Another issue that seems to have been forgotten is that the original indictment alleged that Mastro and Allen were involved in a scheme to sell altered and restored items including cards. I haven't seen anything mentioned about this in later hearings or news articles. This is far from trivial and in my opinion it warrants a lot of explaining such as were these cards professionally graded, what was done to the cards and which cards were altered? When someone doctors a card and the card gets assigned a grade and if you happen to own the same card in the same grade, then you've been defrauded in my opinion because your card has been devalued by an artificially higher supply. The other problem is that these doctored cards will likely at some point and time be resold and someone will be defrauded directly in those sales. So in short, even if you never bid in a Mastro auction, you could still have been or will be a victim from these actions.
Here's the excerpt from the indictment:
False Representations Regarding Authenticity and Condition of Items
10. It was further part of the scheme that:
a. The Code of Conduct promulgated by in 2007 made the following representations, among others, regarding Mastro Auctions’ practices concerning disclosure of information that items sold at its auctions had been altered or restored:
i. If Mastro Auctions believed or had knowledge that an item
has been altered in any way, that information would be fully disclosed in the auction catalog.
ii. When, on occasion, Mastro Auctions had items restored in order to improve their presentation, the extent and nature of any restoration would be fully disclosed.
iii.
Under no circumstances would Mastro Auctions have restoration work done on trading cards.
b. After the Code of Conduct was published:
i.
Defendants MASTRO, ALLEN, and others knowingly did not disclose to bidders material information about alterations of items sold by Mastro Auctions.
ii. Defendants MASTRO, ALLEN and others knowingly did not disclose to bidders the extent and nature of restoration work performed on items sold by Mastro Auctions.
iii. Defendants MASTRO and ALLEN, along with others associated with Mastro Auctions, caused restoration work to be done on trading cards sold by Mastro Auctions, and knowingly failed to disclose that work to bidders.
11.
It was further part of the scheme that in marketing materials distributed on behalf of Mastro Auctions, which were intended to portray Mastro Auctions to potential bidders and consignors as a premier seller of valuable items for which a strong market existed, defendant MASTRO represented that Mastro Auctions had sold the most expensive baseball card in the world, a Honus Wagner T-206 card. In making this representation, however, defendant MASTRO knowingly omitted the material fact that defendant MASTRO had altered the baseball card by cutting the sides of the card in a manner that, if disclosed, would have significantly reduced the value of the card.
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