Alleged Card Trimmer and Former PSA Employee Mike Souza Exposed— eBay ID= 9999rbush

[superdan49]

The eBay seller account 9999rbush is one that has been previously connected to card trimming here on the Blowout boards. Back in March, two trimmed cards in 9999rbush's account were uncovered, a 2002 Upper Deck Signature Foundations Peyton Manning Autograph, graded PSA 10, and a 2006 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Derek Jeter autograph, serial numbered 29/50 and also graded PSA 10. Here I quote in excerpt from the original thread :

Originally Posted by superdan49

Here's another trimmed card to avoid, a 2005 Upper Deck Peyton Manning Foundations Autograph, graded PSA 10. Below are photos of the card from Worthpoint when it was raw as well as in its current PSA 10 holder.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Peyton-Mann.../292999780968?
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...eck-1926017977

Originally Posted by superdan49

I found another trimmed PSA card from the same eBay seller:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/DEREK-JETER...-/293010291879
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...eet-1867513735

In the course of another inquiry, the username 9999rbush came up again. We decided to investigate further. Subsequently, more demonstrably altered cards were uncovered. Thanks to 3124508 for finding the two basketball cards:



2002 Topps Xpectations Yao Ming autograph PSA 10 (left edge micro-trim):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PSA-10-YAO-...dt=true&rt=nc&
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ons-1874460991






2006 UD Exquisite Collection Kobe Bryant Gold 04/25 PSA 9 (significant top edge trim):

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...old-1949218302
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...-04-1907162773




Note that this Kobe PSA 9 card was sold through Probstein. It can be confirmed that the PSA submission which included the Kobe is a 9999rbush sub. The Kobe's PSA serial number is 28704135, which is one card after the Jeter Sweet Spot PSA 10 above, which is 28704134. The card after the Kobe, cert no. 28704136, is a 1976 Topps Johnny Bench PSA 9, which was first sold by 9999rbush. Thus, the Probstein Kobe is sandwiched between two 9999rbush cards, confirming that the doctored PSA 9 Kobe consigned to Probstein originated from him:

28704134 2006 UPPER DECK SWEET SPOT SWEET SPOT SIGNATURES BASEBALL CARDS #137 DEREK JETER SIG.-RED/BLUE STCH.BLK.INK GEM MT 10 eBay (9999rbush)
28704135 2006 UD EXQUISITE COLLECTION BASKETBALL CARDS #18 KOBE BRYANT GOLD MINT 9 First Sale: 8/27/2018 $525.23 eBay (probstein123)
28704136 1976 TOPPS BASEBALL CARDS #300 JOHNNY BENCH MINT 9 First Sale: 4/14/2018 $139.99 eBay (9999rbush)





2011 Playoff Contenders Cam Newton Autograph PSA 10 (micro-trimming of top and bottom edges and corners):

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...011-1890356807
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ers-1827951767






2017 Panini Contenders Kareem Hunt Auto PSA 10 (micro-trim corner):

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ers-1971675915
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...-rc-1960165793






9999rbush purchased this card raw from eBay seller toops11 on 10/23/2018 for $55. This is proven by the positive transaction feedback left by toops11 for 9999rbush (look under 9999's "Feedback as a buyer" tab to find). By cross-referencing this with toops's "Feedback left for others," we can see that toops11 sold a 2017 Panini Contenders Kareem Hunt autograph to r***u with a yellow shooting star. This specific star is only awarded to eBayers with feedback between 10,000 and 24,999. The only candidate meeting these criteria (comment left by toops11 for a yellow shooting star buyer in the past year with the letters "r"and "u") is 9999rbush. The feedback has been unmasked:

Link to 9999rbush's "Feedback as a buyer"
Link to toops11's "Feedback left for others"



It is a match. Using images from Worthpoint, it can now be confirmed that the raw 2017 Panini Contenders Hunt sold by toops11 is the same card as the PSA 10 resold by 9999rbush as a PSA 10 on 1/15/2019 for $89.99. During that time between 9999rbush's purchase of the card and his sending it off to grade, the card was altered.


