Eli Manning reaches settlement over memorabilia fraud case

Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — New York Giants quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning has reached a settlement with three memorabilia collectors over allegedly providing bogus “game-worn” equipment to the unsuspecting fans on Monday.

A spokesman for the defendants, a group that included Manning, the Giants, two equipment managers and Steiner Sports, the company with whom Manning is under contract to provide game-worn jerseys and helmets for sale, said Monday night a settlement had been reached to resolve the claims.

Details of the settlement were not given.

Attorneys for both sides provided a joint statement to ESPN, saying the settlement “should not be viewed as supporting any allegations, claims or defenses.”

“All parties are grateful to have the matter, which began in 2014, concluded and are now focused on football, the fans and the future,” the statement added.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2014, and it stated that Inselberg and two others bought helmets from Manning. One of them was allegedly used during the 2008 Super Bowl. But they were fake, according to Inselberg.

The plaintiffs used photo experts to determine that the helmets were never used in a game, however, Manning’s team claimed that the tactic used by the photo experts known as “photo matching” is unreliable.

In April 2017, Inselberg’s attorneys filed court documents that showed emails exchanged between Manning and equipment manager Joseph Skiba.

The email was meant to ask Skiba for two helmets that would “satisfy the requirement for being game used,” the filing said.

Inselberg was allegedly involved in a decade-long memorabilia scheme where he acquired game-used Giants equipment without permission, according to the court filing.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.