A federal investigation into how hundreds of Miami Heat game-used uniforms left the possession of the team and were sold on the open market has gripped the collectibles world this week.
The case centers on individuals with access to the team’s Kaseya Center facilities and those who bought the gear over the years. Sources say both the United States Attorney’s Office and the FBI have issued subpoenas to compel parties to talk.
Sources confirmed to cllct a report in the Miami Herald that one person of interest is "a retired Miami police officer who went on to work for the NBA’s security division."
The Herald also reported the investigation began 18 months ago and includes game-worn jerseys from LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade. Many of the items were worn more than a decade ago, but not previously reported missing or stolen.
The investigation was first reported publicly by Amin Elhassan on "The Dan LeBatard Show" on Monday. Elhassan called the theft “one of the largest heists of this kind,” and said it involved jerseys worn during the NBA Finals.
James had a contract with Upper Deck during his Miami tenure (2010-14), and the Heat provided game-used jerseys to the company as part of that deal. Those jerseys were notated as coming from specific games, so when James had autograph signings he would sign his name and then often use descriptors such as a handwritten date or stats from the game he was told the jersey came from.
The issue now is some of the jerseys do not match the games described and inscribed.
Photo-matching, the art of taking high-resolution photos and comparing them to the intricacies of the uniform, has now become standard in the hobby.
Take, for example, a jersey represented by Upper Deck as coming from March 18, 2013. In the game, LeBron had one of the most iconic dunks — over the Celtics’ Jason Terry — of his career. James inscribed on the jersey, “vs. Celtics, 3/18/13. Chosen One.”
Cllct has learned, through an informed source who examined the jersey, that an attempted photo-match showed the mesh hole alignment (the holes in relation to the lettering and numbering) was completely off, and the jersey could not have been from that game.
Upper Deck represented another James jersey as coming from Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers. The jersey is signed by James with the inscriptions “ECF GM 7,” and “6/3/13. The “3” there also looks like it might have originally been a “1.”
But when the jersey recently was sent to photo-match expert Meigray, it didn’t match to the pivotal game that resulted in the Heat reaching the NBA Finals.
Instead, it came back as being worn April 12 of that season, a much less meaningful game against the Celtics, with significantly less value.
A jersey signed by James and inscribed "ECQF Game 4 vs Bucks 4/28/13" not only wasn't able to be matched by Meigray to that game, but to any game, sources said.
A jersey signed and inscribed by James with "ECF GM 6 vs Pacers 6/1/13," was actually matched by Meigray to a regular-season game April 28, 2013.
Upper Deck documentation, which was viewed by cllct, said the item was “legally procured directly from the athlete.”
A spokesman for James told cllct, ”LeBron has never been involved in the authentication or verification process of signed items at any point in his career."
Citing the investigation, Upper Deck and the Heat declined comment.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.