A Covington Twp. man acquitted of involvement in an art and sports memorabilia heist that spanned decades is suing a media outlet for defamation after it wrote about him.
The trial of Alfred Atsus, Nicholas Dombek, Damien Boland and Joseph Atsus opened with jury selection on Jan. 13, 2024. The next day The Atlantic published an article titled, “They stole Yogi Berra’s World Series rings. Then they did something really crazy. The childhood friends behind the most audacious string of sports-memorabilia heists in American history.”
A jury found Dombek, Boland and Joseph Atsus guilty on multiple counts, while finding Alfred Atsus not guilty on all charges.
Testimony showed that Alfred Atsus — Joseph Atsus’ brother — was present during some instances of the group’s criminal activity, but his lawyer argued that he did not participate, and the jury agreed.
The lawsuit alleges the article, written by Ariel Sabar and based on an interview of Tommy Trotta, portrayed Atsus in a false light.
Trotta, the admitted ringleader of a group including the Atsus brothers, Dombek and Boland, would later testify against the four alleged co-conspirators in return for a reduced sentence.
As he was writing the article on Dec. 4, 2023, Sabar sent an email to James Mattioli, Atsus’ attorney, requesting information.
Mattioli responded in an email, first indicating that speaking with Sabar was a pleasure and then indicating that any statements made by Trotta alleging Alfred Atsus took part in criminal activity were “absolutely ridiculous and patently absurd.”
The last sentence of the email read “… any articles published concerning the aforesaid alleged criminal behavior by my client will be met with a defamation of character lawsuit, along with any and all remedies allowed by law.”
The suit asserts that, in spite of growing up with Trotta and considering him a friend, Atsus was not involved in any criminal activity with him.
The complaint referenced part of the article reading, “The crew cased the National Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, for years, but gave up after discovering the diamonds on the championship belt they had been after had been replaced by inexpensive replicas.”
There was no evidence Alfred Atsus was involved in casing the Hall of Fame, the complaint asserts.
The article also claims that from 2011 through 2013 “Trotta’s crew” made nearly $500,000 from their illegal efforts.
“There have been no allegations or evidence to suggest Atsus ever received proceeds from Trotta’s marauding,” the complaint states.
Trotta embellished the facts during his interview with Sabar, and Sabar did not make an effort to corroborate them, the suit alleges.
“The article contained distortions, misrepresentations, misstatements of fact, omission of facts, selective quotations, imagery, timing and edited material designed to cast Atsus in a false light,” the lawsuit concludes.
The suit names The Atlantic Monthly Group LLC, its editor Jeffrey Goldberg and Sabar.
The suit seeks “in excess of $75,000” to compensate Atsus for financial loss, damage to his reputation and emotional distress.
In addition, Atsus is asking for punitive damages.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Jan. 12.
As of Friday, defendants hadn’t responded to Atsus’ initial filing.