Seventeen years aft becoming the astir legendary bank robber of the net age, Anthony Curcio was again wrong a national courtroom facing prison. It was January 17, 2026. Dressed successful a casual bluish suit and loose tie, the 45-year-old still possessed the handsome bad-boy charm that agelong had Hollywood producers aft him.
Once the precocious schoolhouse shot leader of mini Monroe, Washington, a assemblage wounded near him pinch a Vicodin addiction he couldn't shake. Then, erstwhile the lodging clang hit, the hopeless begetter of 2 made an outlandish play: an armored-truck heist of $400,000 successful rate and a getaway down the Skykomish River connected an soul tube. In 2013, aft serving 5 years successful national prison, Curcio began his redemption arc: TED talks, TV appearances, and a statement of best-selling children's books.
Now, prosecutors alleged, he had been moving an elaborate caller scheme: defrauding buyers successful the booming $15 cardinal trading paper industry. After a two-year FBI investigation called Operation Heist and Holder, Curcio was charged pinch ligament fraud and conspiracy, charges that transportation a maximum condemnation of 40 years successful prison. The evidence, prosecutors said, would see texts and recordings of Curcio lying to paper buyers, faking his identity, and doctoring labels of uncommon cards, arsenic good arsenic forgery tools recovered successful his location workshop.
Curcio's defense told a different story: The lawsuit wasn't astir fraud; it was retribution. The existent villain, his attorneys argued, was Professional Sports Authenticator, the paper industry's ascendant grading company. PSA is the Moody's of the sports paper world. A PSA explanation tin mean the quality betwixt a paper worthy $50 and 1 worthy $500,000. PSA's genitor company, Collectors Holdings — which is backed, successful ample part, by billionaire hedge money head and New York Mets proprietor Steve Cohen — controls astir 80% of the paper grading market.
By the clip of Curcio's proceedings this winter, a New York congressman had demanded a Federal Trade Commission antitrust investigation, penning that Collectors had "effectively dismantled marketplace competition." PSA soon faced a boycott by aggrieved customers complete interest hikes and allegations of people manipulation.Over respective months of exclusive interviews, Curcio shared his type of events for the first time. "I don't person thing to hide," he says. "Those motherfuckers sewage a batch to hide."
Collectors Holdings and PSA "basically person a horizontally and vertically integrated monopoly," says Remington Ewald, a seasoned paper trader who had a fateful brushwood pinch Curcio astatine an expo successful Chicago. "It conscionable sucks that the feline who's bringing it to everybody's attraction is simply a criminal himself."
Long earlier he was a celebrated outlaw, Anthony Curcio was conscionable different 1 of America's 94 cardinal paper collectors. Growing up successful the mini logging municipality of Monroe, he'd motorcycle complete to the Red Barn state position and walk his allowance connected the latest packs of Topps cards. As the town's prima precocious schoolhouse athlete, he was wished to 1 time person his look featured connected his ain card.
PSA offered a elemental premise: that a paper examined by an master and graded a number was worthy much than a paper pulled from a shoebox.A nimble wide receiver, Curcio went to the University of Idaho connected a afloat scholarship. Then he tore his ACL, and became addicted to painkillers. To support his habit, he faked prescriptions and ran a broadside hustle buying and trading trading cards online. He quickly learned location was 1 institution astatine the bosom of the trade.
Founded successful 1991 by paper trader David Hall, PSA offered a elemental premise: that a paper examined by an master and graded a number was worthy much than a paper pulled from a shoebox. Collectors would message their cards to the company, and trained graders would measure each 1 crossed 4 criteria — centering, edges, corners, and aboveground — and delegate it a numerical people from 1 (Poor) to 10 (Gem Mint). The paper was past sealed successful a clear, tamper-evident integrative lawsuit called a slab, pinch a explanation base the people and a unsocial certification number tied to PSA's database. The institution charged per submission, and the exemplary was self-reinforcing. "Once the buyers insisted connected it," Hall said successful 2019, "the dealers had nary choice."
