How a conman exploited America’s obsession with its sports stars

Sports memorabilia is big business in the United States.  

Exceptional athletes can attain God-like status very quickly there, and everybody wants a piece.  

The baseball that Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit for his 50th home run last season, recently sold for $4.3 million. 

And if you are into buying sports memorabilia, chances are at some point you logged on to a website called Mister Man Cave, which boasts one of the largest football, baseball and basketball autograph inventories on the web. 

That’s what it looked like, but all wasn’t as it seemed. 

During an investigation into fraud and counterfeiting at Mister Man Cave, its owner 45-year-old Brett Lemieux took his own life.  

Host Bernice Harrison is joined by Irish Times contributor and America at Large columnist Dave Hannigan, who explains that before his death, in a Facebook post, Lemieux spelled out for investigators and sports fans how he had flooded the market with hundreds of thousands of fraudulent sports-related items over two decades, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for his company. 

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

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