CGC Files Lawsuit Against Employees 30 30

[Chip Cataldo]

No scandal stops the gravy train, anyway. Once again, 98% of comic collectors will never even know this happened.

[Dr. Balls]

On 2/2/2024 at 1:55 PM, shadroch said:

Is it a surprise that they were storing books in corridors or that work is being done in place the original security system wasn't set up for?  

No, it's not. The corporate mentality when you are making truckloads of cash is to cut corners on your infrastructure while taking time out of your day to go lease a new Range Rover with your bonus.

The sad part is that there are a lot of people who count on CGC for their employment, and the ones who who simply jump off to the next executive-level job could care less about the product because if their idiotic decision-making does crater the company, they'll be telling their next interviewer that they lost their job because "Metrics indicated that a fluctuating post-pandemic economic environment severely curtailed our customer base's disposable income" instead of "I'm a jackhole that probably shouldn't be in charge of turning on a lightswitch due to my cosmic-level incompetence."

I don't expect executives to know every single aspect of their company, but this many mistakes in this short of time? That's monumental ineptitude and lack of responsibility - there is simply no excuse.

[Nick Furious]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:45 PM, bluehorseshoe said:

Annndddd just like that, Plaintiff's Complaint is Dismissed and Plaintiff's Motion for Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunctive Relief is Denied.

 

Life moves at you pretty fast. 

Any links to the details? 

[Kevin76]

On 2/2/2024 at 7:16 AM, Cool Ghoul said:

I've heard of charitable grading, but could this really be an example of it?

This pic is from an eBay listing in 2021 when this book skyrocketed. 

Always thought it looked suspicious at the time.

I know that book, It was sent in as a raw copy as It was actually being sold through a guy locally where I live cause the guy who owned it wanted him to sell it for him, He was baffled as to why it came back 9.4, so he sent it to Comiclink, Comiclink said "We can't sell this, it's not a 9.4" so they sent it back to him, I didn't follow up any further with him as I think he just sold it on eBay during the boom, I haven't spoken to the local guy that sold it through him in a long time.  

Edited February 2 by Kevin76

[bluehorseshoe]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:54 PM, Nick Furious said:

Any links to the details? 

Honestly, I feel like that would get this thread closed.

Edited February 2 by bluehorseshoe

[comix4fun]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:00 PM, bluehorseshoe said:

Well according to @Stefan_W you can just google it.

[Thats not true but he thinks it is]

He's talking about your post saying it's dismissed.....

[Ryan.]

On 2/2/2024 at 6:03 PM, comix4fun said:

He's talking about your post saying it's dismissed.....

Is it dismissed?

[Lightning55]

On 2/1/2024 at 6:57 PM, Math Teacher said:

Unfortunately, Mr. Terrazas will not have to pay taxes on his ill-gotten gains, as the government has kicked the "anything above $600 is taxable" can down the road.

Every dollar of net income is taxable. The $600 threshold pertains only to 1099 reporting requirements. 

[comix4fun]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:15 PM, Ryan. said:

Is it dismissed?

The day after it was filed? There hasn't even been a hearing set yet. I put the chances of that at ZERO and Absolute ZERO, but I think he needed three or four more emojis for proper joke identification. 

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 2/2/2024 at 12:38 PM, newshane said:

I told them...

they could have hired me. I could have set them on the right path.

They didn't want to pay me what I'm worth. 

 

 

[Ryan.]

On 2/2/2024 at 6:17 PM, comix4fun said:

The day after it was filed? There hasn't even been a hearing set yet. I put the chances of that at ZERO and Absolute ZERO, but I think he needed three or four more emojis for proper joke identification. 

Five, preferably. 

[comix4fun]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:18 PM, Ryan. said:

Five, preferably. 

Don't leave anything to chance.

[troydivision1]

On 2/1/2024 at 8:01 PM, bluehorseshoe said:

What I have made very clear is that this lawsuit is the result of CGC not being able to be successful with Plan A (working it out privately), so filing a lawsuit (YESTERDAY) was a necessary evil:  someone in  house spilled the beans, so it had to be done for no other reason than to be able to say you did in the next lawsuit.

This take is accurate.
Having worked a long time for a company that deals with internal theft on many levels, reaching a lawsuit is utilized in setting a precedent for all current and future employees. There is a greater than zero chance CGC hasn't encountered 'shenanigans' previously that were handled in-house.
 

[Math Teacher]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:16 PM, Lightning55 said:

Every dollar of net income is taxable. The $600 threshold pertains only to 1099 reporting requirements. 

So, a person who steals would never cheat on his taxes. Right....

[HighGrade]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:54 PM, Iconic1s said:

Totally agree!  The problem is all the timing of these incidences.

CGC appears to (maybe) have had this under wraps and (maybe) was indeed not going to go public. Don’t know, but do know the Terrazas issue pre-dates 9.9newsstand discovering swapped slabs.

The swapping scandal came to light ONLY due to a vigilant collector!  Did CGC know?  Were they going to let us know?  We’ll never know for sure now either.

Then the President does an interview and says “no inside job.”  About THAT scandal.  Super bad look now!

Then this happens… sure, MAYBE it’s unrelated to the swap scandal but INSIDE JOB!!

Did the 9.9newsstand reveal force CGC to go after Terrazas because it’s just a component of larger problems yet to be revealed?  Were they going to keep it all quiet otherwise?

