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FBI Investigating American Royal Arts, Christopher Morales and Others Over Rock and Roll Forgeries

The rumors circulating autograph hobby are true. Since 2008, the New York Office of the FBI has been investigating Florida-based autograph and memorabilia gallery chain American Royal Arts and its owner, Jerry Gladstone, over the suspected trafficking in rock and roll forgeries. According to marketing claims by Gladstone, American Royal Arts was the world's largest seller of signed music memorabilia, specializing autographs of the Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Eagles and other in-demand rock bands and artists.

The FBI typically doesn't publicly acknowledge or discuss an open investigation unless and until they issue arrest warrants. No arrest warrants have been issued that I'm aware of, and it's always possible that none will be. Nothing I'm discussing here has come directly from the FBI. Everything comes from our own investigation and interviews.

The FBI's more than 30 month investigation has grown to include ARA associates and authenticators, including forensic document examiners Christopher Morales and E'lyn Bryan, ARA's memorabilia suppliers, and others from Florida to Hawaii.

The FBI raided American Royal Arts' headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., in late February, 2010, and around the same time served document subpoenas on Christopher Morales in Falls Church, Va., where he maintains his office. We believe that E'Lyn Bryan, also of Boca Raton, was served with document subpoenas around that time.

On August 14, ARA filed an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, which is a filing in Florida courts similar to a Chapter 7 filing in Federal Bankruptcy Court. In a related deposition on Sept. 7, ARA executive Agnes Palmer reportedly testified that a result of the FBI's subpoena, approximately 90-percent of ARA's autograph inventory was either seized by the FBI, ordered held under subpoena and stored at their headquarters, or determined by ARA to be unsalable.

According to Gladstone over several phone conversations with me—one with historical autograph dealer John Reznikoff serving as "referee"—ARA purchased most of their rock autographs from Heroes and Legends in Calif., owned by Myron Ross; Forever Legends in Calif., owned by Maria Brockway; Autograph Central in Ill., owned by Bryan Slaven; and Gallery of Dreams in Calif., owned by Bruce Hall. Until late 2009, Christopher Morales was listed on Gallery of Dreams' Executive Profiles Web page as their authenticator.

Brockway and Slaven are convicted felons.

We have also found evidence linking Rock Star Gallery in Phoenix, Ariz., as a source of ARA's autographed items.

According to Gladstone, Gallery of Dreams was the source of the forged autographed guitars, and altered rock artist signing photos that ARA used to sell them that were the subject of ABC News 20/20 and Inside Edition television reports in late 2009.

I received a surprise phone call from Gladstone last May, in which he thanked me for discovering the photoshopped signing photos and said that he had discovered he was a victim of fraud by his suppliers, claiming they sold him forgeries without his knowledge.

Common sense and Gladstone's aggressive actions over the years against Frank Caiazzo, Autograph, me, personally, and others make his lack of knowledge of the fraud hard for me to believe. But if the FBI's investigations result in indictments, that will be for a court to decide.

A number of respected members of the autograph hobby have been involved in the FBI investigation. Most important of all, the dealer who brought ARA and Morales to the FBI's attention. A member of Autograph Magazine Live!, I won't mention his name without his permission, or name most of the others involved at this time.

I became aware of the investigation several months in, when I got a call from FBI Special Agent Jim Wynne. One of Jim's specialties is art and collectables crime, and I couldn't be more impressed with his skill, intelligence and dedication. I've had the privilege of helping by finding victims, connections and evidence since then. It's something I'll never forget. I've chosen to keep the story under wraps until recently, so not deter the FBI's investigation. That's not typically what a journalist does; our job is to report the news as quickly and fully as possible. I hope you'll understand and forgive my delay. Even now, I'm limited in what I can share with you.

I'll tell you more about it soon, but it's 4 a.m. and want to get a little shuteye. But before I sign-off, I want to thank someone who has not only been my right hand through much of my efforts; he has selflessly paid the price of his incredibly generous cooperation. I didn't ask his permission to mention his name, but hopefully he won't mind:

Roger Epperson
Not only has Roger been there whenever I needed him to give me his opinion on autographs and provide leads, he has helped many victims of unscrupulous dealers recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds on forgeries.

Roger's efforts and willingness to speak his mind have made him the music forgery industry's Public Enemy No. 1. Roger has been the subject of fraudulent so-called "stings," and defamed on fraud industry propaganda sites Autograph Alert and IADA by Gladstone associates Stephen Koschal and Michael Frost; as well as one that Gladstone admitted that he controls, Behind the Gavel.

