Bill Mastro's upcoming sentencing

[Peter_Spaeth]

Dear Judge Guzman, I have no access to bidding records and no way to know if I personally was harmed or not, or to what extent if I was, but shill bidding is a really really bad thing and I've heard it was pretty extensive here, so throw the book at that bastard Mastro please.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Dear Judge Guzman, I have no access to bidding records and no way to know if I personally was harmed or not, or to what extent if I was, but shill bidding is a really really bad thing and I've heard it was pretty extensive here, so throw the book at that bastard Mastro please.

Hey Pete, in the time it takes to pontificate on Net 54 about imaginary restitution plans you could go to PACER, print out Mastro's cooperation agreement and count the 59 times or so in which he admitted committing fraud during his auctions. Whether you know for certain if you're a victim or not (you were) it doesn't change what Mastro did to the hobby, does not change how inflated prices on cards from his auctions affect future prices on cards the rest of us will be buying.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Hey Pete, in the time it takes to pontificate on Net 54 about imaginary restitution plans you could go to PACER, print out Mastro's cooperation agreement and count the 59 times or so in which he admitted committing fraud during his auctions. Whether you know for certain if you're a victim or not (you were) it doesn't change what Mastro did to the hobby, does not change how inflated prices on cards from his auctions affect future prices on cards the rest of us will be buying.

Date? Looking at the docket but don't see it.

Oh wait I found it. I've read it before, this is the one where the government puts the loss at between 400k and 1M right?

[calvindog]

Oct 10, 2013

[Peter_Spaeth]

Right, I've read it before, no doubt some very bad stuff in there. My point is simply that except for a few specific items that are named there, there isn't enough to know whether one was shilled. He admits to shilling "more than 50" lots I think but in the context of all those auctions that doesn't really give an indication of scope.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Right, I've read it before, no doubt some very bad stuff in there. My point is simply that except for a few specific items that are named there, there isn't enough to know whether one was shilled. He admits to shilling "more than 50" lots I think but in the context of all those auctions that doesn't really give an indication of scope.

There's language which describes shill bidding by Mastro on a frequent, auction-wide level. Just because parts of the agreement reference specific lots or victims does not mean his fraud was limited to them.

As for not knowing specifically whether one was shilled, so what? If you bid in his auctions you were most likely shilled. If you buy a card in the future which has an artificially high price due to the fraud in Mastro's auctions, you are a victim. And you can write to the judge without knowing specifically if you were defrauded by Mastro especially since the Mastro defendants destroyed bidding records.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I don't think I could top the letter from the psychologist diagnosing him with Narcissistic Personality Disorder with Antisocial Features.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by calvindog

There's language which describes shill bidding by Mastro on a frequent, auction-wide level. Just because parts of the agreement reference specific lots or victims does not mean his fraud was limited to them.

As for not knowing specifically whether one was shilled, so what? If you bid in his auctions you were most likely shilled. If you buy a card in the future which has an artificially high price due to the fraud in Mastro's auctions, you are a victim. And you can write to the judge without knowing specifically if you were defrauded by Mastro especially since the Mastro defendants destroyed bidding records.

I AM going to write a letter tonight...and I urge anyone who has bid in one of his auctions to do so as well.