In a connection to Business Insider, a PSA spokesperson wrote, "For much than 30 years, PSA has served collectors by authenticating, grading, and protecting items truthful that collectors tin waste and acquisition pinch confidence. In our view, that trusted domiciled is precisely why group effort to counterfeit our labels and holders." The spokesperson added that "last twelvemonth alone, our systems intercepted astir $200 cardinal successful imaginable counterfeit value earlier it reached the market."
Curcio fled pinch $400,000, and past spent weeks blowing rate connected cars and gambling.In the trading paper community's burgeoning online forums, Curcio made a sanction for himself — arsenic an alleged fraudster. In 2005, participants connected the Trading & Memorabilia chat thread began informing of the "Seattle boy" attempting to waste a clone 1953 Mickey Mantle. "Anyone connected this committee get ripped disconnected by this guy??" 1 personification wrote. Curcio denied everything. But successful his 2013 memoir, "Heist and High," Curcio wrote astir his early card-dealing days successful ways that would travel backmost to haunt him. He shared how, aft being defrauded retired of $12,000 by a con man who reversed a PayPal payment, he sewage his money backmost by listing a counterfeit Mantle of his ain and pocketing $20,000 from buyers who ne'er sewage the card. He besides elaborate learning to trim cards for amended centering, yellowish them pinch java grounds to clone aging, and ace unfastened sealed PSA cases to switch successful higher-grade cards.
After college, Curcio returned to Monroe to wed his precocious schoolhouse sweetheart, Emily, and recovered occurrence flipping houses. When the existent property bubble burst successful 2007, he burned done his life savings, and his location went into foreclosure. He recovered painkillers again. He couldn't support his wont aliases his family. One day, while eating a hamburger successful his car extracurricular a Jack successful the Box, he watched an armored motortruck propulsion into the Bank of America. It was conscionable different bank, he thought, that had robbed him and millions of Americans. So he felt justified erstwhile he decided to rob it.
Curcio spent months readying the heist, testing connected himself the carnivore spray he'd mist the information defender with, and gaming retired flight plans of varying consequence — a getaway car (too conspicuous), a pitchy skis down the stream (too shallow) — earlier settling connected the seemingly astir outlandish, yet practical, option: a black-and-yellow soul conduit festooned pinch a decal of a hornet. For added cover, he took retired a Craigslist help-wanted ad, telling prospective workers to show up successful the parkland crossed from the slope dressed successful matching landscaper vests. It worked. He fled pinch $400,000, and past spent weeks blowing rate connected cars and gambling.
But a bum man successful Monroe had witnessed Curcio connected a barren tally of the heist, and gave the section cops Curcio's licence sheet number. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to six years successful national situation successful Big Spring, Texas.
That's wherever I first met pinch Curcio successful 2009, for a GQ communicative astir the heist. He told maine past that the robbery wasn't astir money, it was astir emotion for illustration he needed to beryllium the large man connected field erstwhile again. Getting locked up was the first clip he'd felt free of that lie.
He echoed this sentiment to maine successful October 2025, erstwhile we sat successful a Jersey City edifice café the time earlier his trading paper fraud proceeding began. Wearing a zipped-up bluish windbreaker and a backward cap, he looked much for illustration a suburban little-league coach than a wizened slope robber. "I was concerned pinch materialistic crap because I didn't consciousness bully astir who I was," he told maine astir what led to the heist. "I wish I could person calmed down and realized, 'Yes, I sewage bills, but nary of this really is that large a deal.'"
After he was released successful 2013, Curcio threw himself into a awesome American comeback. Back pinch his family, he became an progressive younker basketball, baseball, and softball coach. He was "the happiest and astir contented I've been ever," he tells me. While successful prison, he'd written and illustrated "My Daddy's In Jail," trying to explicate incarceration to young children, including his own. Then he wrote different book astir Steph Curry, which the NCAA selected for a nationwide reference program. Suddenly, Curcio went from making $200 a period to $16,000. Some months, he says, he made much than $100,000.
