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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 Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 6, 2018 at 10:11am: Sling, were you the one who bought the Revolver album from ARA that Frank Caiazzo opined on?

Comment by Adam Halloran on January 6, 2018 at 10:12am: It is a painful lesson, but it made you a smarter collector. They say hindsight is 20/20 for a reason. At this point there are enough experiences that others have gone through to learn to be cautious.

We all know ebay has more forgeries then legitimate pieces, it would be wonderful if they had a disclaimer or warning when searching for an autograph so people knew to do their own due diligence before buying, but it doesn't help that most TPA have trouble on agreeing and their example pool has forgeries littered in it.

The only way to 100% avoid getting screwed, is either don't start collecting in the first place (unless you get all in person) or really dive in past the casual and spend the time researching...Otherwise it is hard for me to feel true empathy.

It is your money to invest, treat everyone like they are trying to steal it, even if it is $50 or $250,000.

Comment by Fuddjcal on January 6, 2018 at 10:27am: Great post Christopher and 1 of the main reasons I did walk away. I'm not going to fill e-bays coffers when they are implicit to a crime and I'm not going into a hobby that is so disjointed where ever loser in the world comes out of the woodwork with impunity. I collect cars now instead.

I put my simple opinion out there and some dufus world traveler cat lover from canada jumps my s***. For my simple honest opinion. We disagree. so what?

Comment by Fuddjcal on January 6, 2018 at 10:30am: AND Thanks Sling. That's the really the only point I was trying to make earlier.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 6, 2018 at 10:57am: What forensic document examiner authenticated yours, Sling?

Comment by CJCollector on January 6, 2018 at 10:58am: The real "Proof In The Pudding" is that if the items that Antiquities sold in the past were authentic, Toby Stoffa would be enjoying life on island as a multi-millionaire away from society.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on January 6, 2018 at 11:11am: She should be put away from society. It is called prison. Judging by what I have read about her she has little humanity and is just 100% a grifter.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 6, 2018 at 11:17am: The CEO of a multi-billion dollar company saw American Royal Arts ads in Forbes and Money and spent $300,000 or so with them, including this "Mega-signed Guitar" for $100,000.

The guitar came with Christopher Morales forensic document papers and a letter of provenance purportedly from the person who got it signed: the father of David Wakefield, who turned out to be a close friend of Morales. His father had reportedly passed away by then.

This buyer was shocked to find out that reputable experts thought that all his autographs but one were fake: a Tiger Woods signed original painting that originally was sold by Upper Deck, but was missing its paperwork.

He was one of the people we were able to assist in getting their money back, but he only got it back because he used an attorney and was ready to file a lawsuit.

Most people not in the rare collectibles field are shocked that companies that look so legit could be selling forgeries. They are honest, so most don't think that an established business with major mainstream visibility and advertising could be selling fakes. They can't imagine that law enforcement wouldn't have arrested them long ago.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 6, 2018 at 12:00pm: Richard, in response to this comment of yours:

"In an old thread here there is a 1919 Black Sox baseball, bought by a gallery in California from Roaches Vomitcorner. Her son's gallery. Runs in the family I guess. Something to be proud of for a crooked mother, her son emulating her."

I talked to that collector. He also bought a bat, Babe Ruth perhaps, from the same seller, Antiquities of California, then on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco

The "Blacksox" ball came from Coach's Corner by way of The Joe DiMaggio Estate—someone bought the name "The Joe DiMaggio Estate" from the estate, and used it to sell questionable signed items represented to be from the estate. The customer paid $25,000 as I recall.

When he questioned it, they recommended sending it to "Ret. Col. Myron Ross," reportedly a handwriting expert in the US Army or Marines according to Antiquities. Myron Ross's website says nothing about being trained in forensics or being a military handwriting expert. It just says that he took a UACC autograph authentication course and UACC appraisal course:

http://www.heroesandlegends.net/about_us.htm

The customer got his money back on the ball as I recall, but they convinced him that the bat was authentically signed.