Community Outreach Home Run

July 13, 2018
Community Outreach Home Run

Sports Memorabilia Fraud Case Yields Unexpected Benefit for Chicago Youth Baseball Leagues

At a July 10, 2018 event organized by the FBI and the Chicago White Sox, hundreds of baseballs and bats seized during a sports memorabilia fraud case were donated to inner-city youth baseball leagues.

John Rogers was a prolific forger of sports memorabilia who fleeced banks and individual investors out of millions of dollars. And although his victims are unlikely to be repaid, Rogers’ fraud has provided an unexpected benefit for a group of inner-city teen baseball players in Chicago.

Earlier this week on the city’s South Side—an area known for gang violence and homicides—Special Agent Brian Brusokas and nearly 20 other FBI employees from the Bureau’s Chicago Division delivered 125 Louisville Slugger bats and dozens of baseballs to young players whose leagues are sponsored by the Chicago White Sox organization.

The equipment was seized during the Rogers fraud case, and after the forged signatures of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Albert Pujols, and other famous players were chemically removed or blacked out, the bats and balls found a new home among youngsters who have embraced baseball as a way to stay out of trouble and to possibly earn a college scholarship.

“These kids are doing the right thing and trying to live the right path in life,” said Brusokas, who led the Rogers investigation as part of the FBI’s Art Crime Team. “We wanted to give them something that they needed.”

“If we took one of these bats and put it in the hands of one of these kids,” said Jeffrey Sallet, special agent in charge of the Chicago Division, “could that bat make a difference for that kid?”

Sallet, who was on hand for the equipment donation and spoke to the players and coaches, explained that engaging with the community is fundamental to the FBI’s mission and to its success as an organization.

“These kids are doing the right thing and trying to live the right path in life. We wanted to give them something that they needed.”
Brian Brusokas, special agent, FBI Chicago

“We as the FBI earn the American people’s trust every single day,” he said. “The best way for us to keep that trust is to be out there showing everybody that we are human beings, that we are part of the community.”