United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that a jury found ANTHONY CURCIO guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud for engaging in a scheme to defraud customers by selling them sports and Pokémon trading cards with fake grades purportedly issued by Professional Sports Authenticator (“PSA”). CURCIO was found guilty following a two-and-a-half-week trial before U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams.
“Millions of Americans participate in our collectibles markets, and they should be free from fraud and manipulations,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Anthony Curcio now faces years in prison, and his conviction is a cautionary tale for those who would abuse the collectibles markets. Our Office is dedicated to ensuring that markets of all kinds, including collectibles markets, are safe from fraudsters. Anthony Curcio tried to cover his tracks and hide what he had done, but thanks to our law enforcement partners and the many victims who came forward, he has now been convicted of serious federal crimes.”
According to the Indictment, public court filings, and the evidence presented at trial:
From at least 2022 to May 2024, CURCIO and IOSIF BONDARCHUK sold and attempted to sell sports and Pokémon trading cards to many victims across the country with authenticity and condition grades purportedly issued by PSA, but which had been forged by CURCIO. CURCIO directed the scheme and used BONDARCHUK as a front man to interact with victims and list cards for sale on online marketplaces and auction sites. CURCIO and BONDARCHUK sold and attempted to sell trading cards with counterfeit grades for thousands of dollars, and sometimes up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, each, when the cards were actually worth only a small fraction of those sums. In total, CURCIO and BONDARCHUK attempted to deprive victims of over $2 million through their sales and attempted sales by misrepresenting the grade of numerous trading cards.
Sports and Pokémon trading cards can have considerable resale value depending on, among other things, their condition and authenticity. PSA is a leader in the card collectibles authentication industry. For a fee, PSA verifies a card’s authenticity and assesses its condition, assigning a numerical grade from one to 10, with one being the lowest grade and 10 being the highest. After grading a card, PSA seals the card in a distinctive, tamper-resistant plastic case that encloses the card to preserve its condition and indicates its grade on a label inside the case. PSA also assigns a unique certification number—or serial number—to each card it grades, which collectors can then look up in PSA’s public database to find out information about the card and confirm that PSA had in fact graded that card. A PSA grade can have a significant impact on a card’s market value, at times increasing the value of the card merely as a result of having been authenticated and graded. And cards with higher grades can sell for considerably more than cards with lower grades, sometimes by multiples.
CURCIO’s scheme focused on selling vintage rookie sports cards—particularly Michael Jordan rookie cards—and Pokémon cards that would sell for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars if they had received a PSA 9 or 10 grade. CURCIO sold ungraded or lower-graded cards for more than they were worth by cleaning the rating and serial numbers off of real PSA labels and then printing fake 9 or 10 grades and new serial numbers on the PSA labels.
CURCIO and BONDARCHUK sold the trading cards with fake PSA grades on different online marketplaces and auction sites, such as eBay, as well as in person at card shops, card shows, and in-person trades with victims. In addition to using BONDARCHUK as a front, CURCIO used other fake identities to hide his role from victims, PSA, and law enforcement. At times, CURCIO was confronted by buyers when they realized the rare, highly graded cards they had paid thousands of dollars for were fraudulent; CURCIO refunded the buyers, took back the cards, and then sold them again to new victims. CURCIO even tried to pass off one Michael Jordan rookie card three times, each time with a different forged grade.
CURCIO, 45, of Redmond, Washington, was convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. BONDARCHUK, 38, of Lake Stevens, Washington, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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