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FBI Investigating American Royal Arts, Christopher Morales and Others Over Rock and Roll Forgeries

The rumors circulating autograph hobby are true. Since 2008, the New York Office of the FBI has been investigating Florida-based autograph and memorabilia gallery chain American Royal Arts and its owner, Jerry Gladstone, over the suspected trafficking in rock and roll forgeries. According to marketing claims by Gladstone, American Royal Arts was the world's largest seller of signed music memorabilia, specializing autographs of the Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Eagles and other in-demand rock bands and artists.

The FBI typically doesn't publicly acknowledge or discuss an open investigation unless and until they issue arrest warrants. No arrest warrants have been issued that I'm aware of, and it's always possible that none will be. Nothing I'm discussing here has come directly from the FBI. Everything comes from our own investigation and interviews.

The FBI's more than 30 month investigation has grown to include ARA associates and authenticators, including forensic document examiners Christopher Morales and E'lyn Bryan, ARA's memorabilia suppliers, and others from Florida to Hawaii.

The FBI raided American Royal Arts' headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., in late February, 2010, and around the same time served document subpoenas on Christopher Morales in Falls Church, Va., where he maintains his office. We believe that E'Lyn Bryan, also of Boca Raton, was served with document subpoenas around that time.

On August 14, ARA filed an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, which is a filing in Florida courts similar to a Chapter 7 filing in Federal Bankruptcy Court. In a related deposition on Sept. 7, ARA executive Agnes Palmer reportedly testified that a result of the FBI's subpoena, approximately 90-percent of ARA's autograph inventory was either seized by the FBI, ordered held under subpoena and stored at their headquarters, or determined by ARA to be unsalable.

According to Gladstone over several phone conversations with me—one with historical autograph dealer John Reznikoff serving as "referee"—ARA purchased most of their rock autographs from Heroes and Legends in Calif., owned by Myron Ross; Forever Legends in Calif., owned by Maria Brockway; Autograph Central in Ill., owned by Bryan Slaven; and Gallery of Dreams in Calif., owned by Bruce Hall. Until late 2009, Christopher Morales was listed on Gallery of Dreams' Executive Profiles Web page as their authenticator.

Brockway and Slaven are convicted felons.

We have also found evidence linking Rock Star Gallery in Phoenix, Ariz., as a source of ARA's autographed items.

According to Gladstone, Gallery of Dreams was the source of the forged autographed guitars, and altered rock artist signing photos that ARA used to sell them that were the subject of ABC News 20/20 and Inside Edition television reports in late 2009.

I received a surprise phone call from Gladstone last May, in which he thanked me for discovering the photoshopped signing photos and said that he had discovered he was a victim of fraud by his suppliers, claiming they sold him forgeries without his knowledge.

Common sense and Gladstone's aggressive actions over the years against Frank Caiazzo, Autograph, me, personally, and others make his lack of knowledge of the fraud hard for me to believe. But if the FBI's investigations result in indictments, that will be for a court to decide.

A number of respected members of the autograph hobby have been involved in the FBI investigation. Most important of all, the dealer who brought ARA and Morales to the FBI's attention. A member of Autograph Magazine Live!, I won't mention his name without his permission, or name most of the others involved at this time.

I became aware of the investigation several months in, when I got a call from FBI Special Agent Jim Wynne. One of Jim's specialties is art and collectables crime, and I couldn't be more impressed with his skill, intelligence and dedication. I've had the privilege of helping by finding victims, connections and evidence since then. It's something I'll never forget. I've chosen to keep the story under wraps until recently, so not deter the FBI's investigation. That's not typically what a journalist does; our job is to report the news as quickly and fully as possible. I hope you'll understand and forgive my delay. Even now, I'm limited in what I can share with you.

I'll tell you more about it soon, but it's 4 a.m. and want to get a little shuteye. But before I sign-off, I want to thank someone who has not only been my right hand through much of my efforts; he has selflessly paid the price of his incredibly generous cooperation. I didn't ask his permission to mention his name, but hopefully he won't mind:

Roger Epperson
Not only has Roger been there whenever I needed him to give me his opinion on autographs and provide leads, he has helped many victims of unscrupulous dealers recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds on forgeries.

Roger's efforts and willingness to speak his mind have made him the music forgery industry's Public Enemy No. 1. Roger has been the subject of fraudulent so-called "stings," and defamed on fraud industry propaganda sites Autograph Alert and IADA by Gladstone associates Stephen Koschal and Michael Frost; as well as one that Gladstone admitted that he controls, Behind the Gavel.

They tried to ruin him...but they couldn't.

Roger, I can't thank you enough for all your help, and all you've done to help collectors.

