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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 john reznikoff on October 3, 2010 at 5:33pm: Hi DB,
Most certainly ALL of the posts on that site are either false or out of context where they pertain to me. The stage IS set so stay tuned. While I devote a good amount of my time to cleaning up the marketplace and exposing those who would try to prevent this pursuit, I plan on devoting a much higher proportion to education. I have some great articles and videos coming out so again....stay tuned

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 3, 2010 at 6:20pm: TJ, you said that Tremayne (again, not sure of spelling) is the real "bad guy" here if he actually signed the instruments and altered the photos. But what if those like ARA trafficking in the material knew they were buying forgeries?

What about Gladstone telling the TV reporters that he had the signed guitars that were the subject of the 20/20 and Inside Edition reports independently authenticated, yet every authentication letter that came with one of these guitars that we've seen was by Christopher Morales, who is Gallery of Dreams' authenticator and listed as an executive?

Another point, the price of the guitars. Gladstone bought these guitars in quantity, 10-25 at a time it seems, and at ridiculously low prices. How does $850 each for a quantity of Led Zeppelin guitars signed by Page, Plant and Jones? Even in this economy you could easily sell genuine ones to dealers for $5,000 each. And what about the fact that Zep guitars signed by three are RARE. I don't think five have been completed since the mid-1990s. I could be off, but not by much.

Comment by DB on October 4, 2010 at 5:11am: Rez, look fwd to the edumakational items.... Did find this link from sometime back that links to a guide on EBAY. It was informative but lacking in some areas although well meant. Aside from it being dated at this point (e.g. operation bullpen) there are still a number of good points made. Amazing how some just don't read the "fine print". Rez, maybe it's time for a new guide!

http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-SPOT-an-ILLEGAL-SCRIPT-of-AUTOGRAPH-...

Comment by roger epperson on October 4, 2010 at 5:49am: Wow, I go out of town for a weekend and it looks like all hell broke loose. My only quote I have to say is aiding or helping hide the forgers or thier associates is as bad as selling them yourself. If we all don't band together and speak out all of this work will be for nothing. There are people and dealers out there that know much more then they are letting on in fear of some nut righting about them on his website. Get a backbone and speak up and help us win this fight. It's in the best interest of this hobby and the collectors.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on October 4, 2010 at 1:15pm: TJ,

We rarely know who the forgers are. We generally only find out about those who sell the forgeries. Gladstone was told by many people, long before we became involved, that he was selling virtually nothing but forgeries, including what came from Gallery of Dreams. We know of one case at least where the lawyer for one of the musicians whose autograph was on a Legends guitar that came from Gallery of Dreams told him so.

Gladstone's claims that he was an innocent "victim" of all the dealers selling to him is no more believable than a jeweler selling fake Rolex watches he bought on a street corner getting caught and claiming he thought they were real.

Comment by CJCollector on October 4, 2010 at 2:25pm: I can never come down hard on any good guy that doesn't want to join the fight here or there. The personal attacks that we have to endure can wear on anyone. I won't say what I do to battle the forgers (Steve knows what I do) but the great thing about the personal attacks against me is that they are personal. Not one of the sellers of forgeries that I expose have ever proven me wrong, so their last resort is to attack me personally. I only hear of these personal attacks from my viewers who inform me of them. You see, I don't acknowledge those personal attacks on me; my best offense and defense is to ignore them and those that attack me personally eventually fade away because they have no passion about what they do, only vindictiveness. But I can understand anyone who doesn't want to get involved in the fight. We are more of a target than the bad guys. The bad guys can go on Ebay and sell their forgeries, without anyone on Ebay to filter out the bad stuff. You see, the sellers of forgeries are for the most part protected by Ebay. They can sell all of the forgeries they want to and write whatever lies it takes to sell their forgeries. Ebay has this ridiculous motto that reads “People Are Basically Good.” That does not apply to most sellers of autographs on Ebay and Ebay doesn’t want to do much about it because it involves a ton of money. I can go on Ebay right now and in 20 minutes find 100 sellers auctioning off 100 forgeries. And if a buyer discovers they have purchased a forgery from a bad guy, that bad guy will go out of their way to intimidate the buyer from either refunding their purchase or from filing a complaint. So then the buyer gets defensive about being informed that they bought a forgery and they actually get "tough" with the person who informed them of the forgery they purchased instead of getting "tough" with the seller who sold them the forgery. Bad guys lie through their teeth and work the intimidation option as hard as they have to. And why are those that battle the bad guys more of a target than the bad guys? One of the main reasons is that there are more people selling forgeries than people selling authentic autograph items. 80% of all sports autograph collectors (real collectors and wannabe collectors) own forgeries. That percentage is much higher when it comes to entertainment autographs. It is my estimation that 90% of the entertainment autographs on Ebay are forgeries. Buyers are the biggest problem when it comes to forgeries. Those sellers would not be in business if people didn't buy from them.

Comment by DB on October 4, 2010 at 2:50pm: Can't seem to find much to argue with on those points. Ebay is also going to make it even worse with the new policy of endorsing the use of a "stock photo" instead of the actually signed photo. Thus, you see a picture of one that looks really great but then receivea differeont one.

Chris - the problems are plentiful but like the AG's office in Florida if they don't hear from more that one then it doesn't rise to a threshold they may be interested in. Of course, if we were talking a rembrant or 1/2 million dollar items it would gain some attention but even the Postal Inspectors don't rally 'round the issue.

Unfortunately, as pointed out it is what it is.

Comment by scott on October 4, 2010 at 7:58pm: We need more people like Christopher Williams. I don't know that much about you, but I like your style.

Comment by CJCollector on October 4, 2010 at 8:26pm: I appreciate that, Scott. I don't hold back when it comes to both the sellers of forgeries and the buyers of forgeries. I can't tell you the years I spent trying to educate buyers of autographs and they simply do not want to listen. That Derek Jeter autographed baseball they bought on Ebay for $50.00 makes them very happy. I would get one of two replies when I would diplomatically try to inform a buyer that they purchased a cheap fake. They would either reply with "It's none of your business," or, "It comes with a COA so I know it's authentic." Because the situation on Ebay is worse now than it was during "Operation Bullpen" my diplomatic efforts have gone down the crapper. Now I am just as hard on the buyers as I am on the sellers. They are half the problem. One does not exist without the other. During the last few years thousands of what I call "copy-cat bad sellers" have surfaced. These are people who see others freely sell their forgeries on Ebay so they do the same thing. It's out of control on Ebay. People have no idea the amount of money Ebay makes just on the sales of forgeries every year. Imagine that, a publicly traded company making a good percentage of its profits from the sales of forgeries. It makes me sick. And Ebay continues to contradict itself. It has a list of banned/barred COA's on their website, but if you report an auction with a COA from the banned list it doesn't get removed. Ebay states that is is an "open forum" and yet it allows "Private Listings" and "Private Feedback." Ebay's proclamation that it is just a platform for buying and selling. They make money on forgeries and they won't deny it; but if someone sends a Ebay email to a seller informing that they are selling a forgery they can suspend you for doing that, but it's okay for them (Ebay) to make money from the sale of that forgery. The "bad guys" run amok on Ebay because there is no real policing. Remember "Operation Bullpen." 100 million dollars in forgeries!!!! Much of it sold on Ebay. And Ebay got off with barely a tap on the wrist and a ton of money in their pocket. It's all very disturbing. People ask me "Why do you continue to do what you do, Chris?" Because I want the bad guys to know that there are people watching what they do; they simply can't hide from their protector called Ebay.