I will now prove that 9999rbush is poker pro Mike Souza of San Diego, California. The eBay account 9999rbush, which lists San Diego as its location, also used the name API Sportscards. That business name no longer appears on his eBay account, but the API logo remains on his store page:

https://www.ebay.com/str/9999rbush





Checking for the records for API Sportscards in California, I did not find any businesses registered under that name. However, I did find an article on the PSA website from 2001 which detailed how Mike Souza, the owner of American Pastime Investments (thus API) in San Diego, sold his 1996 SI Kids Tiger Woods PSA 10 card for $125,000. Souza mentions in the article that he submitted the card for grading himself, which became the first-ever PSA 10 of that condition sensitive card.
https://www.psacard.com/articles/art...s-100-000-mark

And here is a 2001 ESPN article written by Darren Rovell discussing Souza's famous $125,000 sale:
https://www.espn.com/golfonline/mast...9/1170680.html


Next, I did a search for Michael Souza in San Diego. I found that there is a professional poker player with the same name from that city. In a February 2007 article from the World Series of Poker official website, wsop.com, Mr. Souza is described as "a 33-year-old poker pro and collector of baseball cards."
http://www.wsop.com/news/2007/Feb/69...-Berliner.html

A dealer I spoke to confirmed to me that Souza is indeed the man behind the 9999rbush eBay account.





More information of note:

1. Souza has enjoyed some big success at times on the poker circuit, winning over $400,000 in a no-limit Hold'em event just last year. According to his WSOP player profile, he has won close to $1 million dollars for his career.

However, a 2010 thread on the Two Plus Two Poker Forums called out Souza for angleshooting (i.e., cheating) at a poker table. He also berated another man at the table. When called out for his actions by fellow pro Todd Terry (the thread's OP), Souza allegedly responded by exclaiming "Do you know who I am?" and "I bet I have more WSOP cashes than you." Interestingly, another forum poster knew of Souza's dealings with sports cards:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=140




2. Souza receives an extraordinary number of PSA Gem Mint 10s. Presently, on eBay, an incredible 2,261 of his 2,739 items for sale are PSA 10s. In another thread, BO user pspa123 posted two runs within his PSA submissions where he went 100/100 on earning PSA 10s. Amazingly, these order runs were mostly populated with cards from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, not modern chrome stuff. This bit of information is only scratching the surface, as the vast majority of Souza's PSA orders have not been posted.



3. Souza is a former employee of Collectors Universe/PSA. This was confirmed in court documents from the 2018 civil case Knafo v. Collectors Universe, Inc. In summary, PSA erroneously printed a PSA 10 flip for Knafo's 1972 Topps Julius Erving rookie card, which should have rightfully earned a PSA 5. Souza offered Knafo $35,000 for the PSA 10, but when he received photos of the card from Knafo, Souza contacted PSA to alert them of this mistake. PSA confirmed that this was a clerical error and claimed that any effort by Knafo to sell the card as is would constitute fraud. Knafo in turn demanded that PSA pay him $30,000. PSA rejected Knafo's demand, and removed the card from its database. Knafo then sued the company. The case itself is one where CU rightfully prevailed.

However, for our purposes, court documents revealed another fact: Souza was a one-time employee at CU:


What was Mike Souza's position with CU/PSA? How long did he work there? Why did his employment terminate? These are questions that are pertinent to the hobby.



4. Souza sells hand cut cards. Currently in his 9999rbush eBay inventory are 45 hand cut cards, all graded PSA 10 Gem Mint. The cuts are perfect. It is clear that Souza has the equipment necessary to expertly cut cards. What is preventing him then from using this same equipment (or other equipment) on the thousands of tough and virtually untraceable PSA 10s he has sold over the years?






MIKE SOUZA

These are the facts so you can make a decision yourself whether or not this is someone you want to do business with. Based on what I have seen, it is my opinion that Mike Souza's poker earnings pale in comparison to the amount of money he has made selling sports cards, legitimate and fraudulent.

[3124508 on COMC]

LMAO at that poker forum post.

