Mass Resignations, Lives Threatened as AFTAL is Hijacked During Behind the Scenes Forgery Investigation

Formed with the stated goal of stamping out fake autographs, AFTAL, the Autograph Fair Trade Alliance, attracted many of UK's and Europe's most reputable dealers as members. But while the vast majority of AFTAL dealers lived its stated goal, including a recognized expert used by law enforcement to testify against the forgery industry, AFTAL's two primary founders, Dominic Manning and Marc Mclennan, used it as cover to sell and authenticate thousands of forgeries. Manning has seized control of the organization after an AFTAL steering committee found that he sold hundreds of fake Michael Jackson autographs he claimed to have gotten in person. And like a mansion built on quicksand, AFTAL is crumbling.

As the legally listed head of AFTAL, Manning, owner of Behind the Scenes Autographs, disbanded the steering committee last week that was formed in December by boardmember Garry King after Manning and another boardmember were forced to resign. Manning then reportedly had AFTAL's lawyer slap a suppression order (gag order) on the former members of the committee, forbidding them to talk publicly about Manning's actions or their determination that the Michael Jacksons Manning sold were forgeries.

In the UK, even revealing that you are under a suppression order can have you held in contempt of court, so little information about it has come out and no public documents appear to be available. But the sudden silence of former steering members who used to speak to me confirms its existence in my mind.

Events have taken a violent turn. Several autograph dealers have reportedly been threatened by Manning or the source of the forgeries, Adrian Longden, and police reports have been filed. At least one victim is in fear of his life.

Roughly a third of AFTAL members have resigned or are in the process of doing so, and many more are anticipated to resign as they hear about the scandal.

Stay tuned for more. Autograph Magazine is preparing a list of current and former AFTAL dealers considered reputable. Please message me if you would like to be considered for this list.

For more details on AFTAL's actions and the Dominic Manning/Adrian Longden forgeries, read the following Autograph Magazine Live! discussions:

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Comment by Gary Harvey on February 6, 2013 at 4:30pm: Answer / Question 13

Ken Mills advised us that Adrian stated last night it would be safe to say there could be as many as 600 of those inaptly and incorrectly in my opinion named ' Adrian Michael Jacksons ' circulating or waiting to be circulated in America, all obtained in the same manner that he did.

Can someone else show these ?

Have any surfaced ? ......They must be out there

Roger Epperson has only seen examples from the UK, to himself and via RR Enterpises but if this statement is correct they MUST exist elsewhere in the USA

All those collectors, chasing Jackson around and passing multiples into him either by PAs or Security must exist and have examples to show us

So come on guys

Show us your examples from that period

Comment by Brandon Mysinger on February 6, 2013 at 4:38pm: Gary, So, if I read the above correct... Adrian is still exclaiming that these items are authentic? Is that what Manning and the remaining AFTAL leadership are proclaiming too?

Comment by Gary Harvey on February 6, 2013 at 4:40pm: Answer / Point 14

Death Threats

I am fully on the understanding that a threat was made to a person involved with this Forum

I dont know the details but I can assure the forum that the individual is very concerned, in fact he has involved the UK Police in the matter, this is not a exxageration by Steve Cyrkin, this in fact the truth

Please do not ridicule this statement

I myself will enlighten the forum tomorrow regarding other matters that are very serious and very worrying

I have to go to sleep now as I m at work tommorrow

Good night guys

Comment by Gary Harvey on February 6, 2013 at 4:42pm: Brandon

Please re read Ken Mills statement

Its all in there, Adrian has made a statement to Ken and it backs the statement he made to his Lawyer

Comment by Brandon Mysinger on February 6, 2013 at 4:47pm: Gotcha!! Thanks Gary!

Comment by Rick Meyer on February 6, 2013 at 4:53pm: Bob, was Dominic the only dealer supplier who was supplied by Adrian? Who were the others if you know? Curious if there are others who bought or supplied his stuff but haven't stated so.

Comment by Carl Ryan on February 6, 2013 at 5:31pm: It seems that Adrian is trying to cooperate now and act like he had no idea what he was doing. And that somehow he was an innocent in all this. I have read Adrian's comments though and heard from a great deal of people who know him, just what kind of a person he is. And its pretty obvious that hes not going to admit to any wrong doing. Their is no chance of it. He could have been in the back penning them for all we know, and he still would never admit it. So should anyone really be putting any stock at all into what Adrian says?? If he somehow comes out of this looking innocent, then this hobby is in trouble.

Lets remember Roger's words for this man that he posted in the Autografica thread. As long as i have read Roger's replies, he is very careful with his words. He doesnt say things lightly, and if he states something, it is backed by facts. He is regarded as the best in the world at modern music, and if anyone knows MJ sigs, its him. And these were his words about Adrian. I think it speaks volumes about the true situation.

