Bank Robber Turned Children's Book Author Anthony Curcio Faces 40 Years in New Federal Fraud Case

Anthony Curcio — the man who robbed an armored truck with bear spray and escaped down a Washington river on an inner tube — was back in federal court in January 2026, this time accused of defrauding buyers in the $15 billion sports trading card market. The 45-year-old former high school football star from Monroe, Washington had seemed to complete one of America's more unlikely redemption arcs: five years in federal prison, TED talks, TV appearances, and a line of children's books that earned him up to $100,000 a month. Then, prosecutors said, he blew it all over again.

The charges — wire fraud and conspiracy, carrying a maximum of 40 years — stem from a two-year FBI investigation called Operation Heist and Holder. Prosecutors allege Curcio lied to card buyers, faked his identity, doctored labels on rare cards, and maintained forgery tools in a home workshop. The case centers heavily on a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card graded PSA 10 (Gem Mint) — described by PSA's own database as 'the most important modern card from any sport in the entire hobby' — that Curcio had received as part of a gym-sale deal and which ballooned in value during the COVID-era card frenzy from roughly $39,000 in January 2020 to $720,000 by January 2021. Curcio listed it for $170,000, and after PSA later determined the label was not authentic, he issued a full refund of $168,059.

Curcio's defense reframed the entire case as a vendetta, pointing the finger instead at Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) and its parent, Collectors Holdings — backed by billionaire hedge fund manager and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, who was part of a roughly $853 million deal to take Collectors private in 2021. PSA controls approximately 80% of the card grading market, and its label alone can swing a card's value from $50 to $500,000. The company has rapidly expanded, acquiring Goldin Auctions, rival grader SGC, and the Long Beach Expo — the industry's primary trading venue — creating what critics describe as a vertically and horizontally integrated monopoly. A New York congressman had already demanded an FTC antitrust investigation by the time of trial, and PSA was facing a customer boycott over fee hikes and grade manipulation allegations.

Curcio's criminal history with cards runs deep. In his own 2013 memoir, he admitted to learning how to trim cards for better centering, artificially age them with coffee grounds, and crack open PSA slabs to swap in higher-graded cards — techniques prosecutors say he never abandoned. He had been flagged on hobbyist forums as early as 2005 for allegedly trying to sell a fake 1953 Mickey Mantle. PSA's product integrity manager flagged Curcio's criminal background to the FBI in November 2022, and the agency opened its formal investigation shortly after. Curcio insists that his voluntary submission of eight valuable cards to PSA for re-holdering around the same time proves he had nothing to hide — a claim prosecutors strongly contest.

The case captures a broader collision between the wild west of the booming collectibles market and a dominant gatekeeper whose own grading integrity has come under scrutiny. In 2019, a major scandal emerged in which cards already graded by PSA were allegedly trimmed and resubmitted for higher grades through an Oregon marketplace called PWCC, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent value — the FBI subpoenaed PWCC, but no charges were ever filed. PSA's own CEO acknowledged at the time that perfection from human-based grading is 'simply unattainable.' Curcio — whether villain, victim, or both — has become an unlikely focal point for the industry's unresolved tensions.