They tried to ruin him...but they couldn't.

Roger, I can't thank you enough for all your help, and all you've done to help collectors.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 2, 2010 at 6:05pm: Bill, don't go away. We're all entitled to our opinions here, and when someone says something anyone can disagree.

Comment by john reznikoff on October 2, 2010 at 9:34pm: Bill,
Your opinion matters to me just as I hope mine does to you. We can take a page out of DB's book and agree to disagree without being disagreeable.

Comment by DB on October 3, 2010 at 2:29am: Tora, Tora, Tora, and like Alice Frazier "Our apologies – this page was not found" and yet another sneak attack it appears out of nowhere and and hopefully disappears just as quickly.

Some people, as in this april article, should just stay retired and hit & run posts;

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-04-08/news/brickell-resident-step...

Comment by Bill Panagopulos on October 3, 2010 at 7:43am: An ode to DB, from Mitsuo Fuchida, Jr:

Bearing in mind the high esteem, or perhaps
Low, I am held in some quarters, I have chosen to lay low or
Otherwise abstain from further posts.
When the time comes for me to

Meander back to these parts, I will certainly
Earnestly rejoin these conversations.

Comment by Bill Panagopulos on October 3, 2010 at 12:16pm: Steve did not delete any posts - I deleted my own.

Lovely weather here in Ct. Let's go Yankees!

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 3, 2010 at 12:33pm: TJ,

Just click "stop following" at the bottom of a blog or discussion and you shouldn't get any responses except for your own posts. Then you can leave your email on and should only get emails regarding your posts or announcements.

This is a moderated site, but with a light touch. If we don't ban abusive members and delete inappropriate activity, this site will eventually become the Wild West, like the rest of the Internet. Alice Frazier was a profile used by forgery folks and when they start making harassing or defamatory postings I ban them.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 3, 2010 at 12:38pm: TJ, I just reread you message about the "stop following" function. I'll see if we can do something about that; the platform we use has limited flexibility. What we need to do, though, is put together a good help section. Thanks for your input.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 3, 2010 at 2:05pm: TJ, the altered photos were provided by Gallery of Dreams, which got them from Tony Tremayne (spelling may be off), who appears to be the source of the signed instruments marketed by G/D. Tremayne is reported to be a long-time forger.

Gallery of Dreams was the source of the forged Legends multi-signed guitar that we ran in a magazine feature as genuine a few years ago without having it authenticated by Roger Epperson first. The owner was a respected collector and UACC boardmember who told us he got signed in person, so I never thought he wouldn't tell the truth. Turns out they bought it at a charity auction supplied by Gallery of Dreams (which may have never sold a genuine autograph, ever), but the collector wanted to feed his ego by us thinking he got it signed himself.

That's when I realized that autograph collecting is more than a hobby. For some it's a personality disorder.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 3, 2010 at 2:17pm: TJ, I should mention that Chris Morales was listed as a G/D executive until the doctored photos were exposed. Morales was the "independent court-approved forensic examiner" that Jerry Gladstone was referring to as having confirmed the authenticity of the signed guitars. All the Legends guitars we saw that ARA sold their customers had Morales COAs at least.

Comment by DB on October 3, 2010 at 3:52pm: For some it's a personality disorder. Steve, now that is funny...

Oh and Bill, thanks for the ODE although many will not know what we are talking about as that post was justly fremoved but the link will provide some background...

but as we say in New England - Yankees S*&K but let's not quibble... did I hear the Yankees stopped them from winning the division.... but onto the playoffs albeit limping but the Sox will limp all the way home this playoff season.

this site will eventually become the Wild West, like the rest of the Internet. Alice Frazier was a profile used by forgery folks and when they start making harassing or defamatory postings I ban them. No chit... it must be a full time chore with this site, Steve, !

Unfortunately, there are two sides - those more interested in profit and those interested in cleaning up the marketplace. BTW, that post that no longer exists.... ifyou follow the thread comments it leads one eerily to the same message and if you are clver enough to a website that has Hermann and Rez portrayed in a questionable light. So questionable, that it possibly set's the stage for significant issues especially if any of the allegations are false or taken out of context.

Thanks Steve on the update with the Florida AG's office... as there are some remedies that can be taken when the masses take the first step.

ok, back to Philly/Redskins