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Antiquities Caesars Palace, GFA/Stephen Rocchi and AAU/Drew Max Sued for Autograph Fraud

According to the Courthouse News Service, Mr. Daniel Odobas has filed a lawsuit against Antiquities Of Nevada (Toby Stoffa), Drew Max (Authentic Autographs Unlimited) and Stephen Rocchi (Guaranteed Forensic Authenticators for "Fraud, Deceptive, Trade, Misrepresentation, Unjust Enrichment, Conspiracy, Bad Faith, Breach Of Contract and Breach Of Warranty."

Immediately below are links to the story.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/08/30/vegas-memorabilia-house-ac...

http://www.inquisitr.com/3472565/vegas-antiques-and-memorabilia-dea...

In my opinion, this was a long time coming.

Drew Max of Authentic Autographs Unlimited, gives himself the title of Forensic Document Examiner (FDE).

What in the world does "Forensics" have anything to do with autographs?

Very, very rarely in my opinion.

I don't know of any Forensic Document Examiner who knows sports or music autographs

It is also important to know that COAs and LOAs issued by Forensic Document Examiners or by authentication companies that use them, are much less likely to be genuine.

I have yet to see an authentic autograph of Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams with a COA from Drew Max (AAU).

Not one.

Just below is a link to a thread I wrote on Drew Max and one of his performances on the Pawn Stores show as he Forensically Examined an FDR "Letter To Clergy."

http://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/drew-max-forensic-...

Then, of course, there is Stephen Rocchi and his Guaranteed Forensic Authenticators (GFA) group.

In the six years since Rocchi started GFA, I have yet to see one authentic Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams or Joe DiMaggio autograph with a COA from GFA (Guaranteed Forensic Authenticators).

Also, since when does a Forensic Examination only cost $25.00?

Rocchi does all of the below for $25.00 and still can't get it right.

From Rocchi's website. Seriously?

You do not need "Forensics" to determine if an autograph is authentic or not.

http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/ebay-mantle-dimaggio...

http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/joe-dimaggio-forgeri...

http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/roger-maris-forgerie...

Just below is a typical Mickey Mantle forgery on a baseball with a COA from Stephen Rocchi and Guaranteed Forensic Authenticators.

It can be opined in less than one second as a forgery.

What is Rocchi thinking when he issues a COA for the below Mantle forgery?

Rocchi (Guaranteed Forensic Authenticators) has certed dozens of the below set of Mickey Mantle/Roger Maris forgeries on a reproduced Safe At Home poster.

A real authenticator would laugh and dismiss this garbage in a millisecond, but Rocchi has certed dozens of these as authentic.

These are, at best, laughable.

When will all of this "Forensic" madness finally end?

Tags: aau, antiquities, caesars palace, drew max, forgeries, fraud, gfa, lawsuit, pawn stars, rocchi, More…toby stoffa

9 members like this

Comment by Richard S. Simon on September 6, 2016 at 8:31am: Did not know that,, thx for the info.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on September 6, 2016 at 8:32am: Fuddj,,, you are the best,, I think I am funny but you always crack me up.

Drew Maxipad and Steve RocchiHead ,,, LOL,, LMAO

Comment by Rick Meyer on September 6, 2016 at 10:18am: The hardest part of winning this lawsuit is going to be the expert testimony on whether or not these autographs are authentic. Authenticating them is opinion only and to somebody like a judge or anyone outside the hobby they have no idea who's good at it or who isn't. There is so much bad press and factual mistakes made by all of them that any expert witnesses brought in would easily be chewed up by a defense attorney. It would take 5 minutes of research to shred PSA or JSA as experts. The court would probably consider a weekend night course in cursive handwriting over the confusion of trying to explain experience and self study as an authentication method. This will be interesting, if it ever makes it into court.

We can always hope the judge has a GFA authenticated Mantle on his desk in a display that's worth more than the ball.

Comment by Noogie on September 6, 2016 at 10:58am: If they wanted to do a class action lawsuit I am ready to testify. Antiquities - Toby Stoffa scammed me for $8500.

Comment by Mike T on September 6, 2016 at 2:42pm: @Rick You wouldn't present a company as an "expert", it would be an individual. Someone like Steve Grad for instance would have no problem testifying as an authentication expert with a proven track record. I'm sure Epperson would qualify as well.

Comment by Jason Charnick on September 6, 2016 at 3:26pm: the problem is the defense will go for "it's your opinion vs. ours." we all know all of GFA and AAU stuff is garbage, but to a judge, they'll need to weigh one expert's knowledge vs. another. and for every person the "good guys" present, the defendants will find someone to refute Epperson or Grad. Makes no difference that we know what the deal is, it only matters what you can prove. i'd want to come at it from a real scientific perspective... like i'm sure with some testing, one could easily prove many of the Safe At Home Mantle/Maris fakes were printed on paper with high quality inkjets or lasers that didn't exist when these guys were alive. show that info to a judge/jury, and they'd sink their teeth into it. show that 12-point (or whatever it was) checklist that GFA "supposedly" runs when they authenticate, and ask them to prove their scientific methods. and when the pile of obvious forgeries starts to pile up against them... when the science PROVES what opinion can not... that's when the good guys will really strike a blow against them.

of course, the real juicy part of the this won't be the trial, but the depositions, as I sure many of you know already.

Comment by Rick Meyer on September 6, 2016 at 4:08pm: They have all made mistakes. There is no authenticator out there that a defense attorney can not easily find mistakes they have made. PSA will get blown to pieces and Steve Grad will say what? Yeah my company sucks but I don't? Good luck with that.The lawsuit going to bash one guy for gaining and capitalizing their celebrity on Pawn Stars yet another guy who gained celebrity from the same show comes in and testifies?

No doubt training and certifications will come into play. Without any these experts would be chased out. These folks will stick to this is my honest opinion and if I'm wrong it was an accident defense.......but prove it.....like they always do.

I want to see this lawsuit win as bad as anybody. It just gets confusing and sketchy when trying to explain authentication and forgeries to those who don't understand. I talk to others about this who are not autograph collectors and I lose them in the first 5 minutes. Just think it will end up a big mess of "he said, she said" and gets tossed. This isn't the first time somebody has sued for being ripped off yet these places survive it over and over again. Just too low of a priority in the legal world to matter.

Comment by Mike T on September 6, 2016 at 4:34pm: It's all about track record when giving expert testimony. One authenticator has a proven track record of consulting for top auction houses, collectors, dealers and publicists. The other has a track record of being one of the worst in the hobby.

Comment by Rick Meyer on September 6, 2016 at 7:44pm: They will get a bunch of back and forth like this article which makes them all look like inept goofs and I predict it gets tossed. Always seems to happen that way. That's why the same players are always at it. Antiquities has been selling millions of dollars of inventory for what 18-19 years now and nobody has done anything. They survived the Jesse Jackson Jr mess with federal investigators all over it. Hard to believe this civil suit will end any differently. With a blind eye turned to it.

http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-self-appointed-experts-sullied-the...

There are no superstar experts in everything floating out there that has that rock solid of a track record. Unless they are being judged by themselves or by sticker collectors so invested to admit these companies might be great authenticating some autographs but the majority of autographs they are mediocre at best.

Comment by Bob Asher on September 7, 2016 at 5:41am: They need to bring the source of the items into play, most of the items sold in the Vegas stores are supplied by Tony Trumaine, has been unloading this crap for years and the FBI is on to this guy just a matter of time, all if not most of this stuff is coming from 1 or 2 people, follow the trail.