Westfield Sports Item Seller Admits to Scheme, Commits Suicide

WESTFIELD, Ind. — A counterfeit sports memorabilia scheme in Westfield is being considered by some in the industry as one of the biggest they’ve ever seen with the seller then committing suicide over it.

In a Facebook post to an autographs group, 45-year-old Brett Lemieux revealed a massive scheme of producing fake security measures and faking signatures on sports items to make them look authentic. The signed items were then sold through sites like eBay.

According to Sports Collectors Digest, Lemieux had sold over $350 million worth of items since 2000 through his company Mister Mancave. His operation was one of the biggest in the market.

The post from Lemieux was put out on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Westfield Police said they had raided a property connected to their investigation into the counterfeit sports memorabilia. The following day, police raided a second property and found Lemieux dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The discovery has raised concerns about the authenticity of sports memorabilia purchased over the last 25 years. Collectors and sellers are worried about the repercussions with the entire industry now in a frenzy.

The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

The post from Lemieux read:

“How many items can I sell and give a front of a huge company. I did it for years. Purchased millions of dollars of legit items. Mixed it until [name withheld] found the hologram connect. Then I had the bank roll to buy even more. Do more signings. Every one item from a signing turned into 10,000. And it was certified. 95% of the [Patrick] Mahomes and Aaron [Judge] on the market are sold by me. Basically every autograph sold in the last 25 years you should have it looked at. It’s fake and someone sold it to you other than me. I wish I had the exact dollar number of money taken in from this and I’ll go to my grave never knowing. I kept this secret from everyone. I was addicted. It was a rush. I wanted out. But the money was too good. I can make [$]100,000 in a week if I wanted to. The fact that not one dealer that knew what we were doing to the industry, or when I took their exclusive, no one ever picked up a phone to confront me. That baffled me.”

Westfield Sports Item Seller Admits to Scheme, Then Commits Suicide  was originally published on wibc.com