Ownership of Muhammad Ali’s 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” World Boxing Council title belt and of a uniform worn by Wilt Chamberlain as a high school player in 1954 are among the 11 high-value memorabilia items at issue in a new federal lawsuit brought by Collectable Sports Assets LLC (CSA) against sports memorabilia museum Sports Immortals.
CSA seeks a court order in Florida saying it is owed physical possession and legal title to the items, which the complaint claims are worth more than $21 million and are stored at the Sports Immortals museum and art gallery in Boca Raton, Fla.
The New York-based CSA, which offers investors the chance to buy fractional shares in sports memorabilia and sells such items, and Sports Immortals disagree about their consignment relationship. Consignment agreements are sometimes used in the sale of memorabilia, art and other items of high value. They generally involve the entrustment of an item to another for display and, in some instances, potential sale.
As CSA tells it through a complaint filed by attorney Jason P. Hernandez of Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, the company signed multiple contracts with Sports Immortals beginning in 2020. The contracts contemplated CSA offering investors the chance to buy fractionalized shares in the 11 items, which include a jockstrap worn by André the Giant during his famed wrestling career, a jersey worn by Michael Jordan during his 1984-85 rookie NBA season and a signed bat from Jackie Robinson from his National League MVP season in 1949.