Comment by CJCollector on October 1, 2010 at 1:45am: Many of us have been battling these people for a long, long time and it's about time the casual autograph collector realized what is going. Those of us who study autographs and are serious about collecting autographs know who to stay away from. The casual collector hears the title "forensic document examiner" and are impressed by the title. The Nicholas Burczyk COA accompanies tens of thousands of Mantle, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, etc. and there is no proof whatsoever that Mr. Burczyk ever examined or looked at one autograph item. That Burczyk COA is generic in nature and doesn't hold any water. A forensic examiner "authenticated (and I use that term loosely)" Ebay item number 180559579577 which is a "Mickey Charles Mantle" autographed baseball with the inscription of "No 7." An authentic baseball signed like that by "The Mick" should have sold for well over $2,000.00 since they are none in existence; that Ebay auction had a final bid of $330.00. The point I'm making is that people who should be reading this blog or who should have read the book "Operation Bullpen" aren't. They go on Ebay and think that Ebay filters out forgeries. Look at the now-defunct GAI certs that accompany between 10,000 and 15,000 Mantle, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, etc. autographed photos that have flooded Ebay over the past 90 days. The autographs on that inventory certed by GAI are not authentic. Between 50,000 and 80,000 of those pieces (10,000-15,000 certed by the now-defunct GAI) are now beginning to flood Ebay at a alarming rate. That inventory is only certed by GAI, Stat or Burczyk. All of a sudden that inventory floods the marketplace (beginning a few years ago) 10-12 years after "The Mick" passed away and much of that garbage is selling on Ebay for between $27.00 and $80.00 for a Mantle signed photograph. The point I'm making is that all of this has gone on for too long and it's time all of this was brought to a national level. It seems that the good guys are the ones with the targets on their back and now it's time to reverse the tide. It's important to understand that we are outnumbered and outgunned but we have the passion to continue despite being attacked on a daily basis and despite continuous attempts at intimidation against us. I thought about quit the battle many times, but if we quit the bad guys win. We cannot allow that.

Comment by john reznikoff on October 1, 2010 at 4:20am: Christopher,
That is so well said!!!! It IS time to reverse the tide. I think if there is commerce on this site it could be far more vetted than any eBay site. We probably could have an "approved dealers" only auction site and store but that won't happen without significant support for Cyrkin. It's a dream ...but one that CAN materialize.

Comment by john reznikoff on October 1, 2010 at 4:22am: I like the term "operation backstage pass" . We should adopt that

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 1, 2010 at 7:32am: "Dogfights," Bill?

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 1, 2010 at 7:33am: Chris, John...what about SignedCrock.com?

Comment by scott on October 1, 2010 at 7:49am: You could initially have the same website information on the web with 5 different site names. The goal is to increase visibility for people researching reputable autograph collecting. Future autograph collectors could learn about reputable dealers and Autograph Magazine before they make mistakes and leave autograph collecting for good.

Comment by roger epperson on October 1, 2010 at 8:15am: Bill
I find what you just stated very hard to believe. Please tell me you are just joking.

Comment by CJCollector on October 1, 2010 at 9:14am: This stuff can no longer be tolerated and must be heavily challenged. The few of us that do it on a continuous basis year after year do it because it's our passion to battle those people that infect the hobby. And as huge as the problem is with those sellers I have always said that if people (I call them wannabe collectors) didn't buy that garbage that would solve half of the problem immediately. Those people can't stay in business if people don't buy. Just a little common sense goes a long way. The majority of people who buy autographs on Ebay have absolutely no common sense. A little bit of common sense dictates that if a seller has sold over 1,000 signed photos in two months that it should raise a red flag. I know I'm getting a little off topic here but I have to vent a little. Buyers should always look at a seller's feedback before buying. I can't count the number of bad sellers I've exposed who finance their purchases of authentic autographs by selling forgeries. That scenario is very common on Ebay. I could write a book here so I won't. The bottom is what those people do is wrong and I for one will not tolerate and it's why I will continue to do what I do despite the personal attacks because if all they can do is attack us personally then we are hitting a nerve. Sorry if I went a bit off course here.

Comment by john reznikoff on October 1, 2010 at 9:42am: I do not know Chirs Williams, but I like Chris Williams! great stuff

Comment by DB on October 1, 2010 at 9:57am: Chris, et all - that's a little too heavy handed with the Ebay Buyers. Understandably that they don't feel what they are buying are fogeries as many have reputable ratings or even names for that matter. They certainly don't envision the bogus COAs and for that matter the relationships to what you cite below. Some don't care - as to them it's a hobby and if it's not "authentic" in someone else's opinion, so what? It didn't cost that much, whether it's a reprint, auto pen and so on.

Some do care but EBAY is so tight lipped about it and you know the penalties for posting seller names as some would take advantage and we'd have Rez on that list submitted by you know who's!