Collector pleads guilty to sports memorabilia fraud, including fake Heisman – Chicago Tribune
An Arkansas collector pleaded guilty in Chicago’s federal court Monday to heading a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors of sports memorabilia, including using a phony Heisman Trophy as collateral on a $100,000 loan.
In pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud, John Rogers admitted he had a trophy company fix a nameplate to a Heisman replica to make it look like it was the authentic 1978 trophy awarded to University of Oklahoma running back Billy Sims.
“The individual wanted a hard asset that would back up his investment, so I created it,” Rogers told U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin after the judge asked him to explain his crime in his own words. “I knew it was wrong. I did it anyway.”
Prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence of just under eight years in prison if Rogers, 44, continues to cooperate. Rogers will also be on the hook for as much as $25 million in restitution to victims of the fraud, Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Owens told the judge.
Durkin set sentencing for Sept. 12.
The guilty plea comes nearly three years after FBI agents raided Rogers’ home and offices in North Little Rock, Ark., as part of an ongoing investigation out of Chicago targeting fraud in the lucrative but often shady world of sports memorabilia.
In a related investigation, three former executives of a suburban Chicago sports memorabilia company, Mastro Auctions, were previously found guilty of fraud, including owner William Mastro, the so-called King of Memorabilia. Mastro was sentenced in 2015 to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to rigging auctions, falsifying catalog information and even using a paper slicer to improve the value of a rare T206 Honus Wagner baseball card.
According to Rogers’ 24-page plea agreement, he routinely altered sports memorabilia items to make them appear authentic and used proceeds from the fraud to repay customers who had figured out the items were fakes.
In the Heisman Trophy scheme, Rogers fixed a fraudulent nameplate on a ceremonial trophy that had been given to the emcee of the Heisman award ceremony, his plea agreement said. Rogers also created a phony letter, purportedly from Sims confirming the authenticity of the trophy, and sent an email to the investor stating the trophy was valued at up to $225,000, the agreement said.
The investor was not identified in court documents, but in 2015 a man named William M. Hogan sued Rogers in Arkansas alleging he had lent him more than $5 million to bankroll the purchases of sports collectibles, including a loan for a 50 percent interest in the Sims trophy, records show.
In a lengthy Facebook post after he was charged, Rogers apologized for his actions and said he had no one to blame but himself. He even thanked federal investigators for saving him from “a downward spiral of cocaine addiction.”
“Had they not stepped in, I would be dead now,” Rogers wrote.
In court Monday, Rogers tugged at the lapels of his gray suit and ran his fingers through his hair as Owens detailed parts of the plea agreement. Rogers told the judge his motive for the fraud was simple.
“It was for personal gain,” he said. “Greed.”
In 2014, the Tribune detailed in a front-page article how Rogers was being sued in Arkansas over the purchase of the famed archive of Chicago photographer George Brace, who had amassed an astonishing collection of baseball portraits over six decades, capturing legendary players from Babe Ruth to Ernie Banks in candid shots before games at Wrigley Field and the old Comiskey Park.
Rogers had bought the Brace collection in 2012 for $1.35 million from the late photographer’s daughter, Mary. Their contract required Rogers to make a digital replica of each image for Brace’s personal use and gave her the right to take back the collection if Rogers defaulted on the deal, the suit said. Brace sued after Rogers missed several payments and failed to send her any usable digital prints.
The Brace collection was not specifically mentioned in the criminal charges. However, the eight-page information filed last year alleged that Rogers falsely told several investors their money “would be used to fund the digitization, marketing and sale of photographs from certain collections.”
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @jmetr22b
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