Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION - A Must Watch! 18 18

[Buzzetta]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:25 AM, greggy said:

I remember tying up my phone line for hours and people complain that they couldn't reach me during the pre-cellphone days. 

I remember tying up my phone line over the course of months in 2020-2021 so people can't reach me during the cell phone days. 

I do not pick up work calls because it got to the point that 'work' would text or call at 10pm.  So around eight years ago I realized that I was more than willing to allow my voice mail to fill up so work cannot leave me a voice message.  I also happen to 'miss' their calls when they call and I will not respond to a single text message that is work related after 8 or 9PM no matter the urgency.  

Slowly but surely it broke certain habits and trends when others got on board and did the same. 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 8/27/2021 at 2:33 AM, Buzzetta said:

I remember tying up my phone line over the course of months in 2020-2021 so people can't reach me during the cell phone days. 

I do not pick up work calls because it got to the point that 'work' would text or call at 10pm.  So around eight years ago I realized that I was more than willing to allow my voice mail to fill up so work cannot leave me a voice message.  I also happen to 'miss' their calls when they call and I will not respond to a single text message that is work related after 8 or 9PM no matter the urgency.  

Slowly but surely it broke certain habits and trends when others got on board and did the same. 

These really are words to live by. 

Work to live. Do not live to work. 

[Buzzetta]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:35 AM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

These really are words to live by. 

Work to live. Do not live to work. 

"Alexa, how many more days until June 30, 2030."

"There are three thousand, two hundred twenty nine days until June 30, 2030."

I already know how my retirement will go down.  I don't want a party or anything like that.  I don't want any gifts or anything.  I will arrange a meetup just to go out to dinner with a few people that I work with that I regularly see outside of work as well.  I will let them know that this is it and then I will put in the paperwork.   It will be quiet and unannounced.   

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. 

[Buzzetta]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:39 AM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. 

I am going back to bed as it is almost 4am.  

I want to wake up and see more stuff claimed.  The more stuff that is claimed the less that I have to deal with in 3,229 days.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 8/27/2021 at 2:39 AM, Buzzetta said:

"Alexa, how many more days until June 30, 2030."

"There are three thousand, two hundred twenty nine days until June 30, 2030."

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 8/27/2021 at 2:39 AM, Buzzetta said:

I already know how my retirement will go down.  I don't want a party or anything like that.  I don't want any gifts or anything.  I will arrange a meetup just to go out to dinner with a few people that I work with that I regularly see outside of work as well.  I will let them know that this is it and then I will put in the paperwork.   It will be quiet and unannounced.   

I definitely do not blame you there.

I too have planned to silently slip away. 

 

[COI]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:10 AM, Buzzetta said:

Damn you and your even handed response.  I am getting out of bed at 2:55 in the morning to type this properly. 

I don't think that Bronty / Dan is being targeted as an individual when he is named. (Dan I do not think you are being targeted as an individual because I am sure you are going to read this.). Bronty / Dan is being named as a representation of all of the guys out there that are heavily invested in this, that sit on the sidelines and have absolutely nothing to do with the price manipulation scheme that Halperin and Wata are accused of orchestrating. 

However, despite not having a hand in price manipulation, they do benefit and they do have an interest in the maintenance of that status quo until they have cashed out at what they perceive to be the apex of the market regardless of how that market arrived to that point. 

It's no secret that I have a basement full of something that almost no one on the boards has.  That's right.  Brick City.   There is Lego everywhere.   If Halperin got himself in the Lego game and started messing around with Lego sales, and all of a sudden the price of the first modular building, Cafe Corner, went from $800 to $800,000, I would be cheering it on.  If you. owned Cafe Corner why wouldn't you?  

So when I refer to Bronty, or when I addressed the 'why does it matter?' question from @Domo Arigato that was the motivation behind my answer.   My responses here, at least when it comes to video games, is probably less biased than others.  Bronty any anyone else who possess these graded video games are going to have a vested financial and emotional interest in seeing the status quo preserved.  I want everyone reading to realize what I wrote.  There is a difference between 'preserving the status quo' and 'seeing the status quo preserved.'

I agree with you that the video probably has its flaws.  There are a couple of stretches I noticed and I am sure that if I was more fully versed in video games I would be able to point them out.  I also question the motivations of the people that made it.  However, the premise does have merit given the background of the players involved. 

When a no longer seen board member was involved in scamming people with fish tanks and was eventually caught, he moved on to toys.  When he was involved in scamming people with toys, he moved on to comics.  When he was involved in scamming people with comics, he moved on someplace else and says he is 'getting help.'  

I knew that Halperin was involved in the coin nonsense.  I never knew he was involved in mail fraud at 13 and at the age of 13 he had to pay back $100,000 by his own admittance.  If that evil little mastermind didn't learn his lesson then and moved on to coins, then is it a stretch to say that he is doing the same with video games?  Is it a stretch to say that he has done it with comics?   Do you know how many times I shoot a link to a Heritage Auction to someone on these boards and say, "Where did we last see this?"