He bought a section gym, but aft tiring of the business, he decided to waste it. The purchaser happened to beryllium a paper collector, who threw successful boxes of valuable cards arsenic portion of the gym-sale woody — including a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie paper graded PSA 10, Gem Mint. "I ended up taking tons of cards successful on, like, a credit," Curcio tells me, "to support the fucking taxation magnitude down."
It was a fortuitous clip to travel into a paper collection. During COVID, the sports trading paper business exploded successful value, joining a pandemic golden unreserved successful different collectibles for illustration Lego sets, uncommon whiskey, and luxury watches. With collectors stuck astatine home, and cryptocurrency fattening their slope accounts, they began pouring their money into cards — which swelled arsenic overmuch arsenic 10 times successful worth.
Curcio's Gem Mint '86 Jordan was worthy astir $39,000 erstwhile he received it successful January 2020. In January 2021, 2 sold for $720,000 each. As the first wide distributed licensed NBA paper to characteristic Jordan, it became, arsenic PSA described it successful its CardFacts database, "the astir important modern paper from immoderate athletics successful the full hobby." That aforesaid year, a group of backstage equity investors — which included hedge money magnates Daniel Sundheim and Steven Cohen — took Collectors backstage successful a woody worthy astir $853 million.
Flush pinch money, the institution quickly expanded. It acquired Goldin Auctions, wherever the cards were sold. It struck a business pinch eBay, handling authentication for the platform's high-value transactions. It acquired rival paper grader SGC. It bought the Long Beach Expo, the superior venue wherever the deals were made, and wherever each paper that passed done it needed PSA's blessing to beryllium worthy thing astatine all.
PSA's practices had already been nether scrutiny. In 2019, 1 of the biggest scandals successful the trading paper hobby's history collapsed open. Collectors accused a purchaser of purchasing cards already graded by PSA, past secretly trimming their edges and resubmitting them to PSA for a higher people — evidence, they said, that PSA's ain process had failed. Trimming a card's edges by a fraction of a millimeter could toggle shape a PSA 7 into a PSA 9, multiplying its value. The purchaser was accused of making hundreds of thousands of dollars this measurement done an Oregon-based marketplace called PWCC. The FBI subpoenaed PWCC. No charges were filed. In June 2019, Collectors Universe CEO Joe Orlando wrote successful a missive to customers that expecting perfection from "human-based sentiment services is simply unattainable."
The accent of COVID, parenting, and battling a life of addiction was taking a toll connected Curcio. He began spending hours a time successful his basement, building an elaborate Lego city. Long suffering from OCD, he recovered that the bricks soothed him. His obsessions besides soon turned to the paper market. Given the rarity and worth of the Gem Mint '86 Jordan, Curcio decided to return a changeable astatine trading it connected the highest-end marketplace he knew: Sotheby's. To beryllium accepted, he had to clear an elaborate verification process. This included ownership records and astir 2 twelve photographs of the paper taken to precise specifications, respective of them nether achromatic lights.
On September 12 2021, Eric Hirsch, a Sotheby's specialist successful its Modern Collectibles division, emailed Curcio the bully news: The Jordan had been verified and approved for an upcoming auction. Though prices had fallen from their early COVID peak, Hirsch estimated a listing betwixt $150,000 and $200,000. "We surely judge the waste value could spell higher depending connected the market," he wrote. Hirsch did not return requests to comment.
On May 19, the $168,059.33 refund was complete. Curcio thought giving backmost the money would make the problem spell away.The auction was still 7 months away, and Curcio feared the card's worth would support falling. To hedge, he listed it connected eBay for $175,000, and decided to "just spot what happens," he told me. Among the dozens of inquiries was a rival seller, Curcio says, who was asking astir double for his ain '86 Jordan, a value Curcio called overinflated. Sotheby's ain estimate, based connected its reappraisal process, was the much reliable number, he maintained.
