Ewert Exposed as Trimming Books: Redux

[Foolkiller]

Gene, I'll amend that post, but I'm keeping the quote. Thanks.

[Foolkiller]

Let's get the word out folks!

 

yeah, that whole "internal investigation" yeah, him and his "crew" of nobody but himself.

 

You know what, I can only hope that people on these boards are telling everyone off these boards that they see about this situation. This transcends rabble rousing and those dealers who feel the boards are inconsequential. This involves a serious breech, probably the most serious transgression a dealer can make in our hobby. If Jason has some evidence, then let him come on here and say it. Or better yet, Jason can send me an email from profile and tell me the story or tell me in person.

 

I've emailed this thread to every single store owner and dealer I can think of that would be interested. And I have every intention of telling every collector that I don't think you can buy from Jason Ewert under the circumstances now present. I know there are lurkers who are reading this -- I would hope they are heeding the warning that at this stage, there's some questionable dealings from Ewert.

 

It may not happen today or tomorrow, but as more comes out about this situation, Jason will either be cleared entirely, or the cloud of doubt will remain on him forever.

[Foolkiller]

Jbud on the offensive!

 

Deny Deny Deny Deny again -deflect, with vagueness and rhetoric and NEVER let them nail you into a corner.

 

Steve I don't know how plainly I can say this. You have a Charter Member Dealer WHO subbed a Trim and staple replacement job by you. And more than one by the looks of it. You buy the book back, you get it off the market - we applaud, but thats it.

 

If CGC really wanted to find out who threatened their integrity and credibility they would outright ban the submitter. You can bet your that if Ewert was banned from subbing he would do everything in his power to provide documentation that he bought this book, or accepted it as a consignment from someone. Because he tells you he got it from Marc you say OK thats fine whew crisis averted - ARE YOU *&^&*(^) KIDDING ME...

 

Please come forth into the 21st century for a moment, he is implying that the book came into his possession as a result of a business transaction and not a $5 transaction either and he can't supply you with any documentation Again are you F$cking kidding me.

[Foolkiller]

More from Jbud...

 

Ok, lets assume for the case of arguement that Jason Indeed did buy the book from Marc Shrueder. Should he still nto be under the burder to prove this?? Again is he still not the submitter of a blatant attempt to circumvent the system?? If CGC takes the stance of banning the VIA account from subbmitting books, something they have every right to do. Do you not think it will compell him to take action, not tomorrow, not next month, or next year but ASAP. Do you not think he is then knocking down Heritages door for documentation that would clear him.

 

Further, I think its safe to say that Board members sell books and, or take them on consignment. For the BSD board members, think about your last say 4K transaction. Did you send it Media Mail?? Did you send cash in an envelope through the mail. Having purchased off Jason a few years ago I can tell you he has very specific terms for his transactions - but on this one he has no documentation?? Ya that makes perfect sense to me.

 

And further still if we believe his account consider who he was doing business with. If I'm buying a 3-4K book off Hammer, even if its in a blue holder, you can bet you that I am keeping every shred of documentation about that transaction. He knows Marc's history but takes no steps to protect himself in the transaction??? This does NOT sound like the business practices the Mr. Ewert usually undertakes when engaging in transactions related to comic books.

[Foolkiller]

More from Borock

 

We have many major sellers who send in trimmed and/or color touched books all the time and they get purple labels. Some even tell me thay got it from another major dealer. Everybody denies that they did the work or had the work done. Nobody is going to admit trying to slip stuff past us. That's just reality. I am not saying that all or even any of the major players do this, I am just saying we will never know until a pattern emerges. Our job (or at least part of our job) is to catch the work done. That's it. We went further than that on this issue. We do not stop people from submitting books, we do however stop people from submitting for others. Dupcek is allowed to submit, but would never be allowed to submit for others, he would not be allowed to be a member dealer. Not only that, there has been a pattern for years of his handy work. As I stated before, if a patten emerges from Jason or anyone else, we will out them and not let them submit for others. By banning people from submitting, if they are not on the level, we will not be able to find a pattern in timely fasion.

[Foolkiller]

Time to wake up people, Ewert's story is swiss cheese!

