A former San Gabriel Valley resident has pleaded guilty to mail fraud for selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit sports and celebrity memorabilia, including a forged “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” photograph, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Anthony J. Tremayne, 58, formerly of West Covina and now residing in Rosarito, Mexico, admitted to running a nearly decade-long scheme to defraud memorabilia buyers across the United States. The scheme began as early as 2010, with Tremayne selling items he falsely claimed had authentic signatures from athletes, musicians, actors, and celebrities.
Tremayne used fraudulent Certificates of Authenticity to boost the credibility of his forged memorabilia, convincing buyers that they were purchasing genuine items. In reality, he had forged the signatures himself and created fake certificates to back up the fraudulent claims.
The defendant acknowledged in his plea agreement that he defrauded customers of between $250,000 and $550,000 through the sale of these fake memorabilia items. One example cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office was an incident in November 2019, when Tremayne sold a forged photograph featuring fake signatures of three cast members from “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” to an undercover FBI agent for $200.
Tremayne now faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. He is set to be sentenced on August 11.