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 January 4, 2018 at 8:38am: I can understand his desire to get his money back, but at the cost of his integrity?? Jimmy Spence and I were threatened with a lawsuit many years ago. The attorney for the "injured" (LOL) party said that if we both made a statement in support of forensic document examiners they would drop the lawsuit. We both refused to submit to that blackmail just to save the money and aggravation of a lawsuit. We would not compromise our beliefs for that. We refused and were sued. The suit was dropped eventually. The plaintiff got zero from us.

Comment by Xwiesy on January 4, 2018 at 8:40am: Michael, these are great points. If you sued someone for $175,000 and got a chance to settle or risk losing....

What would you do? Say ah the hell with it, I need to think about the people of AML?

Comment by Xwiesy on January 4, 2018 at 8:41am: Integrity lol

$175,000 (or whatever the settlement amount was) or my integrity.

Hmmm...

Comment by Fuddjcal on January 4, 2018 at 8:55am: Hmmm or stand for something or stand for nothing AT ALL... I do see your points however As I read the complaint it was 10K worth of garbage that he is now calling real!!!! LOL If you have money for the attorney in a case like that, you take it to the mat. Was this 175K or 10K? And no, I'm not trying to do anything for AML or really care what anyone thinks. If I'm so dumb to be in that position to have to take legal ACTION, I'm taking it to the end Period. Despite the risks or costs. Otherwise, I don't even start the action. If I have to start something like that, I guarantee you I finish it, or die trying caue I actually stand for something and no need to get weak knees at the end. That's just me. I actually stand up for what's right (In my pea sized brain anyway). Very rarely do I have to use the legal system, but when I do, I'm not letting my foot off the gas like that. In any scenario. Being able to make a statement that "I now agree the autographs are all legitimate" LOLOLOLOLO and now I'm little Bo Peep...sorry aint happening here. too funny. What a joker. LOLOOL

Comment by Xwiesy on January 4, 2018 at 9:05am: I think his first case is to take care of himself.

If you want to sue for integrity's sake, go buy $100,000 from the Vegas folks and then sue, and we'll all cheer you on.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on January 4, 2018 at 9:21am: Say what you want, Jimmy Spence and I chose integrity, knowing we were facing an expensive lawsuit. We would not sell out our integrity.

True, it was not $175K but we knew it would be expensive but we had to stand by our beliefs.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on January 4, 2018 at 9:25am: Michael, you state your brother was under financial pressure and needed to get his $175K back. If he was under financial pressure then how could he possibly justify spending $175K on those items in the first place, even if they were real. People under financial pressure do not spend $175K on frivolous items, even if they are authentic (and let's face it, autographs are frivolous). Like I said early on in this thread, some guys have too much money.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 4, 2018 at 9:40am: The financial pressure is the $400-500/hour a good lawyer costs, plus experts. Daniel Odobas's only battle was to get his money back.

Why doesn't the autograph industry do more to protect collectors from forgeries? Epperson is one of the only active TPAs who speaks out, and is willing to be an expert witness. With rare exception, dealers, auction houses and TPAs don't want to get their hands dirty.

If the industry was more active in protecting collectors, far fewer would get burned.

Why do so many people shame the victims when the industry stands idly by while forgery sellers pee in their pool?

Comment by Joe W. on January 4, 2018 at 10:19am: Unfortunately, the hobby overall is too loosely knit. There needs to be an organization that has enough members and financial clout to fight these organized criminal enterprises straight up. And law enforcement willing to throw some of these folks into prison. It's a dirty business.

Comment by Xwiesy on January 4, 2018 at 10:20am: The industry needs to focus more on education and less on eliminating forgers, because you are never going to eliminate forgers.

If Vegas closed down, that would be it? Problem solved?

That lady isn't going to be a swimming pool installer....it's Freddy Krueger, man. Back from the dead, over and over and over.

Comment