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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 sling on January 3, 2018 at 8:19am: +2 Xw-

Comment by Richard S. Simon on January 3, 2018 at 8:21am: eBay DOES NOT CARE.

There were a number of people who were part of the EMR team. Enhanced member reporting. I was on it along with other people, known by all of you, who were well versed in fakes.

We were not paid by ebay. We did it for the good of the hobby. Nobody got any monetary reward for the work we did. We policed the site on our own time and were able to report, and have removed, bogus items. We reported to a man named John Gonzalez. We were able to remove many bogus items.

What happened??? eBay disbanded the EMR team and John Gonzalez no longer works there.

eBay DOES NOT CARE. We were stopping forgeries. Certainly not all of them but we were effective. At no cost to eBay. Then they stopped us. THEY DO NOT CARE.

Comment by sling on January 3, 2018 at 8:27am: yes! By college most people should be aware that world is full of crooks and it is up to you alone to figure out any deal you are in. A thirty year old public store is slightly different though since one would expect any continuing fraud would be closed down by authorities.

Comment by sling on January 3, 2018 at 8:32am: makes me wonder how many lawsiuts re fake signatures. There's frank caiazza one in Fla, gotta have it nyc, dan in Vegas. Must be many more

Comment by Xwiesy on January 3, 2018 at 8:33am: There is no way to stop forgeries.

If it were about "caring" forgeries would never exist.

You participate in a hobby where you buy things where someone signs something that you don't see...you rely on your eye and what you know and the trust of the seller.

There is a guy on ebay who puts up Nirvana setlists every week, written by Kurt Cobain.

Sells them for $500.

I've somehow never been ripped off by him.

I know what you are saying, ebay should run through listings and remove them, but they are always going to be behind the curve...stop one forger, another pops up. These folks do this for a living and short of handcuffing their hands to a table, they'll find a way.

You have to know what you are buying. It is the same in any business. Ebay would probably rely on the education of their customers than policing thousands of sellers...or getting sued by forgers because again, this hobby relies on handwriting samples.

If you are in this hobby, you HAVE to know- forgeries exist, most are so bad that a slight education can save you tons of $$$. So educate yourself instead of relying on Mother ebay to save you.

Don't get me wrong, I see your point. But this is something that is never going to go away. If you think the guys at Coach's Corner are going to go get a gig waiting tables...

Comment by CJCollector on January 3, 2018 at 8:53am: Ebay does not care!!!

Of all the autographs sold, 80% of the purchasers do not know autographs.

If Ebay cared, then why don't they enforce their own Banned COA List?

The majority of those who buy forgeries have this idea that Ebay filters out forgeries.

They do not.

Ebay does not care and no one will change my mind about that.

Comment by Xwiesy on January 3, 2018 at 8:56am: Does ebay got through and make sure every 1965 Mustang sold is completely original?

At some point, with collectibles, the buyer has to do some work.

It would be an awesome world where everybody told the truth, when we get to that point, let me know.

Comment by CJCollector on January 3, 2018 at 8:57am: Xwiesy is right about one thing. The forgeries will never stop.

Comment by CJCollector on January 3, 2018 at 8:59am: I agree with you, Xwiesy, on some points.

The buyers of forgeries are half the problem.

Ebay had a team in place and hundreds of forgeries were being removed daily.

Then, in my opinion, they realized the amount of money they weren't making by removing those forgeries.

Comment by Xwiesy on January 3, 2018 at 9:02am: If you buy a Led Zeppelin signed Lp with John Bonham for $2500 is that ebay's fault or yours?

The way to get rid of forgers is education. And frankly, people are too lazy to do any work.

Why should we have a volunteer army removing listings...here let us save you from your own stupidity! Nobody should ever get ripped off, ever!

It's just not reality.

Like I said- I wish we could put these places out of business...but this is what these people do...they pop back up like Freddy Krueger.

There will always be a market for easy money.

What is simpler- shutting down a store in Caesar's Palace or just not shopping there?

She'd be back, under a new name, with the business in the name of a brother and she'd be there everyday peddling the crap. These folks ain't going to go honest. They just aren't.