Man busted for selling fake Masters and Hall of Fame jackets

An FBI investigation resulted in a man pleading guilty to selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fake memorabilia.

A former California resident, who now resides in Mexico, pleaded guilty to selling fake sports memorabilia for nearly a decade and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Anthony J. Tremayne, a 58-year-old, sold “memorabilia containing purportedly genuine signatures of famous athletes, musicians, actors, and other celebrities,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California reportedly read.

In the nine or so years Tremayne was selling memorabilia, he moved items like fraudulent Masters jackets, Pro Football Hall of Fame jackets, signed replica Stanley Cups, signed boxing gloves, and a photo with an alleged Kobe Bryant signature on it.

Items from the Los Angeles Lakers, L.A. Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the Los Angeles Kings were all sold with signatures purported to be by members of those teams.

Tremayne’s enterprise also consisted of typical celebrity memorabilia from musicians and actors; a fraudulently signed Beatles photo, guitars with fake signatures from Carrie Underwood and Prince, and even a Kardashian-signed picture.

It was the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” photo, that was alleged to have Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian’s signatures, that ended up being the item that got Tremayne busted when he unknowingly sold it to an FBI agent for $200 in 2019.

A photo of the Kardashian sisters sold to an FBI agent is allegedly what brought down the memorabilia enterprise. Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images.

According to ESPN, Tremayne tended to include a “Certificate of Authenticity” with his allegedly genuine signatures, but the FBI determined those also to be fake.

In the end, the estimated price tag for Tremayne’s earnings ranged between $250,000 and $550,000, and he now faces a maximum federal prison sentence of up to 20 years. Tremayne was charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and three counts of aggravated identity theft.

Tremayne is also accused of fleeing to Mexico to avoid paying $1.4 million in U.S. taxes; Tremayne formerly resided in West Covina, California, but lived in Rosarito, Mexico, when he was apprehended. He later appeared in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California.

However, a plea deal has reportedly reduced Tremayne’s charges to just one count of mail fraud.

Other memorabilia that was noted in the federal scoop included forged signatures from actors from “Hunger Games,” “Twilight,” “Star Wars,” and “Captain America.”

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