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The sale of sports memorabilia is an absolutely massive business, and there are companies that rake in an absurd amount of cash by selling autographs that are usually accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. However, a massive reckoning could be coming in the wake of the death of a dealer who claims he fabricated millions of signatures while making hundreds of millions of dollars in a massive counterfeiting scheme.
In 2024, the market for sports memorabilia managed to generate close to $34 million in revenue, which is certainly not a small number but still a fraction of the more than $270 billion some experts believe that number could balloon to close to a decade from now.
Autographs are responsible for a significant chunk of that sum, and it goes without saying that the value of those signatures hinges on the assumption that the people they’re associated with were actually responsible for scrawling them in the first place.
The lucrative nature of that particular realm of the industry makes it a natural target for bad actors who attempt to profit by selling fraudulent wares, and major platforms like Fanatics and Panini pride themselves on their ability to guarantee every autograph they sell is authentic.
However, things have taken a very interesting turn in the wake of the death of Brett Lemieux, a prolific memorabilia dealer who came clean about a massive scam he said he helped orchestrate before seemingly taking his own life.
Autograph dealer Brett Lemieux penned an explosive admission involving a massive counterfiting scheme involving a number of high-profile athletes before he reportedly took his own life
Lemieux was the owner and operator of Mister Mancave, a website specializing in the sale of autographed jerseys and other apparel.
According to a now-deleted message he posted on the “Autographs 101” Facebook page on Wednesday, Lemieux said he sold over 4 million different items through that platform alone while exceeding $350 million in total sales, and the company supplemented that income by working with “the biggest players in the industry,” including Panini, Fanatics, James Spence Authentics, and Tri-Star.
However, if his admission is to be believed, he was partially responsible for flooding the market with counterfeit signatures (he also pointed the finger at other scammers whose idenities I’ve redacted due to the unsubstantiated nature of his claims) while noting Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant were among the list of notable names at the center of the massive operation.
Lemieux continued by outlining a scheme he said stretched back at least two decades while asserting the vast majority of the signatures credited to Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Judge were also facsimiles of his doing and adding “97%” of Tri-Star’s Tom Brady inventory was forged.
He closed out the message by referencing a raid that the Westfield Police Department executed in Indiana on Wednesday shortly before his body was discovered; according to Fox59, the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office has not officially determined a cause of death, although the outlet reports officers believe it was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Brobible reached out to Fanatics, and a spokesperson provided the following statement to address the claims:
“First, Fanatics never purchased and re-sold any products directly from Mr. Lemieux. As many across the industry have already weighed in, we also believe that the numbers being thrown around are grossly exaggerated to make a statement.
But the harm to fans and collectors is real, and that is why two years ago we began implementing the newest, most secure hologram technology available. Our new hologram has not been replicated since, but we will never stop our pursuit of even greater security measures to protect the best interests of the market and all fans.”
We also contacted Tri-Star and James Spence Authentics for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.