We talk about a bubble bursting.  My concern in all of this is that the bubble bursts with video games and then there is a trickle down affect down the line to anything else the crook has touched. 

 

 

I appreciate you getting out of bed to respond.

Sure, Dan has a vested interest in the graded game market, but as far as Halperin/Heritage's business practices go and what potential hand they have in setting the market, Dan's involvement in games is no more relevant than any single comic collector who does business with Heritage. Dan's interest in maintaining the status quo could be projected onto dozens or hundreds of other boardies here, insofar as those boardies have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo on the comic side of things. 

You clearly understand this, and have said as much, so I'm no so much disagreeing with your overall point as I am trying to row against the tide of people that will inevitably interpret what you said, and what other people have said who are talking about Dan's involvement, as being somehow especially relevant to the issue of complicity with Heritage's business practices. Using Dan as a representation of all the guys out there who have a vested interest in games is the equivalent of me randomly selecting a board member on here who has recently cashed a check from Heritage, as a representation of all the guys out there who have a vested interest in comics. Additionally, I could even make the case that this issue is much more relevant on the comic side, given that comics account for a much bigger proportion of Heritage's business.

Edited August 27, 2021 by COI

[Jeffro.]

On 8/27/2021 at 12:44 AM, Domo Arigato said:

I guess I just assumed people might do a little reading on their own before watching a single video and making up their minds.

Regardless of this discussion, there is way too much of that kind of thing going on today. So many people watch a video or read a wiki article or listen to someone on a message board who "seems to know" what they are talking about and then think they can speak intelligently on a subject. It's frightening. There are a lot of people out there who seem to know what they are talking about because they dress it up and make it sound good. And that doesn't even take into account personal biases.

I'm reminded of a professor I once had who as a kid would read about things and believe them but when he got older and started researching those same topics himself, he realized how inaccurate and skewed some of those books were. I realize not  everyone can be experts on everything (despite the fact that some people here act like they think they are) but there has to be a better way, something in between cursory reviews of information and full on serious research. 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Jerkfro

[comicwiz]

On 8/26/2021 at 11:55 PM, manetteska said:

Thanks. Stepping away from Wata, we have PWCC which has been in the news recently as well as private sales which are… interesting.

The moment I heard CU had acquired Goldin Auctions, no word of a lie, I thought for the first time, this snug relationship between grade and auction house is getting way too close, and in the open for my comfort. And I thought about the Heritage/CGC/WATA relationships, and here we are. I wouldn't be at all surprised that Steve Cohen and company are watching what transpires from this.

Edited August 27, 2021 by comicwiz

[comicwiz]

On 8/27/2021 at 1:36 AM, Flanders82 said:

Also, is there any possibility that the CGC Promise Collection Pedigree's authenticity will be investigated?

All good questions, and the one I quote above in particular is certainly something people should give pause to with what's come to light. It's interesting that as I'm reading Seth Abramson's point about green/red seals, that a lot of the dynamics about him being "uneducated" are blatantly missing the mark. The issue is not whether the blue seal listed on Heritage was graded prior to the red seal policy, it's the responsibility to disclose the fact the game has mold, and that the grade is no longer valid if it doesn't. In the Star Wars hobby, one of the most compelling comparisons is how the vinyl cape Jawa's cape discolours. Something graded several years ago, that did not factor in the degradation, requires the seller to be transparent. There's people that will list the VCJ and still go by the AFA grade, and the moment they do, they are outed and read the riot act for trying. Seth notices that Heritage has an advantage in this situation, because Comicconnect has a red seal, and is doing things properly, and rather than understand and admit the responsibilities that come with selling a sealed cart in this state, they harp on Seth not knowing the difference (or at least Eric Naierman and Mark Haspel do). The same kind of, you know nothing wildly_fanciful_statement being spewed here by the apologists. Haspel got destroyed on Twitter over this (here's a link to the entire thread), and frankly, in  my estimation, it opens up a different discussion on the responsibilities of a grader to recall games when such discoveries are made. Mold is a type of degradation (aka "disintegration") that is literally game over in terms of sealed cart video game values. I bring this all up because whether anyone agrees on Seth's claims that Heritage might have some advantage over other auction houses when it comes to listing WATA games, it occurred to me that an interesting comparison is the gift grade the Gangsters Can't Win #2 got - in case no one noticed, it hammered at $10,800, and it's nowhere near the 8.5 grade it got. Certainly raises the question for me how does a comic in this condition get that kind of grade, unless the obvious answer is some form of preferential treatment.

Edited August 27, 2021 by comicwiz

[comicwiz]

On 8/27/2021 at 7:33 AM, Domo Arigato said:

The only thing I'm an expert at is knowing when I'm talking to a overgrown blowhard that knows about half of what he thinks he does.

