On Tuesday, Brett Lemieux, a seasoned sports memorabilia dealer, was found dead by authorities during the execution of a search warrant at his business, which was under investigation for alleged fraudulent activities, the New York Post reports.
Lemieux, founder of the sports memorabilia website MisterManCave, claimed in a striking Facebook post on the “Autographs 101” group Wednesday morning that he had sold over four million counterfeit items, amassing more than $350 million in sales, authorities said. Shortly after Lemieux posted the 1,200-word message, which has since been removed, Westfield, Indiana, police reported that he died by suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Lemieux claimed in a Facebook post that he orchestrated a large-scale counterfeit scheme, forging holograms and authentication stickers for sports collectibles that imitated products from major companies like Fanatics and Panini.
Lemieux claimed he flooded the market with 80,000 pieces of counterfeit memorabilia following the death of Kobe Bryant in 2020.
The sports memorabilia industry is reeling from Brett Lemieux’s suicide and his confession of orchestrating a large-scale counterfeit scheme, though some industry insiders expressed little surprise at the revelations.
“People have known about this guy. They’ve known his work. They know what he’s been up to,” said Steve Grad, an industry expert. “He has been at it for years and years. And he’s driven down the price of things. You know, you look at a Tom Brady autograph and Tom Brady’s value is affected drastically by this individual.”
Others expressed concern that Lemieux’s actions will cast a long shadow over the industry. “He did professional framing services for us probably four or five years ago — never had direct interaction with the memorabilia piece of it,” said Andy Albert, owner of Indy Card Exchange. “Thank God. Ninety-nine percent of the people in this industry do things the right way. And that one bad apple ruins the entire apple cart. It just infuriates me. Unfortunately, that’s going to have shockwaves for years to come.”