CGC Files Lawsuit Against Employees 30 30

[bluehorseshoe]

On 2/1/2024 at 8:38 PM, Krismusic said:

nothing with your post but just had to say i had a poster of your profile pic above my bed in college it brought back memories.

You and me both my friend. It’s been my avatar since my first day on here, 12 or 13 or whatever years ago, and there it is. It’s all about Respecting the obvious stuff.

[Kevin76]

Matt Nelson said in a youtube interview recently that this isn't an inside job...why did he lie?  

[awakeintheashes]

On 2/2/2024 at 12:28 AM, Kevin76 said:

Matt Nelson said in a youtube interview recently that this isn't an inside job...why did he lie?  

This is different than the reholder scandal…as far as we know. But, Matt’s response, in bold, takes on a different meaning now. Wonder if it was almost a slip up.

West Coast Davengers: ...have you discovered if that person was or is in relation with a former or current employee.

Matt: no, yeah there's no connection. No employees are involved. It seems like it was a separate incident from, uh from CGC.

[Kevin76]

On 2/2/2024 at 12:43 AM, awakeintheashes said:

This is different than the reholder scandal…as far as we know. But, Matt’s response, in bold, takes on a different meaning now. Wonder if it was almost a slip up.

West Coast Davengers: ...have you discovered if that person was or is in relation with a former or current employee.

Matt: no, yeah there's no connection. No employees are involved. It seems like it was a separate incident from, uh from CGC.

Yeah I discovered this is another scam different from the reholder fiasco  

[AJD]

On 2/2/2024 at 10:58 AM, Christophe9999 said:

I'm curious if this Hulk 181 is the one where they created a duplicate label but with a higher grade. Can having these defects still score a 9.6? This was in a batch of 5 books submitted on 9/8/2023. One of the books sold on ebay from these folks. Grader's note only says "very small crease left top of back cover".

 

 

That white 'scratch' is a reasonably common printer's glitch on Hulk 181. I think that gets a pass from CGC, at least in grades under 9.8

[Cat]

Well well well, isn't this interesting. Not good. Not good at all. Welcome to 2024, where CGC is plagued by scandals. 

[ostanni]

This may have been covered, but didn't CGC start out requiring 2 or 3 graders for each book to make sure there was an independent consensus? This seemed like a good model to reduce bad actors acting badly. Maybe the should change the workflow so that at least each sub gets an extra pair of eyes on it. Maybe the 2nd grader can just verify the first graders notes and make sure something else big isn't missed and agree or disagree with the assigned grade. This shouldn't require as much time/money as the first grader.

[ostanni]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:54 AM, BeardedBubba said:

The most disturbing part to me is the fact that he could just walk over to a shelf and steal a customers book??  And nobody saw it?  I don't know what I expected but I always assumed the facility was a little more secure than that.  

And does this mean there are no cameras around CGC grading facilities?

[godzilla43]

What I find funny is that this crook first submitted the stolen books but disagreed about the grades which made him faking the labels.

[HighGrade]

On 2/2/2024 at 3:04 AM, godzilla43 said:

What I find funny is that this crook first submitted the stolen books but disagreed about the grades which made him faking the labels.

They didn't make fake labels, nobody has made fake labels, he used reholder swap deal, so looks like they are involved in the reholder scam, so it all adds up now.

 Right in the lawsuit it says: "He then swapped high quality and high value comic books' certificates, certified and graded through legitimate processes by CGC, with those of inferior, lower-graded comic books." 

Now with people reading this as they made up fake labels it will end up like the whole heat gun hysteria, all not true, sadly it was far too easier, humans are the weak link not the holders.

Somewhat good news from what we read, it wasn't easy to just get lower grade books graded higher, otherwise that's what he would have done, or just print labels. Instead they went through the reholder to obtain the high grade.  I think the idea of a second grader looking at the books and also not knowing who is going to grade certain books prevented just getting the good grade to start, BUT you could crack a holder and send in for reholder with it still cracked, so this person was probably in charge of receiving reholders and sending them through to get new holders.

[mr_highgrade]

On 2/1/2024 at 4:17 PM, blazingbob said:

While I agree there are always going to be people inside and outside the business that will try to scam the system.  

Clearly there is a breakdown or lack of security follow ups on employees that sell books.  Now while they may have gotten permission to sell books it is obvious that what they are selling is not checked by the company.  I'm assuming that going forward that will not be the case because frankly these two employees are ruining CGC's business reputation on integrity.       

For me I've had issue with "Consultants" who come in and grade and also sell books.    

That's a good question Bob, why is Mark Haspel a "Consultant"? 

[Buzzetta]

There might be a third eBay account also run by someone named Terraza that has not been mentioned in the docket as far as I know. 

 

Edited February 2 by Buzzetta

[jimbo_7071]

On 2/1/2024 at 2:44 PM, JollyComics said:

I applied for vintage comic grader TWICE!   CGC doesn't know how to hire the honest employee!!!  Now, they have to look themselves for what they have done!

I moved on and I am happy where I am now.  That is too bad that I don't have Florida weather up here.

More info about the case: Certified Collectibles Group vs Terrazas Case

It seems like they haven't even required experience in the hobby when it comes to hiring graders. Do you have any idea why you were turned down? I'm not interested in becoming a grader (or moving to Florida for that matter), but I'm curious why they would turn down an experienced collector.

[Cool Ghoul]

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.

[jimbo_7071]

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.

It could be, but grading seemed very loose at that time. (Maybe not THAT loose; that book doesn't look any better than 7.5.)

[comicwiz]

On 2/2/2024 at 5:15 AM, mr_highgrade said:

That's a good question Bob, why is Mark Haspel a "Consultant"? 

Just last week, Steve Borock was interviewed by Swagglehaus, and retold the story of his choice of Haspel being questioned, with doubts. Something along the lines of "are you sare about this guy?" Prescient warnings.

Edited February 2 by comicwiz

[TRMN8R5]

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

 

There is absolutely ZERO chance that's a legit 9.4  !!

[Mikey C]

On 2/1/2024 at 4:54 PM, BeardedBubba said:

The most disturbing part to me is the fact that he could just walk over to a shelf and steal a customers book??  And nobody saw it?  I don't know what I expected but I always assumed the facility was a little more secure than that.  

During the big McFarlane signing at the end of 2022, they just stored all the books in a hallway. Maybe it’s a very secure hallway? 🤷‍♂️

Edited February 2 by Mikey C

[dbcn]

I hope CGC can issue some kind of public statement about this & control the narrative a bit - otherwise this is going to go rumor/conspiracy theory heavy quick.

[Ryan.]

On 2/2/2024 at 7:48 AM, Mikey C said:

During the big McFarlane signing at the end of 2022, they just stored all the books in a hallway. Maybe it’s a very secure hallway? 🤷‍♂️

Looks secure to me. You can clearly see Todd blocking the hallway from intruders.