[KhalDrogo]

WOW. This is the biggest bombshell yet.

[boston12]

Sounds like a standup guy

[3124508 on COMC]

OP of that comical aforementioned thread:

On Wednesday in the WSOP $1500 event I had the unpleasant experience of being seated at the same table as Michael Souza, pictured below (he was wearing sunglasses at the table). This guy is the biggest jerk with whom I've ever played (an assessment with which Stars pro Anh Van Nguyen agreed).

Early on, he wouldn't stop berating Doug Carli (a middle-aged pro from Ohio and super nice guy) after losing a relatively small pot to him. After this went on for a number of minutes, I said to him, "Just stop, he's a better player than you'll ever be." That prompted him to say things like, "Don't you know who I am?" along with the ever important, "I bet I have more WSOP cashes than you" and "I bet I have more WSOP Main Event cashes than you." He refused to say his name (I got it by looking up the table draws and checking some of the things he said against his results, 100% it's him).

The next thing he did was an attempted angle. He raised preflop and got two callers. Flop Q83. He checked, second person checked, BT bet, he called. Person in the middle then raised all in. Michael Souza then, out of turn, immediately threw his cards into the middle of the table. While BT was thinking, Michael grabbed his cards back. To his credit, BT recognized what was going on and said something like, "Now I'm pretty sure I don't have you beat." BT folded, and sure enough Michael had a set of 8s. He then, amazingly, proceeded to brag about what he had done for the next 5 minutes.

The next incident involving him was a pot where Anh Van Nguyen raised pre and Michael called from the BB. Flop: K 4 x. Check, bet, call. Turn: x, check, check. River: A, check, check. Michael, who by rule is obligated to show his hand first, says, "I have a 4." To his credit, Anh sat there and said and did nothing. After like 5 seconds, Michael says, "And an A", and turns over A4hh. Anh was really pissed and said, "You were going to slowroll me." Doug said, "It's about time for you to get schooled." Michael said, "For what?" Doug replied, "For being an *******."

Michael then called the floor because Doug said he was an *******. Doug was given a 1 round penalty over the protest of everyone else at the table. Michael was taken aside and warned by the floor, however. Ironically, while Doug was serving his penalty, Michael busted from the tournament, having punted a fairly big stack by playing a hand terribly.

So if you happen to be seated at the same table as this *******, beware the angles, slowrolls and general douchiness. Feel free as well to 3bet him, c-bet a KQ3 flop and show a 2 after he folds, which is what I did.

[anusinha]

i like how all these posts are written in a way to make it easy for law enforcement to follow.

So PSA employee getting a ton of 10s? seems legit.

[HarryLime]

Incredible work. The only thing I would add is that if he puts minimum grade 10 on his submission the submission would look like he got 100 PSA 10s in a row, even though there were other cards in there that got kicked out for not meeting minimum grade.

But damn. What a takedown.

Arthur

[pspa123]

Correct. At the time I posted those cert runs I did not realize that it was a possibility that cert numbers were assigned only to the cards that get the minimum 10 grade. I had understood that cert numbers were assigned to all cards submitted at the time of data entry, but apparently for these type of subs that is not the case.

[ken161]

Buying the aforementioned 1996 SI Kids Tiger Woods PSA 10 from this seller sounds like the equivalent of being dealt a hand of aces and eights in poker.

[superdan49]

Originally Posted by pspa123

Correct. At the time I posted those cert runs I did not realize that it was a possibility that cert numbers were assigned only to the cards that get the minimum 10 grade. I had understood that cert numbers were assigned to all cards submitted at the time of data entry, but apparently for these type of subs that is not the case.

Has PSA ever confirmed that this program exists for special customers? Whenever one of my cards did not meet minimum grade, it would be assigned a PSA serial number and returned in a Card Saver with a flip that read "MIN GRADE."

[CaptSpaulding]

Originally Posted by superdan49

Has PSA ever confirmed that this program exists for special customers? Whenever one of my cards did not meet minimum grade, it would be assigned a PSA serial number and returned in a Card Saver with a flip that read "MIN GRADE."

Yes this is how the 10s Only submissions work.

