The promotional offers from Leaf Trading Cards during The National Sports Collectors Convention may not be what they seem. 

At the 2018 show in Cleveland, Leaf employee Joe Clemons CLEANED UP when he got at least 43 of 120 serial numbered 1/1 cards that were advertised as a promotion to collectors. 

Update:
A second Leaf employee, Adam Berk, has sold 23 of the 1/1 Gold & Gold Super cards.

"I don't believe the 1 of 1 plates were included in the packs," Gray said in an email exchange with Sports Card Radio. 

Many of the printing plates from the set have been found on eBay from various sellers.

The most valuable cards in the set were the 1/1 Gold & Gold Super parallels. 

Sports Card Radio obtained data that shows Clemons ended up with over 43 of those 1/1 cards. Many went on to be graded by Beckett Grading Services (BGS) and were sold on eBay under his account wjc75056.

-Joe Clemons BGS Order PDF-

Clemons is a former BGS employee currently embroiled in a separate scandal involving his former employer.

Joe Clemons

Collectors have discovered Clemons has an uncanny ability to get perfect 'Black Label' and 'Pristine' scores when he grades cards through BGS. His overall numbers appear to defy logic and math.

> Former BGS & Current Leaf Employee Joe Clemons Grading Scam

This trend has held true in the data Sports Card Radio recently analyzed.

Clemons had BGS grade 136 Leaf promo cards on Oct 4th, 2018, and received 21 "Black Label" 10's, 67 "Pristine" 10's, and 48 BGS 9.5's.

-Joe Clemons BGS Order PDF-

Leaf owner Brian Gray wrote on the Blowout Forum:

"We gave away a little more than half the packs that were made. On the Sunday of the show, we sold the remaining packs to a number of people including Tom Fish from Blowout, Joe and more. At least 10 different dealers were offered the chance to buy remaining packs BEFORE Joe was allowed to buy the remaining after those guys took what they wanted."  

But it was Clemons who ended up with 43 of 120 1/1 Gold or Gold Super cards. The best cards available in the packs. 

"I can share that Joe (Clemons) only worked in the buying section of Leaf’s booth at that event, nowhere near or in control of the packs. Two other Leaf employees were the custodians of these packs," Gray said in the above mentioned email exchange with Sports Card Radio.

Brian Gray

Gray wasn't sure how many promotional packs he sold to Clemons.

The same scanner was likely used to list Clemons and kingofswing97 Gold & Super 1/1's. 

Check out this photo comparison.  The Mariano Rivera Gold Super 1/1 was sold on Clemons account, wjc75056.  The Lavar Ball 1/1 Gold Super was sold by kingofswing97.

Update:
kingofswing97 has been discovered to be Leaf employee Adam Berk.
Evidence: Post 1 - Post 2 - Post 3

This promo scandal has prompted a supposed employee handbook change at Leaf. 

"To alleviate any future concern, we put a policy in place to prevent even the appearance of impropriety, no longer selling any cards of any kind to employees under any circumstance," says Gray. 

2019 has been rough on Gray and Clemons. Both have had their integrity questioned throughout the Blowout Forum thread detailing the Clemons BGS scandal. 

However, Gray continues to stand by Clemons despite mounting evidence of his involvement in multiple scandals.

"I am fully aware of your motives and desire to report anything that might get you clicks. I stand by the fact that the packs were sold in an arms length transaction where the buyer had no idea what cards were still contained in packs," said Gray. 

-Joe Clemons BGS Order PDF-

1st Page Example

VIEW ACTIVE CASES HERE

You know it's bad when there is an entire Instagram account set up to expose your scams. 

The IG account appeared after a 100+ page Blowout Forum thread called out sports card loser Eric Bitz of BuyNiceCards.com 

In the thread, a "three-way" deal that went bad between Bitz and two other card fondlers was discussed. 

Just know this, most guys involved with sports cards can only dream of a real ménage à trois.

Among his crimes in the sports card community, Bitz has been caught lying about and molesting his LeBron James 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite RC.

Eric Bitz

I can give Blowout Forum a break, this time why not just copy and paste from Instagram?

IG has this handy embed feature. Amazing how easy putting up sports card content has become in 2019. 

Someone set up an IG account for the other known scammers, I'll do an entire page on your posts. 

Scrub

Brian Deer boasted that in the early 2000's he was making six figures in cash selling baseball cards. 

"I didn't appreciate the money because frankly it had been so easy to make," Deer wrote in a 2014 social media post.

Brian Deer

To make some of that money, Deer has been scamming collectors by selling trimmed cards and fake autographs. 

Deer was called out on the Blowout Forum for selling a trimmed 2000 Fleer Showcase Tom Brady Rookie Showcase PSA 9 card for $3,989.66. The card was previously a PSA 5. 

The profit was over $2,000 from just one card.

Turns out, Deer has a history of selling altered cards. An additional thread from September 2018 uncovered several trimmed Derek Jeter, LeBron James and more Brady cards.

A 2013 thread discovered he was selling a fake Jeter autograph card. 

Deer has used bristolcollectibles, isellurcards and f.o.t.s.19 as some of his eBay names.

Brian Deer

It's difficult for Deer to plead ignorant to the card trimming.

In August 2016 he sought out a University of California Berkeley student to modify a commercial paper cutter to trim 1/64" off each edge of square-shaped paper.

"I do some very detailed restoration work," Deer writes.

You can't make this stuff up. 

Here are some known trimmed cards by Brian Deer: