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:

0 members like this

Comment by Gary Harvey on February 16, 2013 at 11:43am: Carl

Some great questions there !

I can answer from what I understand

1....Im not into legal jargon etc, you really need an answer from one of the Steering committee who are obviously very worried by the threats issued by the remaining 1 member of the board

2.....Filed what charges ? what are the charges ?

3.....Attitude !.... here in the UK the attitude to anyone faking autographs is disgust, whether they were the originator or the distributor . You really need to speak to members of AFTAL regarding if they want anyone blacklisted from their club, Adrian was not a member and Dominic IS the Board. Some members voted with their feet and cancelled their membership of the club in their disgust at the ongoing problems, a lot of members know nothing about this forum or any problems with Jackson or McCartney autographs

Comment by Rick Meyer on February 16, 2013 at 11:53am: Dominic is undoubtedly laughing all the way to the bank. He made huge profits off this junk and using AFTAL to hide behind. I'd guess he using AFTAL funds for whatever legal actions he's involved in. At the expense of other reputable dealers out there doing the right thing.

Hopefully word on him spreads and he cant give away autographs.

Comment by Gary Harvey on February 16, 2013 at 12:10pm: Continued

4...... Again as I am not a member of AFTAL , therefore I cannot comment who is running the show, but from answers here 2 weeks ago the club is being run by one person, who has issued gagging orders to former board members

How can members vote or speak against anything when they know nothing of the problems raised over the last 10 months here ? Carl let me assure you a big percentage of members know NOTHING about any of the problems raised here.

Eventually members will hear what has gone on and maybe more will withdraw their membership in disgust ? But at this moment the majority know nothing. There is nothing reported in the news section on the web pages

People who have commented on any of the matters raised whether AFTAL members or not have been threatened, either with legal proceedings or in my case with violence. A lot of people will not be prepared to put their heads on the chopping block for any of this

We can only hope that members do not renew memberships and perhaps a new UK Collectors club can be formed

The Truth is Out There !

Comment by Rich on February 16, 2013 at 1:03pm: For what it's worth, Behind the Scenes is no longer a recommended dealer on ACAF's new website.

Comment by Gary Harvey on February 16, 2013 at 1:07pm: oops ! now the cat is amongst the pidgeons !

Comment by Rich on February 16, 2013 at 1:10pm: I think they may have eliminated a couple other dealers, but I'm not sure.

Comment by Gary Harvey on February 16, 2013 at 1:12pm: maybe someone can advise who ?

Comment by Rich on February 16, 2013 at 1:14pm: I think the original board might still be up. Maybe I can just compare. But, yeah, BTS is gone for sure.