Now that sports cards are such a big money business, we see a lot of what goes along with that. Corporations move in, and there are scams and increases in crime related to the hobby.
Sometimes, those trends even intersect. And that is what we see now: a Fanatics-affiliated store has experienced a severe run-in with criminal activity.
The story involves a well-known San Antonio hobby shop, Legends Only Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
We have the full lowdown in our Legends Only Sports Cards Store scandal overview.
Jorge Olazabal, a collector, placed items for consignment with the Legends Only Sports Cards and Memorabilia store, located in the northwest corner of the city, in an area known as the Far West Side.
According to court documents, Jorge makes at least some of his living off buying and selling sports cards: “Plaintiff [Olazabal] is an avid sports card collector. It’s a passion that started when Plaintiff was a child when his father collected him and continued into adulthood. While beginning as a hobby, it has become a profitable enterprise for Plaintiff and his family.”
According to court documents, Olazabal claims that the overall value of the merchandise was $219,000. A lawsuit filed by Olazabal claims that Aldridge “continually fabricated narratives to buy time to avoid paying Plaintiff for his property.” Reportedly, all the items he placed at the store’s disposal, including 600 sports cards and several Rolex watches, still need to be returned.
Olazabal contacted Rashad Aldridge, the Legends Only Sports Cards owner because he was interested in acquiring memorabilia about Victor Wembanyama, the current NBA Rookie of the Year.
As a result of that interaction, Jorge bought a case of 2023/24 NBA Prizm and was happy to find a Black Gold /5 Wemby rookie card. The card is believed to be worth about $100,000. Pleased with this interaction, Olazabal understandably wanted to continue the association with the store’s owner and pursue future opportunities for cooperation.
Being a big fan and believer in Victor Wembanyama, Jorge wanted to sell some of his inventory and use it to purchase more high-end cards for the promising player.
According to court documents, “Aldridge further affirmatively represented that he was well connected in the business and could provide the Victor Wembanyama cards as they became available.”
During the conversation, Aldridge convinced Jorge to consign the cards and watches into his care. A document outlining the deal was signed between the two in February 2024. Jorge alleges that the agreement on the consignment was “clearly made to defraud Plaintiff and steal his money and property.”
The items consigned included the following:
The two developed a strong working relationship, and more transactions occurred. According to court documents, “As the relationship continued, Plaintiff consigned ‘graded’ and ‘raw’ cards for Defendant to sell, and the intent was to apply the proceeds for those sales to acquire a Victor Wembanyama True Gold rookie Prizm card.”
Indeed, Aldridge said he had a seller lined up for the card, and the proceeds received for the items consigned would likely cover the costs.
The store owner would then sell the items at a card show. The card show in question was the Dallas Cards Show, held from March 14-17 at 777 Watters Creek Boulevard in Allen, Texas.
Olazabal told KSAT, a local news outlet, “He agreed to sign my legal document that it was the chain of command and custody that he was going to be taking my inventory, which was about 600 cards in two different cases, locked and tracked.”
In the interim, the Legends Only Sports Cards Store promoted sales using the Black Gold /5 Wemby rookie card and other items placed for consignment.
Because the Legends Only Sports Cards store is very reputable, Olazabal was sure he would receive his unsold items back and the agreed-upon share of the profits from the sold inventory. According to Olzabal, Aldridge did make contact after the show. At that time, he claimed that none of the items consigned had been successfully sold in Dallas.
However, he did say that the watches had been successfully sold. However, he did not deliver any of the profits from the purported transaction. Instead, Aldridge reportedly dangled the possibility of receiving that coveted Wemby True Gold Rookie.
But he needed further cards to make up the difference between what had been sold so far and the value of the desired card. Olzabal agreed. Aldridge also claimed to have preferred status with the sports card sales platform ALT and would use that connection to sell Olzabal’s inventory.
Based on these promises, the two made another consignment deal. This is a weak spot in Olzabal’s claims. Why did he consign more items if he was already suspicious of Aldridge?
And we are talking about $48,000 worth of items. In addition, the filing claims that after all this, the Defendant also stole $6,600 in unclear circumstances, which have led to many unanswered questions.
But we have all been in that kind of situation. We start to develop suspicions toward someone, and they tell us, “Just trust me this last time, and it will all come together.” Sometimes, we agree against our better judgment.
