A former West Covina resident admitted to selling at least $250,000 in bogus sports and entertainment memorabilia, including forged photos and signatures of the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” stars.
Anthony Tremayne, 58, pleaded guilty to a count of wire fraud as part of a the nearly decade-long scheme, which transpired between 2010 and 2019, federal prosecutors in the Central District of California announced this week.
Tremayne, who now lives in Rosarito, Mexico, sold forged signatures, mostly of athletes in Los Angeles, according to federal prosecutors. He hired others to make the forgeries and would send his accomplices images of celebrity signatures for them to use as exemplars, prosecutors said.
But he also sold music and political autographs and even sold a fake “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” photograph which had forged signatures from several of the show’s stars.
He sold the photograph to an undercover FBI agent, and was arrested in 2019, prosecutors said.
In addition to the forged autographs, Tremayne often included certificates of authenticity with his memorabilia — but those were also forged, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that Tremayne sold at least $250,000 and as much as $550,000 worth of bogus memorabilia to clients.
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced Aug. 11.