MySlabs had a norm Curcio kept breaking: covering a card's certification number pinch a achromatic container successful the listing photos, truthful buyers couldn't cheque it against PSA's database earlier buying. "Nobody could cheque to spot if the paper was authentic," Greaney tells me. His squad deleted the listing once. Curcio reposted it. They deleted it again. Then, adjacent to midnight connected May 12, it went backmost up, and sold wrong minutes for $170,000. "He was hoping fundamentally nary 1 was awake astatine the wheel," Greaney says, and "he could conscionable sneak it through."
He didn't. Greaney happened to beryllium reviewing the tract that nighttime and compared the photos successful the listing to those successful PSA's ain database. "The beforehand image was spot on," he says, "However, the backmost photos were off." It was the aforesaid instrumentality PSA investigators would later picture astatine trial: personification had cracked unfastened the case, swapped successful a different card, and resealed it.
Greaney messaged Curcio to pass him: "Hold connected a second, let's pump the brakes here." Then he called the purchaser directly. But the purchaser wanted to spell done pinch it anyway. "It looks good to me," he told Greaney, "I checked it connected the PSA website." Four days aft the sale, PSA notified Curcio and Greaney that they had wished the "label is not authentic." At the time, the buyer's PayPal e-check was still clearing. The buyer, Curcio says, told him he'd "rather conscionable fig this out, past spell from there," and Curcio quickly agreed to nonstop him a afloat refund. On May 19, 2022, the $168,059.33 refund was complete. Curcio thought giving backmost the money would make the problem spell away.
Weeks later, Curcio submitted 8 of his astir valuable cards to PSA for reholdering — a standard, paid work successful which PSA transfers already-graded cards into updated cases without changing the grade. Curcio argues that this action proves he had thing to hide. "I wanted location to beryllium nary dispute" astir the authenticity of his cards, he tells me, "I wanted PSA to bless them." PSA would person a different interpretation. Once Curcio mailed the cards to PSA, they kept them and, he says, went silent. Curcio maintains he had nary thought what was transpiring down the scenes.
On November 30, 2022, Roxanne Ghezzi, PSA's merchandise integrity manager, emailed FBI Special Agent Christopher Campbell pinch the taxable line, "Counterfeit and Tampered PSA Cards." She flagged Curcio's criminal history and described him arsenic a counterfeiting threat. Jackie Curiel, PSA's elder head of marque protection, would later attest that PSA had physically inspected the cards Curcio sent them for reholdering, noted problems pinch the holders, and was deliberately withholding them arsenic grounds for a imaginable case. Less than a week later, Campbell emailed eBay's elder criminal interrogator directly, looking to "partner connected this investigation."
On December 2, Curcio emailed PSA customer work again, pinch a threat. "Regardless of the justification for PSA's actions successful this matter, it would beryllium unwise to judge that pursuing ineligible action is wherever this ends," he wrote. He went connected to picture what he had successful mind: "Imagine a mates short 3 infinitesimal videos" tin of driving PSA's rivals up. "It wouldn't astonishment maine if networks wanted to make a documentary astir the full thing."
Curcio took the exposé thought to filmmaker Jeremiah Murphy, who was already moving connected a documentary astir Curcio's slope heist and life aft prison. Murphy tells maine that Curcio was a man connected a mission. "He was for illustration 'this is simply a corrupt manufacture that is taking advantage of group and stealing," Murphy recalls, "'and they're wielding this powerful influence, and we've sewage to expose this.'" But grounds of the corruption fell short. "He said 'I person proof, each this stuff,'" Murphy recalls, "but it was ne'er sent to me."
Curcio says that aft his eBay relationship was flagged and his sanction became radioactive connected MySlabs, he needed a caller measurement to move cards. He recovered 1 done Joe Bondarchuk, a chap younker hoops coach who was besides going done a divorce. "He was ever asking for help," Curcio says. (Bonderchuck declined to remark connected this story.) The statement was simple: Curcio provided the cards, the photos, the descriptions, and the prices. Bondarchuk listed them connected his established eBay relationship and generated shipping labels. Curcio shipped. He says he didn't spot it arsenic hiding, but arsenic the only logical consequence to what PSA had done to him. "I want the money from these cards," he tells me, but aft what happened, "you never, ever, ever want to woody pinch that reputational bullshit again."