Thing is, we’ll never know if they were initially going to cover it all up or not.  All I know is that from my personal viewpoint there has been enough incompetence at this point (both in running the business and handling the aftermath of scandals) that CGC no longer deserves MY loyalty or business until major changes, and even admissions take place.

Edit: should have added that in the swap scandal it appears most people (including myself) are convinced it affects many more than 350 books… also no transparency how books are removed from list. Another BAD look from CGC.

Timing, looks like they have been investigating this whole thing privately for months, if they had let us know this, you can forget catching these two and they didn't and maybe still don't know all the parties involved. It looks pretty deep and much longer of an investigation, heck seems they even let the scams go on just to get solid information on what and who was doing this. They kinda tipped the hat when putting up all the photos of graded books, looking back you can see that, in fact that may also be part of the case, having those scans up will bolster the case, so they knew what they were doing.

At the time of the interview the case was still ongoing, and if you noticed it appeared he was taking cues from someone, you have to say certain things, I think he said "no current employees" I could be wrong.

They didn't file that size of a case with just the time after 9.9newsstands reveal, so it did not force them to go after Terrazas, we can be very sure of that. Mounting this case is not simple, and fact remains they could have still been silent and NOT go after anyone! short term this is a nightmare, long term it's a win. still shocking they took this path, it's the longer harder road.

I'm not making excuses of why this happened, they always had issues, so does many other graders or companies I do business with, and everyone has the right to not trust them now, yell, scream if they choose. I personally just feel I trust them more right now then I ever did before, going forward I feel more confident (not so much on grading, LOL, but that will always be an issue, cards,coins.etc.. grading is racket, it's a crazy game, boosted grades are an issue with ALL graders, that's life) But security and inside theft or reholder swapping, I am no longer worried about that part. I said all along the it was too easy, I never thought you could pop a holder reseal without tampering being evident, nope it was humans that allowed those reholders right through. I will assume it was poor oversight and poor hiring practice, I don't know, not good either way.

So I respect your feelings, well justified, it's good to talk about this as collectors but the one thing I will say the current case wasn't forced and dreamed up in a month, it was before we even found out back in December.  The case is deep, and reading the case parts of this are certainly related to the swapping for sure, they describe the exact details of a reholder swap... We might not ever know the full details, they might not even know the full details, but they certainly didn't cover anything up, quite the opposite! they blew this thing up by hiring a PI and having a case at all.

I'm not worried, still happy, been through worse long ago with another company that everyone said was terrible and doomed, forums were full of hate and worry, but they are still #1, and assume CGC will still be the top money draw.

[CitrusZ28]

On 2/2/2024 at 1:12 PM, ExNihilo said:

The solution seems rather simple: all employees are strip searched before and after entering the designated grading/holdering room.  

If CGC were a cartel they could require all of their employees to work in the nude.

[Lightning55]

On 2/2/2024 at 6:40 PM, Math Teacher said:

So, a person who steals would never cheat on his taxes. Right....

Cheating on taxes is stealing, and not uncommon, unfortunately. 

You said:

   On 2/1/2024 at 6:57 PM, Math Teacher said:

"Unfortunately, Mr. Terrazas will not have to pay taxes on his ill-gotten gains, as the government has kicked the "anything above $600 is taxable" can down the road."

The $600 threshold, or the currently higher threshold that varies by state, has nothing to do with whether anyone has to pay taxes or not. Every dollar of net income is taxable. People can choose whether or not to follow the law.

Some people choose to rob banks, but they risk getting caught.

Some people, like yourself, confuse the reporting threshold as being an allowance of money you can earn before paying taxes on it. It's not.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 2/2/2024 at 3:26 PM, Iconic1s said:

Honestly though, the SS brand was (IMO) destroyed when they started giving 9.8’s to books that had “art” burned into the covers.  Nothing against the “art” but there’s a time and a place, as they say and maybe a CGC “9.8” isn’t the place for burned paper.

Even the burned covers weren't as bad as those cut /sliced covers. 

[HighGrade]

On 2/2/2024 at 7:06 PM, CitrusZ28 said:

If CGC were a cartel they could require all of their employees to work in the nude.

That immediately reminded me of that scene in New Jack City, pictured with grading comics...🤣

[Lightning55]

On 2/1/2024 at 4:36 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I think there are definitely imitators - but not on $100-$200 books. The hassle factor would be pointless even to the dumbest of scammers:

Buy $100 9.2

Replace it with a $80 9.0

Re-sub removed 9.2 for $35+shipping

Sell new 9.2 for $100

Not enough in there to bother with the risk, I don’t think.

 

On 2/1/2024 at 4:49 PM, shadroch said:

Substitute the book with an 8.5 raw you bought for $10, and the equation changes. Since everyone knows no one would do this on $100 books, you could get away with it all day with just a heat gun.  I'm curious about what can happen to the seller who sells a swapped-out book.  Where does the crime occur? Is it in swapping the book?  Is it in owning a book that was swapped? Is it selling a swapped book?

I understand and respect the morality of the situation, and it is certainly unethical, but I don't understand the legality of it.

You can't swap in a raw book, unless you access or ability to duplicate the inner well. Which has yet to be shown to be in practice. And if you had that capability, along with being able to discretely open and reseal a slab, you wouldn't be wasting your efforts or resources on $100 slabs.

As @Dr. Balls said, no one swaps out cheap books. You'd move backwards financially, like spending 35 cents each to counterfeit quarters. If a comic is under $300, no one has messed with it.