietor of Mister Mancave, an outfit that has supposedly generated $350 million (€299 million) selling autographed balls, bats and jerseys to fans across the country over the past two decades, admitted the majority of the merchandise he flogged was fake. The 45-year-old also named co-conspirators in the elaborate boondoggle, explained in some detail how they had scammed so many people, and then took his own life. 'I hope no one tries to hide this,' wrote Lemieux. 'I want to expose it all and how big of an operation – you all knew it was going on but grasp how big it was ... It was a thrill having every athlete in every sport from every authentication company at your fingertips to produce the signature flawless ... READ MORE '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.' According to some business experts, the sports memorabilia market in the US is worth a staggering $30 billion a year and growing fast. Much more so than in Ireland or the UK, the appetite for paraphernalia touched or signed by famous athletes in the US seems to be insatiable. The bigger the name involved or the more significant the moment the item relates to, the more ridiculous the sums are. The ball that Shohei Ohtani hit for his 50th home run last season sold for $4.3 million. From rare trading cards to game-worn gear, just about anything with a player's signature on it is eminently collectible and deemed to be worth money. Many make these purchases as investments, believing they will most likely increase in value as years go by. Lemieux's revelations and the awful circumstances of his demise have thrown a cloud over an already shady business that has traditionally attracted plenty of flim-flam artists on the make. One expert reckons the authenticity of just about every signed bauble bought and sold over the past 20 years must now be called into question. While some of his rivals seriously question the veracity of the numbers being bandied about in his name, if Mister Mancave did indeed, as he claimed, launch 80,000 fraudulent items into the market following the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, the true origin of every ball or jersey related to the former NBA star is in serious doubt. Young baseball fans attempt to get autographs before a game between New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves. Photograph: Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Established companies such as Fanatics, Panini, Tristar, James Spence Authentication, Mill Creek Sports, GT Sports Marketing and CardVault (50 per cent of which is owned by Tom Brady) are legit operators in the memorabilia space. These corporations fork out vast sums for the right to collaborate with individual athletes, teams and leagues, selling licensed merchandise bearing official signatures and imprimaturs. In a world where just about anybody can fake somebody else's handwriting, though, they also spend small fortunes combating armies of swindlers, trying to preserve the integrity of their business. [ Michael Jordan's 1998 Air Jordans sell for record $2.2m at auction Opens in new window ] Issuing certificates of authenticity (COA) with every purchase, they place identification holograms in products to prove their bona fides, and their security teams, often staffed by former FBI agents, trawl online marketplaces trying to catch grifters. It is believed Fanatics and other outfits assisted the authorities investigating Lemieux and his complex operation that was, for a long time, very effective. Partly this was due to him changing the business name any time suspicion grew up around his sales. Lemieux and his accomplices appear to have figured out ways to circumvent the elaborate precautions taken by the big companies. Using autopens purchased for $150 from Amazon to copy autographs, they also discovered an outlet in China that replicated the distinctive holograms deployed by their corporate rivals. Then they put their high-class fakes for sale online for half what they might cost from a more reputable source. When a signed Brady or Patrick Mahomes shirt was picked up cheap and subsequently gifted to somebody for Christmas, the recipient hung it in their home or office, none the wiser to any skulduggery afoot. Even after all the brouhaha surrounding Lemieux's scorched-earth posting and the talk of an authentication crisis in the industry, the market for gear seems unaffected. On eBay the other night, jerseys signed by Brady were going for anything from $599 to $10,000; some of them came with COAs, others boasted holograms. Genuine articles? Made with a nefarious assist from China? Who knows? In this business, you pays your money, you takes your chance. Always.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Autograph dealer identified as man found dead in Indiana raid of fake memorabilia
