The Hamilton County Coroner's Office identified autograph dealer Brett Lemieux, 45, as the man found dead when police executed a search warrant into a scheme involving fake sports memorabilia in Westfield, Indiana.
In a release Thursday, the coroner listed the cause and manner of death as pending, but in a statement Wednesday, Westfield police attributed "a self-inflicted gunshot wound" as the cause of death.
A Facebook post attributed to Lemieux on the "Autographs 101" group sent shockwaves through the sports autograph industry Wednesday morning.
In the post allegedly written by Lemieux, he detailed a huge counterfeiting business that sold more than four million items and surpassed $350 million in sales.
The crux of the autograph forging operation was based in faking holograms of the largest companies in the hobby, including Panini, Fanatics, Tri-Star, James Spence Authentics, Mill Creek Sports, GT Sports Marketing and others.
Lemieux’s primary business was called Mister Mancave, which says on its website that it offers “the largest framed jersey inventory on the web.”
A Facebook page for Mister Mancave says the business is located in Columbus, Ohio, but no records of a physical store there exist. Mister Mancave has been incorporated twice in Indiana between 2018 and 2023.
In the post attributed under his name, Lemieux said after Kobe Bryant died in January 2020, his company put out 80,000 fake items “into the marketplace.”
Sources told cllct Lemieux upset many companies that had official autograph deals with players because Lemieux's outlet would offer prices that were much lower and yet still featured holograms of authentication.
An Aaron Judge ball, for example, would sell on Fanatics for $699. Lemieux's website at Mister Mancave would offer a Judge ball, with a Fanatics hologram, for $399.
A Fanatics spokesperson said the company made big changes to its hologram two years ago after receiving information its former holograms had been copied. The new hologram has not been replicated since, the spokesperson said. Fanatics is currently working with two other partners to make additional changes that will make its stickers more counterfeit-proof.
Sources say Fanatics has worked closely with law enforcement over the past few years, including the Lemieux case and the fake autograph ring in McKinney, Texas, that was unraveled earlier this year. Fanatics also employs former FBI employees to aid in its fraud prevention.
Cllct contacted many of the companies whose holograms Lemieux said he faked. No others immediately returned messages seeking comment.
Industry insiders told cllct they were surprised by Lemieux’s post, which offered details of the alleged scheme.
“He’s trying to burn the industry on the way out of the door,” one autograph dealer said. “It’s clear he feels spurned and is trying to impress people.”
That source said he thought the numbers Lemieux boasted about seemed completely unrealistic.
“If he made and sold that much, the autograph industry would have been crushed,” the source said.
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Another autograph entrepreneur, whose company does millions in annual sales called the $350 million number "impossible," adding he would be surprised if it were 10% of that.
Longtime autograph authentication expert Steve Grad says no matter what the numbers, "this guy did years and years of damage."
Grad said it's harder and harder to catch criminals because the autopen process is getting more and more nuanced.
"This might have an effect on the industry in the short-term, but people have short memories, it will bounce back," he added.
It wasn’t like what Lemieux was doing was a secret, another industry insider said.
“He had tons of autographs from guys that didn’t do a signing in years,” one autograph dealer said.
Lemieux named names in his manifesto. He said Indiana autograph dealer Dominique Ball of Authentic Sports Collectibles "was the sole person who put out 100,000 Tom Brady items into the market" and that Nicklaus Litcher (sic) funneled the items Ball produced.
A call placed to Ball was not returned.
Nickolas Litscher, a chef in Wisconsin who has an autograph business on the side that most often manifests itself in offering prizes (razzes) on Facebook, told cllct he was shocked to see his name.
"I said five sentences to Brett my whole life," Litscher said. "He makes me look like I was part of the whole thing. I never talked to him on the phone and don't even know what he looks like."
Litscher said he is hiring a lawyer.
Sources said Lemieux and his associates have taken on various names on many selling platforms, including Ultimate Sports, Athletes One, Signature Dog and All-American Authentics.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.
Kevin Jackson is the chief content officer for cllct.