[WallyatJCCards]

Originally Posted by anusinha

i like how all these posts are written in a way to make it easy for law enforcement to follow.

So PSA employee getting a ton of 10s? seems legit.

I have no doubt they regularly read these boards for more and more evidence. I just hope it's cleaned up within a year or two, get us back to enjoying sweet cards instead of finding out they all suck....

[SaveMeTheGum]

Fantastic work Dan. Added to trimming post in Football section. THis guy always had my PC stuff in super low pop 10's -- luckliy his prices were stupid high. Any loser that drops the "you know who I am" has got a serious inferiority complex...

[49ersSF]

Not to be lost is the idiot that attempted to fraudulently sell the PSA mistake PSA 10 Julius Erving for $35k therefore defrauding an innocent victim. Then he sues PSA for 30k and loses and ends up having to pay 80k in lawyer fees. Justice served!

It just seems in every direction in this hobby you find disgusting individuals.

[dodgerblue]

9999rbush also has a ridiculous collection of very hard to grade BGS 10 of early 1990s players (Frank Thomas etc.). I was always curious how he had so many, but they were always so overpriced I never bought any of them.

[jasonm2121]

Thanks for the post here. Was eyeing a few Bradys he has up, no more.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by 49ersSF

Not to be lost is the idiot that attempted to fraudulently sell the PSA mistake PSA 10 Julius Erving for $35k therefore defrauding an innocent victim. Then he sues PSA for 30k and loses and ends up having to pay 80k in lawyer fees. Justice served!

It just seems in every direction in this hobby you find disgusting individuals.

Why are so many associated with grading?

[Bruins1993]

Originally Posted by MoreToppsPlease

Why are so many associated with grading?

Why does it appear PSA enables card doctors? Seeing record PSA 9 and PSA 10 prices is good for business/marketing their grading opinion services?

[jasonm2121]

Money.

[no10pin]

Originally Posted by MoreToppsPlease

Why are so many associated with grading?

Because they migrate to where the money is. The ridiculous premiums paid for high grade cards makes them attractive, and when you can find other corrupt people to partner with, they turn it into a business.

The TPG companies are all corrupt on the inside, period. Not EVERY grader is, but it's abundantly clear that there's a path in each company if you know the right people.

[IndySportsCards]

Awesome detective work! I must say I'm very impressed. Great job!

[auburn35]

Nice work everyone.
Would be really interesting to find out about his employment with Collectors Universe.
Doesn't appear that the parting of ways was on bad terms, if he's still racking up straight 10 submissions.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by Bruins1993

Why does it appear PSA enables card doctors? Seeing record PSA 9 and PSA 10 prices is good for business/marketing their grading opinion services?

They shouldn't continue to set records...

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by no10pin

Because they migrate to where the money is. The ridiculous premiums paid for high grade cards makes them attractive, and when you can find other corrupt people to partner with, they turn it into a business.

The TPG companies are all corrupt on the inside, period. Not EVERY grader is, but it's abundantly clear that there's a path in each company if you know the right people.

I understand, but I also think the problem isn't just internal corruption. I don't think they're able to detect many alterations.

The TPGs aren't responsible for the premium prices though. There has to be another mechanism that inflates value.

[Bruins1993]

Originally Posted by MoreToppsPlease

I don't think they're able to detect many alterations.

According to Joe Orlando:

"Grading is not conducted in a science lab. It is simply humans looking at collectibles."

and according to the PSA responses to BBB complains:

"PSA is a third-party authentication and grading service for various types of collectibles. People submit items to our firm seeking our opinion of the items as it relates to authenticity and, sometimes, quality. "


Simply humans looking at collectibles giving opinions in PSA's own language...


Maybe this is why PSA deleted their 2004 article on card trimming that included: "Today, there are those who are still trying it. Some of them are butchers and some of them are master artists, but it doesn't, in any way, change the approach of PSA graders. The tools have changed in some cases and the skill level of the whackers has heightened but so has the awareness of our experts -- that's what they are paid to do -- and that's why people have so much faith in the PSA process."