| In Trading Card
Fraud Trial Cooperator Cites
Pokémon Defendant Wanting
Revenge on PSA
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Jan 14 – Two men
were charged with trading card
fraud in 2024. On January 14,
2026 before U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Ronnie Abrams, one of them
testified against the other.
Inner City Press was there,
and live tweeted, here:
Card nerd" Sean
McMillan says he loved cards
of Jose Canseco & Topps'
Larry Bird, adds they go up in
value faster than stock
indexes. AUSA: How much
did you pay for this card?
Card nerd: $11,000.
[Onto
screen: Email with
co-defendant Joe Bondarchuk,
remanding repayment for
"counterfeit," with PSA letter
shown to jury with limiting
instruction]
Cross
Defense: Did the
card have an Ebay guarantee
seal? Card Nerd McMillan: Yes.
Defense: Where did you put the
card? Card Nerd: In my
safe. [This is in
Judge Furman's old courtroom,
where US v Nate Chastain /
OpenSea trial was held. Cards
were NFTs before NFTs]
Gov't calls Iosif
"Joe" Bondarchuk- was indicted
then flipped. AUSA: Do you
have a cooperation agreement?
A: Yes
AUSA: How did you
meet him? A: Basketball
coaching. Then he wanted me to
sell cards for him, to use my
name. He showed me
screenshots, said he'd sold
his gym for trading
cards.
Witness: I think
Anthony [Curcio] wanted
revenge on PSA. He was working
on a short movie. He also
thought we should make money
off youth
basketball
Witness: A card
buyer from NY called and
threatened me, mentioned my
ex-wife. Then a guy
called from Dallas, said he'd
fly and find me. Anthony told
me he resolved it with them.
Case adjourned
until Thursday afternoon.
More on X for
Subscribers here
and Substack here
The case is USA
v. Curcio, 1:24-cr-312
(Abrams)
***
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