NEW YORK — A Colorado man is accused of selling and trading fake Michael Jordan rookie basketball cards and other trading cards, netting more than $800,000 in sales over four years, prosecutors said.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Mayo Gilbert McNeil, 82, was arrested in Denver on Wednesday and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
McNeil made his first court appearance in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado in Denver and will be arraigned in New York City at a later date, Sports Collectors Daily reported.
BREAKING: 82-Year-Old Colorado Man Charged in $800,000 Sports Card Fraud Scheme >>> https://t.co/NIOL26FxlQ pic.twitter.com/uPNsgLj5D6
— Sports Collectors Daily (@SportsCollector) March 8, 2023
According to a criminal complaint, McNeil is accused of making bogus deals beginning in 2015.
The complaint alleges that McNeil conspired with others to sell sports trading cards, including a graded 1986-87 Fleer rookie card of Jordan, one of the most coveted cards among collectors in general and basketball collectors specifically.
McNeil is accused of telling potential customers that the cards were graded by Professional Authentication Services, a third-party authentication service. In fact, the cards were not graded, the complaint alleges.
McNeil is accused of making fraudulent deals in 2019, when he sold a counterfeit card to a victim in Manhasset, New York; and in 2017, when he traded two bogus cards for a pair of authentic Tom Brady football cards, The Associated Press reported.
The victim in New York originally met McNeil through an online auction site in the summer of 2019, according to Sports Collectors Daily. McNeil allegedly suggested that the two communicate outside the auction and work out their own deal. After the victim wired $4,500 to McNeil for a PSA 10 (gem mint) Jordan rookie card, he received them by mail at his Manhasset home. The cards were later determined by PSA to be fake, according to the sports collecting website.
“As alleged, Mr. McNeil defrauded sports memorabilia collectors of more than $800,000 by intentionally misrepresenting the authenticity of the trading cards he was peddling when, in fact, they were counterfeit,” Michael Driscoll, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a news release.
McNeil told the AP by telephone that he was released without bail.
“I did nothing wrong,” McNeil said.
He declined to comment further, according to the news organization.