The Hamilton County Coroner's Office identified autograph dealer Brett Lemieux, 45, as the man found dead when police executed a search warrant into a scheme involving fake sports memorabilia in Westfield, Indiana. In a release Thursday, the coroner listed the cause and manner of death as pending, but in a statement Wednesday, Westfield police attributed "a self-inflicted gunshot wound" as the cause of death. A Facebook post attributed to Lemieux on the "Autographs 101" group sent shockwaves through the sports autograph industry Wednesday morning. In the post allegedly written by Lemieux, he detailed a huge counterfeiting business that sold more than four million items and surpassed $350 million in sales. The crux of the autograph forging operation was based in faking holograms of the largest companies in the hobby, including Panini, Fanatics, Tri-Star, James Spence Authentics, Mill Creek Sports, GT Sports Marketing and others. Lemieux's primary business was called Mister Mancave, which says on its website that it offers 'the largest framed jersey inventory on the web.' A Facebook page for Mister Mancave says the business is located in Columbus, Ohio, but no records of a physical store there exist. Mister Mancave has been incorporated twice in Indiana between 2018 and 2023. In the post attributed under his name, Lemieux said after Kobe Bryant died in January 2020, his company put out 80,000 fake items 'into the marketplace.' Sources told cllct Lemieux upset many companies that had official autograph deals with players because Lemieux's outlet would offer prices that were much lower and yet still featured holograms of authentication. An Aaron Judge ball, for example, would sell on Fanatics for $699. Lemieux's website at Mister Mancave would offer a Judge ball, with a Fanatics hologram, for $399. A Fanatics spokesperson said the company made big changes to its hologram two years ago after receiving information its former holograms had been copied. The new hologram has not been replicated since, the spokesperson said. Fanatics is currently working with two other partners to make additional changes that will make its stickers more counterfeit-proof. Sources say Fanatics has worked closely with law enforcement over the past few years, including the Lemieux case and the fake autograph ring in McKinney, Texas, that was unraveled earlier this year. Fanatics also employs former FBI employees to aid in its fraud prevention. Cllct contacted many of the companies whose holograms Lemieux said he faked. No others immediately returned messages seeking comment. Industry insiders told cllct they were surprised by Lemieux's post, which offered details of the alleged scheme. 'He's trying to burn the industry on the way out of the door,' one autograph dealer said. 'It's clear he feels spurned and is trying to impress people.' That source said he thought the numbers Lemieux boasted about seemed completely unrealistic. 'If he made and sold that much, the autograph industry would have been crushed,' the source said. RELATED STORIES: Dead body found during police raid on fake sports memorabilia in Indiana U.S. border agents seize $1.43 million worth of fake sports merchandise Charges dropped against two defendants in Jason Kelce autograph fraud Thousands of fake memorabilia items discovered in Texas probe Why so many Michael Jordan autographs are fake: A cllct investigation Another autograph entrepreneur, whose company does millions in annual sales called the $350 million number "impossible," adding he would be surprised if it were 10% of that. Longtime autograph authentication expert Steve Grad says no matter what the numbers, "this guy did years and years of damage." Grad said it's harder and harder to catch criminals because the autopen process is getting more and more nuanced. "This might have an effect on the industry in the short-term, but people have short memories, it will bounce back," he added. It wasn't like what Lemieux was doing was a secret, another industry insider said. 'He had tons of autographs from guys that didn't do a signing in years,' one autograph dealer said. Lemieux named names in his manifesto. He said Indiana autograph dealer Dominique Ball of Authentic Sports Collectibles "was the sole person who put out 100,000 Tom Brady items into the market" and that Nicklaus Litcher (sic) funneled the items Ball produced. A call placed to Ball was not returned. Nickolas Litscher, a chef in Wisconsin who has an autograph business on the side that most often manifests itself in offering prizes (razzes) on Facebook, told cllct he was shocked to see his name. "I said five sentences to Brett my whole life," Litscher said. "He makes me look like I was part of the whole thing. I never talked to him on the phone and don't even know what he looks like." Litscher said he is hiring a lawyer. Sources said Lemieux and his associates have taken on various names on many selling platforms, including Ultimate Sports, Athletes One, Signature Dog and All-American Authentics. Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network. Kevin Jackson is the chief content officer for cllct.
