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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 Robert McCluskey on February 4, 2013 at 11:51pm: ... sorry, I need to correct myself on two points after reading back those posts and looking back on my own records ! I had to check out of the meeting for a hospital appointment and it seems a number of McCartney's were indeed looked at after I left. As we were tasked with looking at the MJ's and I didn't see any Maccas myself or discuss them afterwards I'd overlooked that.. Also, there wasn't universal agreement on what should be termed "in person", although my view is as stated above. Sorry !

Comment by Ken Mills on February 5, 2013 at 1:04am: For the record - I was contacted by Adrian Longden a couple of days ago and he asked if it would be possible for us to meet up so that he could apologise personally for all the stress and aggravation that has been caused since it was found that a very large number of Michael Jackson autographs were not actually signed personally by the late singer. I rather think that certain friends and including my own partner thought I should not meet him alone but their fears could not have been more unfounded. On meeting he was most apologetic and had bought a significant amount of signed material which as was stipulated was guaranteed obtained by himself and not obtained through a third party to compensate me for the fact I had not been able to offer for sale all the Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney autographs which I had removed from my Website. Despite the fact that at the steering committee meeting it was felt that some of the McCartney's looked spot on and some didn't I took the decision to remove everything and not take a chance. Bearing in mind I have known Adrian since the late 1990's and for a long time he was accepted as being one of the very top In Person collectors, as has been verified by Jason Thanos, our first half an hour was quite an uncomfortable time for both of us and I would liken it almost to an Oprah versus Lance Armstrong interview. I did ask him some very uncomfortable questions which he answered without hesitation and I do regard myself as a pretty good judge of character and I do not believe in any way shape or form that he has forged autographs. This is a guy who has been paid on a number of occasions to accompany mostly female celebrities it has to be said to far flung exotic locations such as the Maldives with the sole motive of photographing them supposedly ' on vacation ' and sharing the proceeds once the pictures have been accepted by a willing media. He said that on reflection that the 6 months he spent in L.A. before Michael Jackson's death were now a sad time for him because of the catastrophic effect of the subsequent fall-out. He told me that the first couple of months were easy pickings and it was possible to hand as many as 10 items through the car window for Michael to sign willingly but as time went on and the word got out the numbers of collectors/dealers increased dramatically and it became a lot harder to get him to sign in a situation where you could physically watch him sign. After time spent in that situation he did build up a rapport with Michael's security guards and towards the end they were taking in bundles of 40/50 items into houses, Medical cente, Staples Centre and could be up to 2 days later they were handed stuff back but if you weren't there at the right time other collectors/dealers could profit and many items were stolen. He told me quite openly that he thought he probably got around 60 items signed where he was able to witness the signature and around 200 which came out of various locations with signatures on. Worryingly he did say towards the end there were quite a number of U.S. Dealers putting their bundles of 20/30 photos into the locations so it isn't against the realms of possibility that numbers of 500/1,000 of these will have been done over a period of several months. It was also intimated that even some of Michael's security guards kept numbers of these items for themselves. It wouldn't be difficult to assume therefore that being in their privileged position some Dealers would naturally accept these items if offered thinking they had to be genuine. Adrian never sold off a Website or Ebay and never offered a certificate or said they were obtained ' In Person' people were happy to buy from him because of his previously untarnished reputation.

Personally, I do agree there has been an agenda on this forum to attack both AFTAL and Garry King and it has been the same names over and over again doing the attacking. This is a shame for the vast majority of the forum's readers who are reliant on getting truthful and unbiased opinions from those with a modicum of expertise and who at the end of the day can make their own mind up and work things out for themselves. For those who believed that the steering committe were secretly put together because we were ' Yes men ' really isn't even worthy of comment. Yes there was on the face of it a lot wrong with AFTAL and the specific people chosen were only ever intended to sort the Michael Jackson problem out and then democratically elect a new Board and put right the things that were wrong with it. We never got the chance because we all got extremely tired and demoralised and side-tracked with fighting the detractors mostly on this forum. When some of us realised we didn't have the energy, enthusiasm and the tools to do the job we decided to put our families and our own businesses first for a change and resigned - simple as. Be thankful that our Robert is an insomniac plus he can watch dirty movies whilst his wife is asleep and has honestly tried to answer some of your questions. With what I learned from Adrian 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 Adrian did. He does apologise for all the problems he has caused but at the time like all the others profiting from the situation he felt he was doing no wrong. How other Dealers have described these items when selling on to customers was completely out of his hands.