For someone that espouses others should spend more time reading the history, and to research, you seem to be the very person you are accusing others to be - no other explanation for not noticing how many people in this thread have stated out in the open they did not know, or that they would even remotely consider it "common knowledge", but you're still banging on that drum. And I'm the blowhard and momo.

[Domo Arigato]

On 8/27/2021 at 6:40 AM, comicwiz said:

For someone that espouses others should spend more time reading the history, and to research, you seem to be the very person you are accusing others to be - no other explanation for not noticing how many people in this thread have stated out in the open they did not know, or that they would even remotely consider it "common knowledge", but you're still banging on that drum. And I'm the blowhard and momo.

It is common knowledge for anyone that cared to know it.  I was interested in the sale and found the information on it.  Simple.

People that had absolutely no prior interest in it aren't going to know it, because they didn't care to know it.  That doesn't mean it's not common and readily available knowledge.  Try again, Mo. 

 

 

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 8/27/2021 at 3:10 AM, Buzzetta said:

Damn you and your even handed response.  I am getting out of bed at 2:55 in the morning to type this properly. 

I don't think that Bronty / Dan is being targeted as an individual when he is named. (Dan I do not think you are being targeted as an individual because I am sure you are going to read this.). Bronty / Dan is being named as a representation of all of the guys out there that are heavily invested in this, that sit on the sidelines and have absolutely nothing to do with the price manipulation scheme that Halperin and Wata are accused of orchestrating. 

However, despite not having a hand in price manipulation, they do benefit and they do have an interest in the maintenance of that status quo until they have cashed out at what they perceive to be the apex of the market regardless of how that market arrived to that point. 

It's no secret that I have a basement full of something that almost no one on the boards has.  That's right.  Brick City.   There is Lego everywhere.   If Halperin got himself in the Lego game and started messing around with Lego sales, and all of a sudden the price of the first modular building, Cafe Corner, went from $800 to $800,000, I would be cheering it on.  If you. owned Cafe Corner why wouldn't you?  

So when I refer to Bronty, or when I addressed the 'why does it matter?' question from @Domo Arigato that was the motivation behind my answer.   My responses here, at least when it comes to video games, is probably less biased than others.  Bronty any anyone else who possess these graded video games are going to have a vested financial and emotional interest in seeing the status quo preserved.  I want everyone reading to realize what I wrote.  There is a difference between 'preserving the status quo' and 'seeing the status quo preserved.'

I agree with you that the video probably has its flaws.  There are a couple of stretches I noticed and I am sure that if I was more fully versed in video games I would be able to point them out.  I also question the motivations of the people that made it.  However, the premise does have merit given the background of the players involved. 

When a no longer seen board member was involved in scamming people with fish tanks and was eventually caught, he moved on to toys.  When he was involved in scamming people with toys, he moved on to comics.  When he was involved in scamming people with comics, he moved on someplace else and says he is 'getting help.'  

I knew that Halperin was involved in the coin nonsense.  I never knew he was involved in mail fraud at 13 and at the age of 13 he had to pay back $100,000 by his own admittance.  If that evil little mastermind didn't learn his lesson then and moved on to coins, then is it a stretch to say that he is doing the same with video games?  Is it a stretch to say that he has done it with comics?   Do you know how many times I shoot a link to a Heritage Auction to someone on these boards and say, "Where did we last see this?"

We talk about a bubble bursting.  My concern in all of this is that the bubble bursts with video games and then there is a trickle down affect down the line to anything else the crook has touched. 

 

 

How do you "like" a post ten times?

[comicwiz]

On 8/27/2021 at 8:05 AM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

My concern in all of this is that the bubble bursts with video games and then there is a trickle down affect down the line to anything else the crook has touched. 

Quoted for truth

[Sweet Lou 14]

On 8/27/2021 at 8:15 AM, comicwiz said:

Quoted for truth

Well keep in mind that wasn't my quote, it was me quoting @Buzzetta, but I do agree with it.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

On 8/27/2021 at 12:34 PM, comicwiz said:

Certainly raises the question for me how does a comic in this condition get that kind of grade, unless the obvious answer is some form of preferential treatment.

 

On 8/27/2021 at 12:34 PM, comicwiz said:

. Certainly raises the question for me how does a comic in this condition get that kind of grade, unless the obvious answer is some form of preferential treatment.

That is outrageous.

Who graded that?  Dylan?

[manetteska]

Unlocked!

[alexgross.com]

i won't be surprised if before long, this free chat forum is closed. 

[manetteska]

@Domo Arigato (if you are available) -

Ignoring the video completely, two questions to help clarify ("educate"):

1. Do you believe there is shenanigans in the graded video game market?

2. Do you believe there is shenanigans in the graded comic market?