Sports memorabilia dealer Brett Lemieux found dead just hours after bombshell counterfeit confession

A famed sports memorabilia merchant was discovered dead as police carried out a search warrant into his allegedly fraudulent dealings. 

Brett Lemieux, 45, is believed to have died just hours after a Facebook account posting under his name claimed the prominent sports memorabilia site he founded had sold millions of counterfeit items.

Lemieux, who resided in Westfield, Indiana, shockingly claimed that MisterManCave had sold more than four million fake items and surpassed $350 million in sales in a bombshell confession to a Facebook group page named 'Autographs 101'. 

Hours after the post was published under Lemieux's name, police confirmed that he had died by suicide by way of a 'self-inflicted gunshot wound,' according to the New York Post. 

'There will be photos of this bust I'm sure of it,' the 1,000-word message said. 'If it was (F)anatics they may try to bury it all but the Westfield police department came today at 9am with semi trucks. I hope no one tries to hide this. I want to expose it all and how big of an operation you all knew was going on but grasp how big it was. I wish I could write a book about this.' 

The post claimed that an autopen machine was used to produce the fake signatures, and actual athlete autograph signings were used as cover for the fake merchandise, with the operation dating back 20 years. 

Lemieux also allegedly faked holograms and authentication stickers of prominent sports memorabilia companies, such as Panini and Fanatics among others, in order to pull off the scheme.

Tom Brady, Aaron Judge and Patrick Mahomes were listed as some of the most famous names the company allegedly profited off. The post also claimed that 80,000 pieces of memorabilia were released into the market when NBA legend Kobe Bryant tragically died in 2020. 

Lemieux's social media accounts have since been removed.  

Westfield police and the FBI opened their probe into Lemieux's dealings when Fanatics, a well-known memorabilia company, began conducting 'test buys' of supposed autographed items from marketplace accounts set up by Lemieux in order to build a case to present to law enforcement. 

But the investigation turned deadly this week after officers carried out multiple search warrants. Police first executed a search warrant regarding the scheme on Tuesday on one property. 

The warrant was then extended to a second property on Wednesday, which is when officers discovered Lemieux deceased while conducting their search. 

In 2013, Lemieux was ordered to pay restitution to customers who bought sports memorabilia from his businesses that they never received, following a lawsuit brought by the Indiana attorney general.