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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 CJCollector on September 5, 2016 at 4:49am: Ebay seller Rbisportsinc (a major seller of GFA-certed forgeries) all-of-a-sudden has ZERO GFA-certed items listed.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on September 5, 2016 at 4:53am: This is such good news for the hobby. Not something I thought would happen so quickly. All the rats are now jumping off the GFA ship. Great news!!! Let's hope this guy wins the lawsuit, that is really important.

Comment by CJCollector on September 5, 2016 at 4:57am: Absolutely correct, Richard; This is REALLY important!!!

Comment by Joe W. on September 5, 2016 at 6:19am: Perhaps this is the straw that finally breaks the camel's back and put these players out of the game for good. They deserve worse than a mere lawsuit.

Comment by terrier8HOF on September 5, 2016 at 6:23am: imagine when all of the "poor souls" that actually believed they could get a Mantle-Dimaggio signed photo for 65 bucks find out that they purchased a worthless Red Sticker. Also, Ebay, even though I am sure they are legally protected, should be held accountable or all the money they made on these forgeries, and for turning a blind eye.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on September 5, 2016 at 6:33am: Ebay is the enabler for so much.

They at least used to have a pretense of caring. The EMR team and John Gonzalez worked very hard to try to eliminate some of the crap but ebay disbanded EMR and John is gone :(.

Comment by terrier8HOF on September 5, 2016 at 6:36am: I remember it well Richard. they even gave out nice blankets!

Comment by Richard S. Simon on September 5, 2016 at 6:47am: I remember a pen and a memory stick :).

Comment by Rick Meyer on September 5, 2016 at 8:15am: To bad AtAuction was not named as a defendant. Hearing they can't afford timely payroll much less a lawyer. That company needs to be targeted next.

Comment by J.Seah on September 5, 2016 at 8:49am: I hope there is a class action against these fraudsters. A friend of mine got scammed $2300 by Antiquities Las Vegas about 6 months ago with a fake James Bond's autographs set.