Where things go from here I have no idea. I can say that the ' Death threats' as reported whilst sensibly should not be ignored I don't feel any such threat and I think that in the heat of things and constantly being bombarded by people with conspiracy theories, assumptions people have said things they wouldn't normally dream of. The sad part for me is that I know for a fact there are some bloody good guys, honest and committed who were on that committe with me who really wanted to make a difference but now feel they are better just letting others get on with it - and the Autograph world is a worse place for it being disbanded.

Comment by Brandon Mysinger on February 5, 2013 at 3:24am: Poor Lord Steven, as always, you are vicious yet wrong. Anyway,, I have no ill intent towards AFTAL. To be honest, I don't trust Garry King for two reasons, 1. He appears to have openly sold questionable items and when asked simple questions about them and his authentication, he. 2. Depended on you to take your lips off of his @$$ and attack anyone who DARED to ask a question of such a quality / unbiased expert.

I warned you this would happen. Just as I warned you that these people who truly wanted to use AFTAL as a shield, would hold no value to your opinion(s). No matter how much you protected them from mean people with questions.

And why is that? Is it because Garry King bought all of your old Starbrite stock ( the stuff people claim is bad ). Is that what happened? I honestly have no idea, but that's the word coming out of both the U.K. And America. Maybe you will tell us when you have that frank and honest discussion about Starbrite.

So, attack me all you want. You just prove to be no better than ANL when you tell lies and half truths. The point is, IF you knew anything about Aftal's current situation, you weren't going to tell. At least not without the same spin you are becoming known for.

You once called Julien's a "high class" coaches corner. If people see how you act and react, this place will start being seen as a "high class" ANL.

Anyway, I'm sorry for the members of AFTAL that I like and trust who were duped by the old board and are being threatened. It is WRONG! It's also criminal. Thus is why I hope that they protect themselves yet also stand up to people who act in such oppressive ways.

Comment by Steve Sipe on February 5, 2013 at 8:58am: What on earth does this have to do with my company Steve? Nice Moderation of your site pal so you can stand on your stupid soap box and call everyone's stuff bad yet your inventory at Starbrite was beyond brutal. You are a joke and a complete liar. How many of your pals have alias's on here still to chant your hatred of others??? Stay on your meds pal.

Comment by Carl Ryan on February 5, 2013 at 10:34am: I know some really good liars out their, and we are talking about a man who has now lost his reputation, which is his living, and is desperate to get it back. I am sure he will apologize till he is blue in the face to anyone who will listen. Im sure he will state that he is the victim and that he was innocent. Yet the evidence seems to point to other things. Especially his first comment on this site when he addressed the MJs. While his meeting with Ken, may have seemed absolutely sincere, it just reaks of desperation to save face, at least in my eyes

Comment by Garry King on February 5, 2013 at 10:34am: Brandon, i do not know you, but i am concerned about this hatred you have for me, and suspect that these thinbgs you are saying about me, and the digs that you have posted in the past, have come from one of two people that have been messaging various people on this and other forums.

I think you should be very carefull about what you say, as i can state now that i have never purchased a single item from Steve in the past. I admit to knowing steve as we met some years ago (guessing, but about 8 or 9) and i have kept in conact ever since, but this has always been with the aim of promoting the previous magazine in some way, this forum, and our discusions about forgers both here and in the USA.

I strongly suspect that you have been one of those people targeted by those two who have an axe to grind, and i have been sent some of their messages, so i know what they have been doing. I am not going to say who they are on here, as this may become a legal matter.

I am certain that steve will both confirm the fact i have never bought any stock from him, and that Steve himself has had at least one of those messages. Now it may be that you or someone else has simply mistaken me for another dealer, but i think it would be wise to check these facts before making such suggestions.

As for the items i offerred which came from Dominic, those that were on the website were removed almost immediatly, and the Jacksons, of which there were 4, the buyers were contacted and refunds offered.

I accept that you may have thought i was avoiding things, as i went through a long period of not posting on here, but that was because i had been told by the Chairman of AFTAL not to make any posts, so i abided by his command.

Comment by shawn on February 5, 2013 at 11:00am: Good for you Garry. If you comment on EVERY items you are mentioned in, it just reeks of desperation (to take from someone else) and just adds to the noise of all the he said, he said.

Here is what I see:

If Garry is true, and NEVER bought an item from Starbrite, then Brandon honestly can not say anything about all that. But, did he or didn't he?

