Man found dead amid investigation for selling counterfeit sports memorabilia
Brett Lemieux, a 45-year-old resident of Westfield, Indiana, was the founder of sports memorabilia site MisterManCave, which claimed to have sold millions of counterfeit items with net profits exceeding $350 million, and had "the largest framed jersey inventory on the web."
Lemieux made the claims in a now-deleted Facebook post on the "Autographs 101" group Wednesday, saying the money was "too good" to pass up and that he wanted to stop the fraud, which had been going on for the better part of two decades.
The coroner's office in Hamilton County, Indiana confirmed that Lemieux's body was found at 300 block of Hoover Street in Westfield, about 20 miles north of Indianapolis and that he died by suicide. His death took place hours after the Facebook post and where law enforcement conducted search warrants Tuesday.
The FBI is assisting with the investigation, said Chris Bavender of public affairs with the FBI field office in Indianapolis. "We are referring media to Westfield Police Department as they are the lead agency," Bavender said. The Westfield Police Department did not immediately respond to a request by voicemail and email for additional information.
Kayla Arnold, Director of Communications for the city of Westfield, said, "As the investigation is still ongoing, we do not have additional details to release at this time."
Lemieux's scheme involved the faking of holograms of several high-profile companies in the sports memorabilia space, including Fanatics, James Spence Authentic, Panini and Tri-Star. Lemieux allegedly sold the fake items below market price, therefore earning a profit.
Lemieux said when Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died in January 2020, MisterManCave released 80,000 fake items "into the marketplace." He did not say how much he made off of the scheme.
Steve Grad, a memorabilia autograph expert, told WRTV, the ABC affiliate in Indianapolis, that Lemieux's schemes were common knowledge amongst those in the industry.
"People have known about this guy," Grad said. "They've known his work. They know what he's been up to.
"He has been at it for years and years. And he's driven down the price of things. You know, you look at a Tom Brady autograph and Tom Brady's value is affected drastically by this individual."
In 2013, the Indiana Attorney General's filed a lawsuit against a Carmel sports memorabilia company owned by Lemieux after customers complained that they never received items they paid for, according to Fox59 in Indianapolis and other media outlets.
He was forced to pay restitution and reached a settlement of $8,550 with the attorney general's office, according to the Sports Collectors Daily and other media outlets.
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