In response, Olzabal asked for the return of the unsold items. That request has yet to be responded to. As the months passed, Aldridge did not contact Jorge or respond to attempts to make contact.
That clearly raised some red flags. Olazabal asked Aldridge about the cards placed for sale with ALT. He claimed that “ALT was still reviewing and evaluating the value of Plaintiff’s cards.”
Olazabal says, “I think that’s when I started to realize that either he didn’t have the cards or he had spent the money on growing his business.” At this point, he contacted ALT and discovered they had never received the cards Aldridge had told him they would place for sale on preferred terms.
When he was sure Aldridge would not respond, Olazabal said he had filed a lawsuit against Aldridge and made a complaint to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. According to court documents, the lawsuit was filed on July 23, 2024.
The complaint to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office was filed that same month. They have confirmed to CardLines that the police have an ongoing investigation. However, they declined to divulge any other details on the matter.
When asked why he opened this complaint and lawsuit against Aldridge, Olazabal responded, “I just want to create awareness in the community and make sure that if there are any other victims out there, they’re not alone. This was a significant investment on our part, as well as the risks that we took. But unfortunately, I’m hoping that it doesn’t happen to others.”
Olzabal believes that Aldridge has used the sale proceeds and the unreturned inventory to grow his business, which continues to flourish.
The Plaintiff is first seeking a restraining order to stop Aldridge from selling or otherwise disposing of any of the consigned items. Of course, there may still be time for some of these items. Nonetheless, that is a necessary step.
We assume that the next step will be to demand the return of said items and compensation for any items that have been sold or are no longer available for other reasons.
Aldridge has declined all attempts to secure an interview. However, he did release the following statement:
“As a business owner who has proudly served the San Antonio collectors community with integrity and commitment since our inception, I take the recent legal matter involving one of my valued customers very seriously. I fully understand the severity of the situation, and I want to assure our community that I am working closely with my legal counsel to address the issues raised in the lawsuit.
Our primary goal is to resolve this matter fairly and amicably while preserving the trust and reputation we have built over the years. I remain dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of customer service and professionalism, and I am confident that through open dialogue and legal guidance, we can reach a resolution that reflects the values of our business and the needs of our customers. We thank the San Antonio collectors community for their continued support and patience as we work through this matter. I am committed to ensuring that the reputation of my business remains strong and that we continue to serve our customers with the same level of dedication that has been the foundation of our success.”
The response does not address the substance of the accusation, even indirectly, which is to be expected during a legal proceeding. However, this could be more reassuring to Legends Only Sports Cards customers and others seeking to avail themselves of consignment services.
In the court filing, Legends Only Sports Cards “deny every allegation in Plaintiff’s Petition.” Rather than try to settle, they demand a trial to determine the outcome. The defendants’ initial filing does not contain substantive claims.
Later, Legends Only Sports Cards posted another statement on social media.
It read: “We wanted to take a minute to assure you that the present media attention we have gotten is very lopsided and that at some point next week, after consulting with our legal team, we will put out a public video statement addressing the recent allegations against us. We were deprived of an opportunity to articulate a rebuttal to the gross claims against us in the media. KSAT 12 does not care about the truth, only clicks and likes.”
It is hard to sell items for the price that they deserve. Not all of us have the contacts needed to find the right customer at the right time. Putting items on eBay is a crapshoot, as you could end up receiving far less than your items are worth.
Therefore, many of us seek out auction houses or consignment services. When doing so, we look for the most trusted actors to provide us with these services. However, in this case, a very respected store has proven irresponsible in handling consigned items.
We must be cautious when trusting highly-valuable items in the hands of a third party. Here is how to take the proper precautions to try to avoid this sort of unfortunate event happening to you.
There are a few layers to this story. The most obvious one is that we must be careful where we consign our cards and in whose hands we put our most valuable items.
Even individuals who proved trustworthy with smaller transactions may not be able to avoid the temptation of taking higher-value items and using them in an immoral and illegal manner.
I also find this very disappointing and ill-timed on another level. Local card stores are under threat from larger corporate entities.
Fanatics seem to be trying to squeeze them out. Meanwhile, companies like GameStop are starting to offer some of their services, such as group submissions and buying graded cards.
Having a well-known and trusted LCS involved in this sort of case sends a terrible message. It might hasten the switch to corporate actors instead of local card stores. That would be a shame.
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