 

I'm not saying banning Jason at this point is the right move, but it's not just ONE book. There is already a pattern. What's a pattern, three, four, ten, twenty? Let me say it again, there's not just one book. So to me, you already have knowledge of more than one. That's why you should be asking Jason for proof. Not just accepting his word. Ask him those questions of how did the transaction go down? Where? by mail? where's the tracking number? You paid in cash? How many books did you get, did you make a list... if not why not? And a dozen others.

[Foolkiller]

I still feel the same way about this situation as I did when I posted this.

 

A liar and fraud is a liar and a fraud. I think things look very bad for Jason right now, and I think he should be caught and it should be publicized. You can't get 100% evidence on this guy, but I want every single collector to know the situation. All those people who don't check the boards should be directed to this thread before bidding on any Ewert auction. They can make up their own minds after they get the info. Right now he's not suffering because people don't know all the facts. I agree with the sentiment from before -- you have to derail his sales. If people want to bid even after knowing that there's really big question out there, so be it.

[Foolkiller]

Chain of custody issues from the heritage auction.

 

the problem is, Jason can't do that. He didn't pay by check, he paid in cash. And the Heritage bill would show that, as Red pointed out, that the chain of custody of the book would have remained with Jason, and never went to Marc

[Foolkiller]

Whoops, from FFB --

 

You mean the same Chris Friesen who missed the trim on the Batman #11?

[Foolkiller]

Whatever happened with this?

 

For those who want to move on to the next similar target of discussion, I recommend the thread:

Detective #36 - Cover Reattached but in a blue label?

 

I have hunted that book down and SUPPOSEDLY it's on it's way back here. I will let everyone know when it gets here.

[Foolkiller]

Jason never comes back on to discuss, buries his head on the sand.

 

Who says it has to be an honest answer? Just come back and discuss it, defend his honor a bit. Act like anyone else who was accused of wrongdoing. Go public and confront the charges. Be nice, be calm, and deny deny deny. You KNOW it works around here as in 'real life'. It takes balls perhaps to skate so close to the truth and lie (if he's guilty).. but who among us hasnt done the same with a boss, or clients, or wife, or parent, etc???

 

Remember after his first long post here? He sure managed to stop the thread and accusations dead cold, didnt he? With just ONE post! Its human nature of a chat board: we prattle on (myself included) among ourselves about a third party, discussing details and possibilities and scans etc. And once the accused enters the room, speaks quietly, respectfully, calmly--- the mood instantly changes. 9 out of 10 of us back off.

 

And slowly, in his absense, the chatter begins again, and gets louder and louder, and voila, the call goes out for an encore performance from the accused. And statments from the first one get questioned. And the mood swings strongly back to suspicion again.

[Foolkiller]

Who is this Abrams? And he seems to be raising some interesting issues...

 

Do you think the person who trimmed the FF3 is a serial trimmer? Do you think this kind of thing gets by CGC consistantly?

[Foolkiller]

My report from the Big Apple and the reaction dealers/collectors alike were having to the Jason Ewert situation.

 

Just FYI for everyone who thinks that Jason's going completely under the radar -- this weekend's Big Apple was abuzz among many dealers about the Ewert situation. They were, at the very least, discussing it amongst themselves. There's no doubt that there was a split, where some dealers and I quote when I heard this, "didn't see what the big deal was. If CGC can't even pick the trim up, how big a deal can this be." Same dealer was professing to send in books that he knew were restored to see if CGC could pick up the resto, and they did.

 

The bottom line is that there are going to repurcussions down the line for Jason, but the real question is, how severe.

 

Additionally, Tom Brulato was allegedly damage controlling around the con with a new version of the story that perhaps Jason sent the books out to be pressed and didn't know they had been trimmed in addition. I'll just tell you that nobody he told that story to thought it was plausible. To me, Tom B. should distance himself from Jason immediately. At this point, I still don't believe Tommy B. was involved.

[Foolkiller]

Still a misunderstanding about evidence circumstantial v. direct

 

Doesn't sound like you "proved" anything. Sounds like you convinced a jury or judge to send someone to jail on "wholly circumstantial evidence".

 

That's not proof, it's persuasion.

 

further misunderstanding of the distinction

 

Foolkiller, you keep talking about evidence. Jbud was talking about PROOF.

 

Circumstantial evidence and proof are NOT the same thing.

