Sports memorabilia dealer admits to counterfeiting over $350 million in gear after police raid warehouses

The dealer says the scheme grew to be an 'addiction'

Police in Westfield, Indiana conducted two raids on warehouses this week as part of a counterfeit sports memorabilia investigation alongside the FBI, finding one person dead of an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound. 

While police said there would be no more official information given about the ongoing investigation until it's completed, the man apparently at the center of it was more than willing to post details about the scheme he'd run for years. 

Brett Lemieux, a sports collectibles dealer who ran Mister Mancave, wrote a lengthy post in the Autographs 101 Facebook group admitting he'd sold more than four million items and brought in over $350 million, much of it on forgeries. The post, which was revealed by Sports Collectors Digest, details how forging autographs and holographs became an "addiction" and claimed he was responsible for a huge portion of the autographed merchandise on the sports collectibles market. 

"It was an addiction," Lemieux wrote. "How many items can I sell and give a front of a huge company. I did it for years. Purchased millions of dollars of legit items. Mixed it until [name withheld] found the hologram connect. Then I had the bank roll to buy even more. Do more signings. Every one item from a signing turned into 10,000. And it was certified. 95% of the [Patrick] Mahomes and Aaron [Judge] on the market are sold by me. Basically every autograph sold in the last 25 years you should have it looked at. It's fake and someone sold it to you other than me. I wish I had the exact dollar number of money taken in from this and I'll go to my grave never knowing. I kept this secret from everyone."

Lemieux claimed the warehouses police raided had $500-700 million worth of fake merchandise. He claims he made undistinguishable counterfeit cards and holograms from companies like Fanatics, JSA and Panini, and autographs from some of the biggest athletes like Mahomes, Judge, Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady. 

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"The building was seized and I let it happen," Lemieux wrote on Facebook. "The run is done. There's over 500-700 MILLION dollars in value of holograms and cards in there. Let that sink in. Every company I've touched is now my bitch. That was my goal. Once you came at me or spoke my name I went after you and your company directly. Intentionally."

We won't know officially the findings of the federal investigation into the counterfeit scheme until it's completed, but if what Lemieux claims he did is true, it will throw the sports collectibles world into chaos given his assertion there are now millions of fakes and counterfeits on the market that have gone by undetected.