Tomorrow’s edition of the Los Angeles Times includes a feature by Harriet Ryan on the Global Antiques props sold on eBay by Auction Depot LA, Auction Shop USA, and Historic Souvenirs. The full story can be read online at latimes.com – “Internet citizen posses investigate some sellers” – also archived below: [Read more…]
There is an interesting feature published today at Times Online, written by Stewart Mitchell, discussing eBay fraud and victims of fraud working together to pool information: [Read more…]
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released it’s 2007 Internet Crime Report last week.
The IC3 is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Per their webpage: [Read more…]
Breaking news in the art world follows an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice involving indictments against seven defendants in their alleged roles in selling $5 million in counterfeit art prints.
Reuters reports that (“Thousands Stuck with Fake Art Prints – U.S. Prosecutor“) that “[a] ring of art counterfeiters has sold thousands of prints since 1999 bearing the forged signatures of Picasso, Miro, Dali and other famous artists to buyers around the world”. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stating that “[t]housands of people will learn they… bought a fake”. [Read more…]
I thought it might be interesting for readers to reflect back on governmental efforts in the U.S. circa 2000 to address the issue of counterfeit sports and entertainment memorabilia, which was part of a three-year investigation.
While this investigation was predominantly focused on sports memorabilia and autographs, there are some obvious parallels with the hobby of collecting original props and wardrobe, particularly the employment of certificates of authenticity and consumers’ reliance on these documents.
What follows is a press release from the United States Department of Justice (see usdoj.gov website): [Read more…]
According to multiple news/media reports (The Dallas Morning News: “Dallas’ Heritage Auction sues Hollywood memorabilia dealers“; The Houston Chronicle: “Auction house files lawsuit over alleged bogus memorabilia“; The Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Dallas auction house says it was conned into selling fakes“; and story originator WFAA-TV: “Dallas auction house claims multi-million dollar reputation damaged“), Heritage Auction Galleries filed suit on Wednesday in Dallas County District Court against Mississippi-based L.A. Prop & Wardrobe Co. and its owners, John Tarter and Billie Null.
According to The Houston Chronicle, the lawsuit filed yesterday “alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract”. The Chronicle story also claims that “a listing could not be found for L.A. Prop” and that “[m]essages left with the L.A. Prop officials listed in the lawsuit were not immediately returned Thursday.” [Read more…]
LucasFilm LTD filed suit against Gen Con LLC for “breach of contract, conversion, and unjust enrichment” in regards to the Star Wars Celebration IV convention held in Los Angeles in May 2007.
According to the suit, LFL provided rare Star Wars memorabilia from the Archive to be auctioned (via a live auction and a silent auction) at the Celebration fan convention, with the net proceeds of the charity intended for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Per the suit, the auction events raised “at least $150,000 from the sale of LFL’s archive items”. [Read more…]
A second report was broadcast by WFAA TV’s Channel 8, based on David Schechter’s investigation into items consigned by L.A. Prop and Wardrobe Company and sold by Heritage Auction Galleries (see Heritage Auction Galleries & L.A. Prop & Wardrobe Company, WFAA Television News Report…, More on Heritage Auction Galleries, L.A. Prop & Wardrobe).
In this update, Mr. Schechter reports that Heritage Auction Galleries will “sue L.A. Prop for knowingly providing bogus items for sale and damaging the auction house’s reputation”.
Here is a link to the full video report at WFAA.com: [Read more…]