OAKLAND – Daniel Damato, 40, of Concord, California, was sentenced today to 21 months in federal prison for his involvement in a wire fraud scheme that included selling counterfeit sports memorabilia and attempting to obstruct an FBI investigation. United States District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín also ordered Damato to pay over $1 million in restitution.
Between 2022 and 2024, Damato, a sports memorabilia dealer, doctored items and provided false provenance to make them appear as authentic and valuable collectibles. He then marketed these fraudulent items to unsuspecting buyers at heavily inflated prices. Specifically, Damato sold a baseball bat he falsely claimed was a 1954 game-used World Series bat and a jersey he asserted was a 1972 game-worn jersey, both purportedly used by baseball legend Willie Mays.
Damato admitted that the bat, sold for $100,000, was a "factory error" and not Mays' 1954 World Series bat. He also sold a fraudulent Mays jersey for $50,000 and defrauded a third victim of over $900,000 by falsely promising to deliver memorabilia. Following an FBI search warrant, Damato contacted a potential witness in an attempt to obstruct the investigation.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Martínez-Olguín sentenced Damato to a three-year period of supervised release and ordered restitution totaling $1,068,940. The prosecution was led by Assistant United States Attorney Abraham Fine, following an investigation by the FBI.