Mayo Gilbert Niel was charged with selling trading fake Michael Jordan basketball cards in a scheme that prosecutors said resulted in him making more than $800,000 over four years.

Niel was arrested in Denver after a complaint was opened in federal court in Brooklyn charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as per the Brooklyn US Attorney’s office.

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Who is Mayo Gilbert Niel?

Mayo Gilber Niel is 82 years and lives in Denver. He is from Colorado. He was accused of making several fraudulent deals starting in 2015, including the 2019 sale of a counterfeit card to a victim in Manhasset, New York for $4,500. In 2017, he traded counterfeit cards for two authentic Tom Brady football cards.

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“Mr. McNeil defrauded sports memorabilia collectors of more than $800,000 by intentionally misrepresenting the authenticity of the trading cards he was peddling when, in fact, they were counterfeit,” Michael Driscoll, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a news release.

According to ABC News, McNeil said he was released without bail after an initial appearance in US District Court in Colorado.

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He will appear in a New York courtroom at a later date.

According to Fed, to make the fakes convincing, McNiel got hold of the plastic holders and specialist grading labels used by only prominent collectors’ authentication companies. Among the cards he faked was a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card, falsely graded “10 out of 10” for quality, prosecutors said

He made trades online with the help of an unnamed co-conspirator and used a fake ID and multiple email accounts to obscure his identity.

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He is set to be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York, according to the Department of Justice. “Protection from fraud extends to all consumers, regardless of what team they root for,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a DOJ statement.