Eli Manning may just have upstaged Peyton and given the NFL a big headache

And, just in time for the Super Bowl, too.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning, younger but SB-luckier brother of Peyton Manning, has been named in a lawsuit as allegedly selling bogus merchandise from  his two Super Bowl wins. 

A helmet on display in the (NFL Hall of Fame) — supposedly worn by Manning in Big Blue’s 2008 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots — is just one of dozens of fake items the football superstar and his Giants cohorts have created to fool fans and make money from collectors over the years, the lawsuit alleges.

Other “forgeries” passed off on collectors include several Manning jerseys, two 2012 Super Bowl helmets and a 2004 “rookie season” helmet, according to court papers.

Two-time Super Bowl MVP Manning took part in the scheme so he could hang on to his personal items, according to the documents.

The memorabilia ruse is so common among Giants players and staffers, the documents claim, that team equipment manager Joe Skiba openly discussed Manning’s fake game gear on an official Giants e-mail account.

Well, he may have done it to hold on to personal items, but, if he created more than one bogus duplicate, then the financial fraud implications would be clear.

That said, the plot thickens. Eric Inselberg, the person filing the suit, alleges the Giants' team dry cleaner was also in on the plot.

But, the plot thickens further. Inselberg was himself indicted on a criminal memorabilia fraud case in 2011, though it was eventually dropped. He claims Giants personnel lied to the grand jury.

That said, what if other players, especially quarterbacks, have done similar.

Peyton? Tom Brady, maybe? Ben Roethlisberger, perhaps? Aaron Rodgers? Who knows? And, as with Eli and this suit, a star QB could always get a starry-eyed clubhouse person or outside hanger-on to help with this.

Of course, there's another way. Jerseys, etc. are hard to change, but not helmets. Why not just wear a new one each offensive series and sell it as legit? Of course, that would drive prices down.

And, back to two paragraphs above. Inselberg names the Giants, not just Eli, in the suit, and alleges the team was a willing and knowing participant.

My snap initial thought is that there's a lot of this happening in the NFL. Hell, in pro baseball, clubhouse men were allegedly faking autographs as far back as Babe Ruth's time (his own), and certainly by Joe DiMaggio's time. Wikipedia notes this, and the "clubhouse autograph" issue, on its autograph page.

It's probably like steroids. Some players are more likely to do it than others. Some teams are more likely to turn a blind eye to it than others. It can be more tightly controlled, but probably never eliminated.

Don't get fooled again - by Obama

It's easy for Obama to look "populist" by taunting the GOP on immigration like this:
President says, “You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they’re going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they’ll want a higher fence. Maybe they’ll need a moat. Maybe they want alligators in the moat. They’ll never be satisfied.”
Or for his Justice Department to hang a hedge fund trader's head on the wall:

US Attorney Preet Baharara (said) in a statement, “There are rules and there are laws, and they apply to everyone, no matter who you are or how much money you have.”

But, this is still the same president who plans to run a $1 billion re-election campaign without any public financing. He'll need some hedge fund money for that; he'll need some independents who are worried about immigration.

Lawsuits next for G. Sachs? Euro action? More?

Some European countries, especially Germany, are making noise about going after Goldman Sachs themselves, in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission's civil filing yesterday.

But, that all may be just for starters. There's other things that could happen. Like the SEC trying to roll Fabrice Tourre, which itself is a good reason for Goldman to look at settlement offers.

There's lawsuits by disgruntled investors, who wonder not only how much they lost on Goldman's alleged "bet against CDOs" private investments, but also wonder if Sachs had other such sweetheart deals.

Third, in light of the three possibilities above, is the chance G. Sachs stock will continue to take a beating. If CEO Loyd Blankfein resists settlement offers from the SEC, even tough ones, especially after either European country actions or individual lawsuits, he could be seriously accused of not doing due diligence for major investors.

Fourth, also in light of a stock tanking, senior staff at Sachs, who get bonuses as a signficant part of pay, might organize an inside coup against Blankfein out of financial self-preservation.

I'm probably just scratching the surface; read the full story.

Yet another Dallas Ponzi scheme busted

This one falls just short of $500 million and, like others, involves oil and gas issues.

Pretty soon, Big D is going to look back 20-25 years on the S&L crisis and call it a time of moral wholesomeness, if this keeps up.

FBI has millions for ACORN but not one cent for Wall Street

The Eff Bee Eye says it is struggling to find resources, and agents, to investigate years of Wall Street shenanigans.

But, it apparently has no problem finding resources and agents to investigation ACORN.

Of course, it’s not all the FBI’s fault. It’s been asking for more money to investigate financial crime since 2004, but our MBA president just hasn’t been forthcoming. According to former law enforcement officials, that would be anti-business and “overdeterrence.”