The Herald
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald
SA's illegal alcohol trade costs R16bn in lost tax revenue
South Africa's illicit alcohol market has grown by 55% over the past seven years, outpacing growth of the legal alcohol market, and is now worth R25.1bn. This has prompted a call from the Drinks Federation of SA (DF-SA) for collaboration between the government and the private sector to fight the growth of illicit trade in alcohol which has cost the government R16.5bn in lost tax revenue. Benjamin Rideout, research consultant at Euromonitor International, said nearly one in five alcoholic drinks sold in SA is illegal. 'Unlike some countries where home brews are the issue, SA is facing large-scale counterfeiting. The situation demands better control over production inputs like ethanol and much stronger enforcement.' The chair of DF-SA and CEO of SAB, Richard Rivett-Carnac, said illicit alcohol distorts the market and undermines trust in legitimate brands. ' In a tough macroeconomic environment, consumers are looking for bang for buck, goods that are affordable and the price gap of between 37% and 70% between illicit and legal alcohol makes illicit products more appealing, especially in low-income communities. He said 67% of surveyed consumers in the Euromonitor study, for instance, said they would knowingly buy illicit alcohol due to the lower price.' Moreover, he said illegal alcohol is a growing threat to South Africa's economy and public health. 'It drains billions from public funds, threatens jobs, and weakens the formal legal, taxed alcohol industry. Understanding the drivers of illicit alcohol growth and its magnitude is a step in the Right direction but we need stronger collaboration with the industry and government to really start removing the incentives that allow for the illicit market to thrive and intensifying enforcement.' During a panel discussion, Dr Shamal Ramesar, head of research at DF-SA, said 'communities are at risk, and the economy is the biggest loser when we delve into the pervasiveness of illicit alcohol. Recent testing with the University of KwaZulu-Natal found that many illegal products contain dangerous substances like methanol, which can cause serious harm. Unless we shut down illegal producers and educate consumers, lives will continue to be at risk.' DF-SA also announced a new national awareness campaign to help South Africans recognise illegal alcohol and understand the risks. The campaign will include tools for traders and consumers, tips on spotting fake products, and information on how to report them. TimesLIVE
Irish Times
21-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Despite being obsessed with money, Donald Trump does not understand how it works
In Dante's Inferno, the poet reserved one of his most ghastly punishments for the crime of forgery. Canto 30 of the Inferno describes the counterfeiter 'Adamo' condemned to the eighth circle of hell, just one above Lucifer in the ninth. In this Canto, Dante and Virgil, his guide through the underworld, meet two falsifiers, one of whom is Maestro Adamo/Master Adam, a counterfeiter who in Dante's youth had tried to debase the Florentine florin. Adamo has studied in Brescia, an Italian city in competition with Florence. He was persuaded by prosperous counts from Romena to debase the florin by replacing three carats of the usually pure gold coin with copper. The coin weighed almost the same, but it was a fake. Dante compares Adam to another liar, Sinon the Greek, the man who tricked the Trojans into believing the Trojan horse was an innocent gift. This betrayal led to the destruction of an entire civilisation. READ MORE Why would Dante equate Adam, an everyday opportunistic counterfeiter, with Sinon, the man who betrayed Troy? It seems disproportionate, but only if we fail to appreciate the central role of the florin in underpinning the might of Florence. In Dante's tale, the man who was undermining the reserve currency was a two-bit fraudster, Adam, whereas today the man undermining the world's reserve currency, the US dollar, is the president of the United States, Donald Trump . Traditionally, when the world is at war, financial markets experience a flight to quality, meaning to dollars. The opposite is happening and, for the first time in 100 years, the world is starting to doubt America's commercial credibility. In the Florentine Republic one florin was worth about €125 in today's money, and to give you a sense of what that meant at the time, a slave girl or a mule could be bought for 50 florins – about €6,000. As the Florentines expanded commercially throughout Europe, the florin became the trademark of the strength of the city as much as a medium of exchange. Pure gold, weighing 3.53 grammes, it became the reserve currency of mercantile Europe, giving it the pre-eminent role in international finance, like the US dollar today. Across the Continent, goods were exchanged in florins, debts were settled in florins, loans were extended in