On September 17, 2023, Curcio brought a binder afloat of cards to a paper and memorabilia expo astatine the Palm Springs Convention Center.
"If they were real, you would beryllium a moron not to bargain each of them," said Ewald. The binder, if genuine, was worthy betwixt $3 and $5 million.At 1 of the booths, he met Jeffrey Johnson, who ran a celebrated summons resale and sports paper cognition called Captain Ticket. Johnson pulled retired a 10x jeweler's loupe and examined Curcio's cards, including an '84 Jordan rookie paper graded by PSA arsenic 10, Gem Mint, and a 1960 Mickey Mantle graded PSA 6.5. The 2 traded connected the spot — Johnson paid Curcio $6,800 for the pair.
After Curcio near the booth, different collector approached Johnson to pass him that Curcio was a counterfeiter. Johnson instantly reported the extremity to the FBI, which soon registered him arsenic an informant. Days later, Johnson texted Curcio, pressing him to nonstop much cards connected consignment. "No ace rush," he texted, "but 'whales' don't turn connected trees." Curcio mailed Johnson the cards, including a 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan PSA 9 and a 1981 Topps Joe Montana PSA 10, together worthy good complete $100,000 if authentic. Curcio and Johnson agreed that Johnson would waste them connected consignment and return thing unsold.
Instead, Johnson sent Curcio's cards to PSA. When Curcio demanded them back, Johnson texted him: "The Nolan Ryan paper is pinch PSA and rule enforcement, Anthony. It's counterfeit. Why do you want a counterfeit card? That's a felony." Johnson past posted successful a 30,000-member Facebook collector group, accusing Curcio of peddling fakes astatine shows crossed the country. Curcio sued him for defamation and conversion of property. This time, he was vindicated. On March 11, 2024, a Washington State tribunal entered a default judgement of $123,267 successful Curcio's favor. Curcio says he has not been paid by Johnson yet.
With his estimation tarnished among collectors, Curcio started attending shows nether pseudonyms. At the Chicago Sports Spectacular successful the Rosemont Convention Center successful November 2023, a man who introduced himself arsenic Brendan Wooley visited the booth of seasoned trader Remington Ewald. Wooley handed Ewald his business card, and past opened a binder to uncover what looked to Ewald for illustration a golden mine: It was afloat of 1986 Fleer PSA 10s — Jordans, Montanas, Marinos — and a Jim Brown, well-centered, successful a PSA 8, a paper that comes up centered possibly 10% of the time. Wooley told Ewald he was going done a divorcement and needed to liquidate fast.
Ewald arched his brow. The cards, if real, were worthy hundreds of thousands of dollars each. The man was offering them astatine a astir 90% discount. "Michael Jordan is much celebrated than Jesus successful Chicago," Ewald told the assemblage astatine trial, "and astir group don't spell astir Chicago trading Michael Jordan rookie cards for 10% of value." As Ewald was examining the cards, he took a photograph of the slab. PSA holders are designed pinch a holographic-style awesome that should stay accordant nether immoderate ray — but successful Ewald's photo, the PSA logo shifted colors. "That ne'er happens," he testified. It was the tell. The paper wrong mightiness person been real. The lawsuit astir it wasn't. Suddenly, Brendan Wooley said he had a formation to catch, and left.
Five months later, astatine an expo successful Edison, New Jersey, Ewald spotted Wooley again, sitting down crossed from him pinch the aforesaid binder of cards. "He didn't announcement I was the aforesaid personification from Chicago," Ewald tells me. Once again, the prices were truthful low, Ewald testified, that "if they were real, you would beryllium a moron not to bargain each of them." The binder, if genuine, was worthy betwixt $3 and $5 million. Ewald past brought successful aggregate experts to analyse the binder — a seasoned trader of 4 decades who thought the slabs looked real, and a erstwhile PSA worker who wasn't wholly sure. Most glaringly, Ewald said, Wooley was trading much copies of a azygous paper — a Knicks paper from 1986 — than existed. "There were much PSA 10s successful that files than location were connected earth," Ewald said. He recovered an serviceman moving a information displacement astatine the show and told him he suspected a counterfeiter. The serviceman asked for the man's driver's license, which bore his existent name: Anthony Curcio.
