Mastro Auctions Investigated for Shill Bidding

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Everyone's biggest fear when bidding on a non-ebay auction: do auction houses shill bid lots after knowing the maximum bid placed on an item?

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/427555p-360581c.html

Doug Allen was kind enough to come on this forum and explain the purpose of the $75 administrative fee charged by Mastro to all bidders for "costs" associated with Mastro auctions (as opposed to the 15 percent consignment fee and the 17.5 percent vig charged to winning bidders). Perhaps he can explain Mastro's defense to allegations by Ohio Authorities that Mastro may have engaged in shill bidding in its auctions. Apparently an Ohio criminal, a Republican fundraiser, used Ohio state funds to purchase zillions of dollars of sports memorabilia and coins from Mastro. According to a source, this criminal had a secret account with Mastro and was only allowed to deal with Bill Mastro on his transactions (anyone else ever have such personal service by Mastro?). This source claimed that "while Bill Mastro may be impressed with powerful people, he's not that interested in politics. "Money," the source says, "is the thing that motivates Bill.""

I'm sure since Doug made himself available for an interview with the NY Daily News (despite ceasing his contact with the Ohio authorities investigating Mastro), he'd be kind enough to come to this forum again and give us his side of the story - considering his auction is ongoing as we speak.