Mae West: Forgeries on eBay

Signatures of MAE WEST, Britain's top rugby players, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and other notables were "systematically" forged and sold by businessmen Graeme Walker and Faisal Madani, a British jury at Chester crown court was told.
• • Other counterfeit goods, it was heard, included replicas of England international caps and Worthington and European Cup final shirts, which were sold as genuine.
• • Graeme Walker, 45, is accused of more than 50 counts of cheating the customers of his shop, Sporting Icons Ltd, which has a store in Chester city centre and also operates on eBay.
• • Faisal Madani, 43, described in court as the "middle man," faces 20 counts of supplying the forgeries.
• • Andrew Thomas QC, prosecuting, opened the trial saying: "Those charges are only a sample of the many hundreds of forged and counterfeit goods either sold or offered for sale by Sporting Icons.
• • "Not every item in the shop was a forgery. The bogus stock was mixed in with genuine stock. We say that was all part of the fraud — by hiding the fakes among the genuine goods it was much easier to deceive the public."
• • Andrew Thomas said that prosecutors had relied on evidence from a handwriting expert and some stars themselves . . . .
• • Graeme Walker, of Mountain View Close, Connah's Quay, Deeside, and Faisal Madani, of Grange Road, Bramhall, Stockport, Greater Manchester, deny the charges and deny the items are forgeries. The pair claim that the goods were bought in good faith and from reputable sources.
• • The jury was told that Sporting Icons sold not just sporting memorabilia. In photographs of the shop and printouts of the website they saw framed autographs and pictures of actors MAE WEST, Laurel and Hardy, Rock Hudson, and Sylvester Stallone.
• • Musicians whose autographs and pictures were on sale included the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Queen, and Nat King Cole.
• • Mr. Thomas told the jury that the bulk of the fraud took place between 2003—2005 . . . . He said: "The defendants were involved in selling effectively worthless items to the public.
• • "Customers paid premium prices — hundreds or even thousands of pounds — in the belief that they were buying genuine goods, such as items autographed by their heroes.
• • "The defendants, we say, betrayed the trust of the public. In short, they were ripping fans off." . . .
— — Excerpt — —
• • Source: The Guardian [UK] — — www.guardian.co.uk
• • BY: Press Association
• • Published on: Tuesday, 19 February 2008
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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