florins and wealth was measured and stored in florins. In the 14th century, the florin became the hardest currency in Europe, accepted widely as the unit of account from London and Bruges in the north, to Alexandria and Tyre in the south. When the world accepts your currency readily, it gives the currency that most elusive of qualities: liquidity. A simple definition of liquidity is the ease and time it takes to settle a trade in a currency. The more liquidity, the easier it is to trade. If, in the case of a coin, there is significant demand for the products underpinning the coin, the number of coins supplied will go up and, while their value will stay the same, their intrinsic usability and therefore practical value increases. Given its liquidity, everyone wanted to settle their account with the florin. The state that mints the money that everyone wants has soft power. Soft power is the power of persuasion. In today's context, consider the power the US dollar gives the United States. Oil, copper, steel, uranium, rare earths, timber, cotton, silk, diamonds – all these commodities are priced internationally in dollars, and to buy them the purchaser must first buy dollars, which the US generates for free. This gives the US a big advantage in global financial affairs. Given such high stakes, why would any president mess with America's most potent weapon? Because, despite being obsessed by money, he doesn't really understand money, how it works and what maintains its mystique. It's about trust (that most ephemeral of characteristics), financial stability and the long-term robustness of entire economic system. [ US borrowing costs top 5% after Moody's downgrade Opens in new window ] Reputations are very hard to establish but easy to squander. Donald Trump is squandering America's reputation as a serious country. The US's economic mix is now a unpredictable mess of unfocused tax cuts, broadening but incoherent tax loopholes, incremental attacks on the rule of law and, of course, chaotic trade wars and tariffs. While these may generate headlines, they do not promote financial stability. In the meantime, in plain sight, the Trump family are enriching themselves in cryptocurrencies. Congress is blessing this heist, while the US president habitually insults the Federal Reserve chairman, stating this week that he'd do a far better job himself, if only he could appoint himself . Is it any surprise that rational people are avoiding the dollar? The real dilemma is that Trump is behaving like a medieval king burning through the kingdom's treasury, which is already overspending. The US federal debt-to-GDP ratio is at its highest level in postwar history and climbing. At 97 per cent to 99 per cent of GDP, the debt is up from 35 per cent of GDP in the 1980s and about 60 per cent before the 2008 financial crisis. This level is comparable to the debt burden just after the second World War (when it peaked around 106 per cent of GDP in 1946). In the past 12 months, the US government spent in excess of $1.8 trillion more than it took in, marking the fifth year in a row with a deficit above $1 trillion. One of the most immediate consequences of high debt is the surging cost of interest. As debt has grown, and the Federal Reserve's rate hikes in 2022–2023 filtered through to government borrowing costs, interest costs have skyrocketed. Last year, the US Treasury paid about $882 billion in interest on the federal debt, roughly 3.1 per cent of GDP. [ Donald Trump pressures Republicans to back his 'big, beautiful' tax Bill Opens in new window ] To put that in perspective, America now spends more just to service its debt than it spends on national defence or Medicare. On top of this already-fraught situation, the One Big Beautiful Act with its tax cuts for the wealthy, will add more debt to the existing $36.7 trillion pile. Official estimates suggest the Trump tax cuts will add another $2.4 trillion to the debt. So who is going to buy all this new debt? Foreigners who historically buy a large share of US Treasuries bought only about 59 per cent of a recent 30-year Treasury auction, the lowest foreign participation since 2019. If foreign investors are to be coaxed to buy more US IOUs then they will have to be offered a higher rate of interest, which could push the US into recession, or a lower dollar which means that the US debt is made cheaper for foreigners. Once this occurs, the dollar and the Donald become intertwined. As US economic credibility is shredded, so too the mystique of the reserve currency. It's early days but a world where the US dollar is not the only reserve currency could be upon us. The Florentine florin was the world's reserve currency for close to 250 years, from the time of Dante to the discovery of the Americas. Wars, poor decision-making and over-spending at home in Florence, as well as the emergence of other commercial powers abroad, chipped away at its elevated status. Could something similar be happening to the US dollar now? Of course it could.