By 2024, his matrimony pinch Emily was falling apart. That February, she revenge for divorce. When I reached Emily by phone, she declined to beryllium interviewed for this story. But erstwhile I said pinch her for GQ successful 2009, she had told maine that Curcio is "the life of the party, until he's the decease of the party."
Three months later, connected the early greeting of May 23, 2024, Curcio was stepping done his vicinity successful Redmond. It was quiet — what he called "raccoon hours." Then he heard cars coming up down him. FBI agents stormed him, guns drawn; he counted astir 20. "What the fuck is this about?" he said. "You're present for sports cards?" He told them astir the judgement he'd conscionable won against Captain Ticket. They said they knew each astir it.
His daughters weren't yet awake. As he sat successful a car successful custody, he pleaded pinch the agents to hold until the girls near for school. In exchange, he would springiness them the combinations to each wall safe successful the house. They agreed. Moments aft Emily and the girls pulled retired of the driveway successful their achromatic Toyota, the agents swarmed in.
As he sat successful a car successful custody, he pleaded pinch the agents to hold until the girls near for school.They recovered what they described arsenic devices for counterfeiting: loose PSA labels, immoderate already erased aliases partially erased and fresh to beryllium reprinted; explanation printing templates; razor blades, knives, scissors, Q-tips, inks, and a mini electrical grinding pen. They besides recovered videos the authorities would coming arsenic grounds of him manipulating cards, and a spreadsheet that the authorities said tracked which cards Curcio had fixed clone grades and really he had sold them.
Curcio had a different explanation. The videos and devices were investigation materials, he maintained — proof-of-concept demonstrations intended for the documentary. He said he had been signaling himself showing really PSA's information features could beryllium defeated, not to defraud buyers, but to expose PSA's vulnerabilities. "They took screenshots from the videos," he told me. "If they had played the full clip, you would perceive maine speaking to the camera, explaining precisely what I was doing and why."
By the clip Curcio arrived successful New York for the commencement of his proceedings successful January 2026, he was hoping that mounting controversies astir PSA mightiness measurement successful his favor. The erstwhile month, collectors had begun documenting cases they said showed PSA purchasing cards backmost from submitters, upgrading the grades internally, and reselling them astatine PSA 10 prices. Critics said the institution had go some the referee and a subordinate connected the section — grading its ain inventory by its ain standards and profiting from the results. "Our graders measure items based connected their merit, not their proprietor aliases destination," PSA's spokesperson said, "and we support strict operational firewalls betwixt third-party partner connection programs and soul value auditing workflows."
That aforesaid month, Rep. Pat Ryan of New York wrote a missive demanding that the Federal Trade Commission unfastened an antitrust investigation into Collectors. Beyond the company's 80% stock of the card-grading market, Ryan besides flagged what he called a conflict of liking pinch Collectors' acquisition of CardLadder, an manufacture price-tracking service, and described barriers to introduction that efficaciously unopen retired immoderate competitors. He called the institution "Collectivus Holdings" successful reference to what he characterized arsenic its strategy of regulatory evasion.
It made nary quality successful Curcio's case. Before the proceedings began, the judge had drawn a clear line: PSA's ain behaviour was not connected trial.
Curcio says he wanted to testify, but his attorneys warned that the authorities would usage his anterior condemnation and criminal history to destruct his credibility earlier the jury. The prosecution opened pinch its insubstantial trail: eBay income records, shipping logs, purchaser complaints, and PSA database comparisons showing that certification numbers connected cards Curcio sold corresponded to cards that looked thing for illustration the ones primitively graded.
Then came the government's first central witness, Joe Bondarchuk. The younker hoops coach had pleaded blameworthy earlier proceedings and agreed to cooperate. He testified that he watched Curcio ace unfastened authentic PSA holders, switch cards, modify labels, and reseal the cases much than 20 times.
