A scammer who made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling fake celebrity memorabilia, including “signed photographs” of the Kardashians and President Trump, now faces up to two decades behind bars.
Anthony J Tremayne, 58, sent items with what he claimed to be genuine signatures to customers nationwide, even including a “certificate of authenticity” in their mail orders.
The former San Gabriel Valley resident pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of mail fraud, according to a press release put out by the U.S. attorney’s office of the Central District of California.
According to prosecutors, Tremayne – who now lives in Rosarito, Mexico – hawked up to $550,000 worth of phony sports and celebrity memorabilia to customers between 2010 and 2019.
This included one instance, in November 2019, when Tremayne mailed a “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” photograph containing forged signatures of three of the show’s 22 personalities, which he purported to be genuine signatures.
However, unbeknownst to him, Tremayne had sold the fake memorabilia to a buyer – who happened to be an undercover FBI agent – in Anaheim in exchange for $200.
He also sold bogus signatures of famous athletes, musicians, actors, and other celebrities.
According to a grand jury indictment Tremayne had listed among his items “a photograph of the current president” in December 2019. At that time, Donald Trump was at the tail end of his third year in office.
The indictment stated that when FBI agents arrived to confiscate some of the fake material on December 23 2014, Tremayne said, “Why me? This is not a big deal. It seems like the FBI would have better things to do.”
Tremayne admitted in his plea agreement to selling more than $250,000 and up to $550,000 of fake memorabilia to his customers, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
United States District Judge James Selna scheduled Tremayne’s sentencing hearing for August 11, at which time he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
