BBC's Antiques Roadshow - where guests were recently gobsmacked by the huge valuation on a 'creepy' family heirloom - has been rocked by a controversy after it emerged that a duo featured on the show's US counterpart was later indicted for fraud.
Military memorabilia dealers Russ Pritchard III and George Juno became entangled in legal woes when they faced allegations of federal mail and wire fraud in 2002.
As per ABC News, the two were accused of making bogus evaluations on the American Antiques Roadshow, aiming to cement their reputation as connoisseurs of Civil War-era weaponry and military relics. Despite the mounting accusations, the pair stood firm in their plea of innocence.
When the charges hit the headlines, the antiquities experts were staring down the possibility of up to sixty years in jail and staggering fines reaching $2.75 million (£2.1 million), according to an article from the Express.
Speaking with The Associated Press, attorney Kirk Karaszkiewicz, representing Pritchard, stoutly defended his client: "Mr. Pritchard maintains his innocence of these charges, and we will vigorously defend them."
Among those purportedly bamboozled were relatives of Gen. George Pickett, who was celebrated for his infamous lead in "Picket's Charge" at the Battle of Gettysburg. Prosecutors claimed that Pritchard swindled Pickett's family out of cherished family artifacts valued at nearly $88,000 (£68,000) under the guise that he was securing the items on behalf of the Harrisburg National Civil War Museum.
Reflecting on the deception, an aggrieved Pickett disclosed: "He said the museum was paying top dollar. And that he was under an obligation to the museum to appraise these items for fair market value."
However, Pritchard had no ties to the museum. He was later accused of selling the collection himself for a jaw-dropping $880,000 (£680,000) - a sum ten times greater than what Pickett had received for the memorabilia.
Upon uncovering the professionals' actions and the true value of the trunk's contents, George E. Pickett V, the great-great-grandson of the Civil War general, sought legal recourse.
In 1999, he initiated a civil lawsuit against Pritchard over the sale of the artifacts. After a mere three hours of deliberation, a jury awarded Pickett $800,000.
However, according to Judy Matthews, the show's publicist, Roadshow believed that the jury's verdict did not reflect Juno's and Pritchard's performance on the show.
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The case took another turn on December 21, 2001, when Pritchard pleaded guilty to over 20 charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, theft from a museum, and Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property.
Then, on January 18, 2002, Pritchard Jr. and a former museum curator at the Civil War Library and Museum in Philadelphia were found guilty of theft from a museum and aiding and abetting after the fact, in the case involving the Hunt uniform.
On July 11, 2002, Pritchard was given a one-year prison sentence and ordered to repay $830,000 for orchestrating fraudulent appraisals and swindling Civil War memorabilia collectors.
He admitted to giving false TV appraisals and also acknowledged that he had cheated artifact owners by offering them low valuations on items, only to resell them at significantly higher prices and keep the profits.
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