PSA's Jackie Curiel walked jurors done the beingness specifications she said gave Curcio's Jordan away: a rounded bottom-left area connected the integrative lawsuit wherever a morganatic PSA holder would person a crisp 90-degree angle, and a type of the PSA logo that, according to soul records, didn't beryllium astatine the clip the paper was supposedly graded. The defense's cardinal witness, filmmaker Jeremiah Murphy, said that Curcio wanted to expose what he believed was PSA's corruption. "He said he had evidence," Murphy told me, "but it was ne'er sent to me."
"He claimed different group successful the paper manufacture were retired to get him, arsenic if he were a victim," Assistant US Attorney Cecilia Vogel said successful closing arguments. "None of this stopped him. Instead, he doubled down connected the fraud."
On January 28, pursuing 4 hours of deliberation, the assemblage returned pinch the verdict: blameworthy connected each counts.
Afterward, PSA released a statement. "Over the past 2 years, the PSA Brand Protection squad worked diligently pinch the FBI arsenic it built its lawsuit to complaint Anthony Curcio," it read. "PSA is focused connected making judge its holders, labels, processes, and exertion are continuously evolving to enactment up of the bad actors successful the hobby."
Six weeks later successful March, Curcio revenge a 61-page civilian suit against Collectors successful King County Superior Court, pinch allegations that he was not allowed to coming astatine trial: that PSA deactivated his Jordan paper without physically examining it; that PSA unit cracked unfastened his paper holders and transmitted the components to the FBI without a warrant aliases subpoena; that PSA's communications to rule enforcement were not good-faith reporting but selective, self-serving disclosure designed to beforehand the company's commercialized interests. The lawsuit was removed to national territory court, wherever it is pending. In a statement, a PSA spokesperson wrote, "We won't remark connected the specifics of the pending litigation, different than to authorities that Anthony Curcio's claims against PSA are without merit. We look guardant to affirming our marque and estimation done the ineligible process."
But Curcio wasn't done yet. In May, he wrote to the judge alleging that his proceedings counsel, Simpson Thacher, had a hidden conflict of liking pinch Steve Cohen — the billionaire who helped bankroll Collectors Holdings — done their undisclosed activity pinch Cohen's hedge fund, Point72. Simpson Thacher told the tribunal that their activity pinch Point72 is "wholly unrelated" to the trial. The tribunal denied his mobility for a caller trial.
Curcio isn't the only 1 pinch grievances against PSA. In April, collectors launched a boycott, #NoPSAMay, alleging that PSA upgraded grades connected cards it had bought backmost cheaply from a collector, and resold astatine a markup. They besides claimed that bulk turnaround times had stretched to astir 8 months, and that fees had been hiked doubly successful a year. Boycotters pledged to way submissions to rival grading companies. None of it slowed the institution down. PSA president Ryan Hoge said, "We're not seeing immoderate signs of slowdown connected the horizon." The institution graded 19 cardinal cards successful 2025, up from 2 cardinal successful 2020. In May, Collectors announced a $200 cardinal investment, and 1,000 caller jobs.
As he awaits his sentencing successful October, Curcio has been surviving successful an RV. He says he's been drinking again for the first clip successful complete a decade. He's terrified of spending decades successful situation distant from his kids. But he insists that he's correct astir PSA, that the truth is retired there, and that he tin still triumph successful the end. "I want to fight," he told me. "It's not over."
David Kushner is simply a regular contributor to Business Insider. His caller book, "Ocean of Bones: The Hunt for the Pirate Slave Ship Guerrero," will beryllium published successful November.
Business Insider's Discourse stories supply perspectives connected the day's astir pressing issues, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise.
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Business Insider tells the stories you want to cognize astir the world of business, technology, and finance
Business Insider tells the stories you want to cognize astir the world of business, technology, and finance
Business Insider tells the stories you want to cognize astir the world of business, technology, and finance
Business Insider tells the stories you want to cognize astir the world of business, technology, and finance
David Kushner is the writer of Masters of Doom, The Players Ball, and different books.
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