2) ok Garry, but for how long had you been buying from Adrian? It's obvious that a great many of your items are not good. I applaud you for pulling the questionable items as it makes you be the good guy. But what about all the past sales? Current items that have floated under the radar so far? Do you know precisely what items may have come from the Adrian/Dominic connection?

3) Have there really been any threats? Steve Cyrkin has a reputation for blowing things way out of proportion in regards to this site. As Mike Aring once said," Steve, Shut up and run the site."

It appears that Steve's mouth has finally overrun his intentions? I don't believe there have been any threats to members of the AFTAL steering committee.

4) Alright Steve, as you have now outed Brandon. Does that mean your past positive comments about him have all come into question? Because up until recently, you've had nothing but glowing remarks about him. Now you are calling into question his "other ebay sites." Do they even exist or are you claiming something on someone else that did not exist. And to Brandon, what do you say about this? Is it true in any way?

5) Steve. Why are you so defensive of Garry King? and I believe this to be the most important aspect of this whole debacle. Why is it time and again, when Garry's inventory is called into question, do you get defensive? As of right now, Garry has said that he never bought anything from you or your former entity of Starbrite. So it's not your items being called into question. Why are you so involved? He had many items questioned and you have basically stated that Garry is above reproach. He does seem to try to be an authenticator as well as an autograph dealer. That's two strikes when it comes to his inventory being questioned. And Steve, do you realize that by defending Garry like this, whether he is 100% honest or not, you are dragging down the entire ship. I hate to say it AGAIN, but like Mike Aring told you in a very spirited debate on a Metallica conversation," Shut up and run the site."

and lastly,

Why haven't you let Mike back on the site. It appears that he could have shed some light, very openly, on some of the subjects of the last few months. Including a very rousing post on the ANL site where only YOU are outed when he was also involved. I find that weird that only he knows the whole story behind those items that are in question, yet you don't let him DEFEND YOU. That seems idiotic to me. But to each his own. I'm sure he was just gonna continue to point out that you personally know nothing about autographs and that you have an overwhelming NEED to be an expert at SOMETHING. Nearly everyday someone new signs up to this site and thanks YOU for your expert analysis of an item and saving them their hard earned money by not buying something that's fake. But these blog posts and all your personal vendettas are your way of asserting your expertise in a field that you really know nothing of.

Sorry to put it so harshly, but you forming alliances with people you seem to think are good, is dragging down this site to the bottom of the well.

Comment by Brandon Mysinger on February 5, 2013 at 11:01am: Exactly Garry, as I stated earlier, I had to show concern when anytime I or someone else would ask a question about the items mentioned above, authentication, and/or AFTAL...it was met with a challenge or deflection.

So, I appreciate the answer. As far as people saying things. I never believe everything I hear. That's why I attempted to ask questions. As far as I know (and have stated ) you were duped too. In fact, I recently posted quotes from you which highlighted that you handled the questionable items as any legit dealer would.

I would say that following the "directives" of an obviously corrupt AFTAL didnt help anyone.

Comment by Carl Ryan on February 5, 2013 at 11:32am: Shawn,

Mike Airing is a discredit to this site and other collectors. While he may have a great knowledge of autographs, he has no clue how to represent himself with intelligent and respectful comments. He truly believes that his word is final and that he is the ultimate authority. People like this dont belong on a social site. This is the reason i believe Airing was kicked. And he should have been long ago. Regardless of what he may bring to the table, nothing is worth allowing such a person to look down over a community.

Comment by Brandon Mysinger on February 5, 2013 at 11:43am: Garry, I forgot to add that the biggest question I had was regarding the question of if you rendered any authentication opinions that you formed based off of the material which you obtained from Dominic Manning or Adrian Longstreet. As a NASCAR autograph authenticator, I was curious. Especially after I received information that you " attacked" ( not my words ) other dealers by turning them into your country's Trading and Standards.

I simply was wondering if the newly found information about the Fakes sold to you by Manning / Longden had changed your opinions. Or, do you still question the Epperson / Cyrkin opinion(s) about these items.

I understand the need for due dillegence. However, surely you can appreciate how this smelled of a "set-up". In fact, as the delays went on-and-on, it appeared to be exactly what it was. A cover-up by those at the top of the AFTAL food chain. Especially when other well regarded opinionators were saying that they could instantly tell the MJ's ( and others ) were bad after seeing them. So, I and others simply wondered why you weren't stepping out on your own to do the same.

Help us understand what kept you quiet when the people above you were obviously using you to "cover for them" or at the least, delay the Committe's findings.

Now that you are free to speak on your own, maybe you can simply address everything. That may help "clear the air".