"

Adrian,

So we finally meet. I can answer your questions with Yes. yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,yes,yes,yes, yes. The MJ's are fake and they probably came from you. I'm sorry but I know Roger J. from Houston and have had a stack of YOUR fake Jackson's in my office. I have also had a STACK of YOUR fake McCartney's in my office and have turned them down. Maybe my UK friends like Gary from Barrow can chime in and call you out! Your days in this business are done. I know you, I know what you do. You can't fool a pro like me. Your BS stories don't fly with me. I will be talking with Garry tomorrow about you! Now what, you are done?! Your BS interviews with the media don't mean crap to me, it's all BS. Sure you got real autographs in the past but you mix them up with the fake ones you sell. I have proof! Now what?!!! YOU are the BAD!"

Comment by Carl Ryan on February 6, 2013 at 5:43pm: So lets just say that Adrian did hand a big ol stack of photos to MJ and then came back later. And from the amount he sold, he must have been handing MJ mounds of them over a long period of time. So what are the odds, with changing personel, changing handlers, signing variations etc, that every signature of his can be identified as an Adrian MJ. I mean if this were handlers or someone close to him signing these for him, are they seriously going to be givin pristine MJ sigs every day the same way. As far as i know their was no skilled MJ "secretary" that followed him everywhere he went. Because if their was, the MJ fans would have known, for they spent far more time with MJ than Adrian. And just like its been brought up by others, if he was doing this for Adrian, then he must have done it for others. Yet as far as anyone knows, this style of Mj can only be traced back to Adrian. So the odds that he is being truthful here seem miniscule.

But their is more to it. Now add in the McCartneys that Roger spoke of as well. So not only did Adrian have a way of getting mounds signed by MJ, but also Paul?? And apparently, he is saying that he got the Paul sigs in a similar manner, by handing them to handlers. Ive never heard of Paul doing this, have you? Does Paul take many photos in his limo or bus and sign them and deliver later?

So Adrian is saying that he just happened to be the victim of a ghost signer on mounds of expensive photos, from the most valuable signers, not once, but on many occasions from 2 different celebs. 2 different mega celebs who arent known to sign mass quantities like this. All the MJ fans have said that Mj would sign sometimes a stack of maybe a dozen, but a big stack??? They felt that he would never do that, and they would know.

In my opinion, their is no truth in anything he has said. From the first false statements he made in the beginning until now. This isnt a situation that can be apologized out of. If AFTAL are going to survive, it would seem that they would absolutely have to get rid of Adrian and Dominic. And after all this, their reputations are pretty much ruined anyway.

Comment by Robert McCluskey on February 6, 2013 at 5:54pm: Bob, was Dominic the only dealer supplier who was supplied by Adrian? Who were the others if you know? Curious if there are others who bought or supplied his stuff but haven't stated so.

-------

Rick - I have absolutely no idea, sorry.

Comment by Carl Ryan on February 6, 2013 at 6:39pm: Another thing, and this may be beating a dead horse, but i think its safe to say that MJ was in America more than England. At least during the last few years of his life. Therefore their would be many more opportunities for US dealers to get him than foreign. Or at least i would think. And if Adrian did get "ghost signed" stacks of signed items from him, then US dealers had to as well. And being closer to home, US dealers would probably have gotten alot more than Adrian. And these forgeries fooled alot of people for a while. They werent the typical crap in the grass forgery.

So i would imagine that the US dealers who also got these signed photos would be selling them like crazy across the U.S.

The autograph dealers and authenticators in England are just as good as those here in the states, and Adrian's items fooled alot of UK collectors for a good while. Therefore i am sure they would have fooled alot of US buyers and dealers as well. These things should be circulating here just as they had been in the UK, with probably in much greater numbers.

Now its possible, and i believe it is probably happening, that deals are going down under the counter to still sale these items here in the U.S. But before they were exposed, if the forgeries were here in the US like they were in the UK we would have seen them all over ebay and private inventories throughout the U.S. Dealers would be tripping over head and foot to sell the items (before they were exposed) to collectors. And we would be hearing those collectors if nothing else coming forward wanting refunds by now.

So while its certain they are here in the states, it seems their are a great deal many more in the UK. I can only think of one reason for this. As Roger said, he can spot an Adrian MJ from across the room. Therefore it has to be such a specific style that it can be traced back to one guy. Just like the Aspinals. And from what i gather from Roger, this forgery style was never seen before Adrian sold them, and hasnt been seen after. AFterall, dealers need money, and if others got the same amount signed that Adrian claims he got signed, they would be selling them right now. Even with the scandel that is unfolding. Their would still be those few dealers who are offering them and we would see them.

I think the AFTAL committee nailed down where these items originated and who was behind it. So now how does Aftal get rid of the bad apples, even if one is its owner??