Malay Mail
13-06-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
AI, robots and smart shoes: The most eye-catching innovations at Paris's Vivatech 2025
PARIS, June 13 — Products ranging from footwear to AI counterfeit detectors fill the halls of Paris's Vivatech trade fair, which runs until tomorrow. Here are some of the highlights of this year's show gathered by AFP on the scene: Anti-counterfeiting AI For humans, spotting the difference between a Lacoste polo shirt and a fake sporting the brand's crocodile logo can be tricky. But French startup Vrai AI believes its artificial intelligence model can tell the two apart based on a simple photo. 'AI can detect micro-mistakes' made by counterfeit manufacturers of products like off-the-rack clothes, banknotes or even anti-malarial medications, co-founder Hugo Garcia-Cotte tells AFP. 'It's more reliable than humans,' he adds. Lacoste has been testing the AI model since November, with customs services in countries like Cameroon and Senegal also taking an interest. Visitors stand next to a Robocore's mobile advertising robot "Fourcast", exposed at the 9th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, in Paris on June 11, 2025. — AFP pic Robotic telemedicine Scooting around on castor wheels, column-shaped robots from Hong Kong firm Robocore can serve as mobile advertising billboards — but for now are mostly deployed for medical purposes in hospitals and retirement homes. 'We are in about 200 elderly homes in the United States, 1,000 elderly homes in Hong Kong, and we are in a lot of hospitals as well,' boss Long Hei Roy Lim tells AFP. The robots, each a few feet high, use AI to navigate environments autonomously, including taking the lift. They can also analyse patients' medical data and have conversations powered by chatbots from American developer OpenAI or Chinese competitor DeepSeek. Robocore says its robots can save time for health workers, whose workload is cut to simply checking up on what the robots have distributed to patients — hopefully limiting the impact of doctor shortages. With 50,000 units deployed across 33 countries, Robocore was hoping to expand into new markets thanks to its attendance at Vivatech. A man watches at an electric 4-wheeler veichle designed by Aemotion at the 9th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, in Paris on June 11, 2025. — AFP pic Nimble electric vehicles At just 79 centimetres wide and 2.4 metres long, French startup Aemotion's four-wheeled electric vehicle is designed to weave through traffic, saving commuters time spent in jams. Built in central France, the black transport that's not quite a motor scooter nor really a car is fully enclosed and can carry two people at up to 115 kilometres per hour. 'We aim to sell 5,000 of these a year within five years,' company chief Alexandre Lagrange told AFP at the company's stand, where he is showing off the third version of Aeomotion's prototype. Pre-orders are already open for the vehicle, with the company aiming to get road licensing early next year, with a price tag of €20,000 (RM97,932). The first drivers will get their hands on one in late 2026 or early 2027, co-founder Alain Dublin said. This photograph shows an Ashirase's navigation system installed in the shoes at the 9th edition of the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, in Paris on June 11, 2025. — AFP pic Smart shoes Imagine being guided on a walk around busy city streets not by brightly-coloured signs and traffic lights, but by vibrations in your feet. That's the promise of Japanese start-up Ashirase, which has developed a vibrating tool that slips into shoes aimed at making life easier for visually impaired people. 'We use AI for accurate positioning, by mixing the sensor data from the Ashirase device and location data from (a) smartphone,' development chief Ryohei Tokuda said. Users simply have to select a destination in the accompanying app and the buzzing inserts will let them know when to turn. Backed by carmaker Honda, Ashirase's smart shoe upgrades are already on sale in Japan. It hopes to bring them to Europe starting with a launch in Germany in September. — AFP A Devodog robot by Devoteam is displayed at the GTC Paris NVIDIA, at the VivaTech technology startups and innovation fair at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, in Paris on June 12, 2025. — AFP pic