 

[Foolkiller]

And this is why the misunderstanding mattered... obviously, the "proof" would come to light (which was almost no different than what we had)

 

We haven't proved anything about Jason Ewert. Guilt or innocence

[Foolkiller]

More from Near Mint...

 

If I'm merely defining a different level of circumstantial evidence, it's at least a much HIGHER level. No one will be backing Jason up if it's revealed that he a)won the book from Heritage, b)submitted it to CGC, c)sold it to the blazing one.

 

 

Of course... Jason could have cleared himself under this framework as well, by simply getting Heritage to come forward and say... Jason Ewert was not the winning bidder of the FF 3.

[Foolkiller]

Nice point from BassGMan on the issue of the keeping of receipts

 

You are assuming that he reports all profits made on comics to the IRS and has a business license? No under the table deals, of course not. On the other hand, IF this is the case, he isn't alone by any means

[Foolkiller]

And like St. Paul in the light, Nearmint suddenly converts!!!!

 

Parties that I trust have given me information that brings me to the conclusion that Jason is guilty as hell.

[Foolkiller]

Hope the vacation was restful Jason!

 

Jason will not be in Baltimore. I just got an email from him that was pretty pro forma but also stating he will not be there. I think I'm going to open a dialog with him. He says he will be on vacation.

[Foolkiller]

I tried to reach out to Jason...

 

Dear Jason:

 

Well, thanks for taking a minute to respond to my initial email. If I had your email address handy, I probably would have simply emailed you directly.

 

That said, you obviously must be aware of the FF 3 thread on the CGC message boards because you responded to it. That day, you continued to be logged in after you posted and I could see your screen name reading the boards. Plus, I know that you're obviously aware of the situation at a minimum through both Steve Borock, who I know you've spoken to, and Tom Brulato.

 

Your story on the boards regarding the source of the FF #3 being from Marc Schreuder has been vehemently denied by Schreuder. You have offered no proof regarding the purchase of the FF #3 and have only indicated to Steve Borock that you paid cash, but no proof to anyone. I doubt anyone actually believes that story you posted on the CGC boards. Forget the boards for a second, how about offering something that's plausible to your partner Tom Brulato, instead of leaving him twisting in the wind to tell a story at the Big Apple that directly contradicts the version you gave on the CGC boards? CGC has not pressed you for more evidence, and perhaps they are going to let you slide on this -- I will be speaking to Borock about this more at Baltimore. While Heritage has stated they cannot release publicly who the winner of the FF #3 was, other major dealers have confirmed YOU were the winner.

 

This is a problem that spills well beyond the message boards. There's a storm (as I know you are aware) of dealers who will refuse to sell you books. At a minimum, collectors will be turned off from buying from you because they don't trust you anymore. This was one of the topics heavily discussed at the Big Apple and will be discussed again in Baltimore... is Jason Ewert sliding trimmed books by CGC? The evidence all points to the fact that you are. The evidence demonstrates that you are clearly involved in this fraud.

 

I am more than just a little familiar with the situation involving the FF #3. This is not the only book you are connected to with trimming. I also know of at least two other books where the trimming was done that you were in possession of. Speculation runs rampant on your other books. The process is slow. But rest assured that people will continue to hear your name in connection with this trimming/fraud unless you can offer a legitimate explanation, first and foremost to the people you've done business with (and it doesn't sound like you have, you've just ignored it) and then to the public who are interested in buying your books.

 

Maybe your auctions won't suffer today, this week or next month. But down the line, the questions have to get answered.

 

But I don't want to presume that you are 100% guilty. Maybe you told that story for a good reason. Maybe Schreuder is somehow loosely connected, though not in the way you described. Maybe you did try to trim some books or have the work done. Jason, people asked you point blank in the past whether or not you engaged in pressing and you told them to their face no. Now you admit that you do. That's a past instance of lying. It makes people skeptical about you now.

 

I would rather believe that there is some great explanation for all this rather than just greed to manufacture high grade books to make a buck. If there is, I'd love to hear it. I'm skeptical that there is one.

 

You can drop me a line anytime, or even call my cell 215-***-****... I'd love to chat Jason.

 

Again, I hope that you do have some explanation, but the evidence available now does not make me hopeful.

 

Best Regards,

 

Brian Ketterer, Esq.