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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 Xwiesy on January 3, 2018 at 8:19pm: Not sure how it could be done but forcing them to show where they get sigs would be the end of it...

Comment by Rick Meyer on January 3, 2018 at 8:53pm: If walking a mile in their shoes means wasting tens of thousands of dollars in forgeries first, I think I'll take a pass.

Selling out and agreeing with the crooks that you now think they are authentic is laughable. He basically just got a belated refund. What did any of his efforts do to help anyone? Nothing. BTW who cares what the opinion of the plaintiff is now? He did get duped pretty bad. Far from an autograph expert.

Just my two cents Michael. I have an opinion just like you do.

Comment by CJCollector on January 4, 2018 at 7:00am: I just wanted to respectfully respond to a previous comment from Xwiesy.

If you remember, Xwiesy, I wrote "Ebay is probably the most dangerous place to buy autographs for people who don't know autographs."

That's what I was referring to as "dangerous." Those who do not know autographs.

If you know what you're doing and you have the knowledge, you can find some great deals on EBay.

Comment by Xwiesy on January 4, 2018 at 7:13am: Fair enough...I guess my point was that if you don't know what you are doing you shouldn't be buying autographs.

Comment by Fuddjcal on January 4, 2018 at 7:23am: Nice sellout...The buyer had these idiots right where they wanted and he sold everyone before and after him down the river, IMHO. He made no statement and now has to be squeak squeak mouse boy. LOLOLO. Zero respect in the end. The attorney had to be 50 K to chase down 10K and probably settled for half...In the end I think he is a dummy for buying the stuff and a dummy for settling with the caveat of keeping his mouth shut PERIOD, IMHO. For those scam artists to be able to put out a release like that is pure sickening and Michael your brother proved why he gets ripped off and the sellers are 1/2 the problem. A man that took a stand and then crapped out on the toilet. You can call me what ever you want but I'm like Howard Cosell... "Telling it like it is". A this is how they get away with it for 30 years. So funny it's side splitting.

Comment by Joe W. on January 4, 2018 at 7:34am: The buyer probably got his money back plus attorney fees. The hobby lost. Sharks win!

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 4, 2018 at 7:54am: I’d be surprised if many people believed that press release.

I’m just glad he got his $175,000 back. That’s a victory.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 4, 2018 at 7:59am: This quote from someone who said Antiquities sold him a fake Rolling Stones guitar puts it all in perspective:

“It had never occurred to me that a store that was positioned in such a high end mall with time honored stores such as Tiffany's, Prada, Coach, etc., would be suspect in their ethics but as it turned out, they sold me a fake.“

Comment by Michael on January 4, 2018 at 8:00am: Fuddjacl and Rick Meyer; I respect your right to speak your mind, but I wish you'd be a little less harsh with your tone. You don't know me and I don't know you... and this is a community. Using troll / comment tactics to make your point isn't cool, nor does it prove (to me) that you're either tough guys or smart guys. Dial it down.

The claim was for $175K not $10K and I happen to agree that with some more research Dan probably wouldn't have been scammed. He regrets not doing more due diligence but hindsight has 20/20. He isn't a sellout, he was under financial pressure and he needed to settle because he couldn't keep pumping money into a legal fight against people with more resources. The US tort system is heavily tilted towards those who have the most money. When I say "walk a mile" that's what I was talking about.

Hope that clears things up. Let's focus on the thread which is Antiquities and not my Brother.