Logan Paul Refunded $3.5 Million for Fake Pokemon Card Purchase, Fallout Hits Card Collecting Community
Logan Paul has gotten his money back after discovering that a $3.5 million purchase of Pokemon cards contained counterfeit cases, but lawsuits and other fallout from the scandal is still brewing. Yesterday, Logan Paul revealed that a highly touted purchase of a box supposedly containing six 1st Edition Base Set Pokemon booster cases actually contained resealed boxes full of GI Joe cards. This followed ComicBook.com (and many other sites) reporting on evidence that suggested the cards were in fact fake. PokeBeach, one of the leading Pokemon card sites covering this story, has provided additional details about the fallout from this fraudulent purchase, including news that Paul did receive a refund for his purchase.
The news story has caused an uproar in the card collecting community, specifically the wider sports card collecting community. PokeBeach cites the Instagram account @cardporn, which follows the card collecting community, when discussing some updates about the story. Cardporn notes that Paul received a $3.5 million refund from the collector he purchased the set from, a card collector named Matt Allen. Allen appears in Logan Paul's video and seemed genuinely stunned that the box was a counterfeit. However, PokeBeach notes that Allen is having trouble getting the $2.7 million he paid for the box, which went to two sources – Jacob Gabay (or @cardkahuna on Instagram) and Jameel Mohammad (@shopmeelypops on Instagram). You can see CardPorn's full comments on the situation below:
The authenticator at the heart of the scandal, Baseball Card Exchange, released their own statement about their authentication process. They noted that they operated in good faith and that they were re-examining their authentication processes in light of the issues. As a result of the fake, Baseball Card Exchange is stopping review of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh booster cases and boxes until they revise their authentication process.
PokeBeach's story also contains several more details about the history of the counterfeit case, including its possible ties to a well-known scammer and a back and forth between one of the YouTubers who broke news that the case was likely fake and one of the former owners of the box. This story has exposed a lot of the underlying shadiness in the card collecting community and we hope that you'll give it a read.
One of the big questions remaining is whether or not Paul had any suspicions the booster case was fake. The cynical take is that Paul was in a "no lose" scenario – either he wound up with six authentic cases of 1st Edition Base Set booster packs or he could dominate the news cycle by hyping his purchase of the box and then playing the victim when the fakes were discovered, knowing that he'd get the money back. However, Paul did appear on a livestream hosted by fellow Pokemon card collector Michael Goldstein a week ago and admitted that he relied heavily on the fact that the cards were authenticated by Baseball Card Exchange. Goldstein has his own ties to the story, having helped vet the box's authenticity, but both he and Paul seemed genuinely concerned in the video.
Expect the fallout to continue in the coming weeks and months.
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