A former warehouse assistant at Augusta National Golf Club illegally made about $5.6 million by stealing and selling exclusive Masters branded merchandise and historic memorabilia, including famous Green Jackets worn by past champions of the major professional golf tournament like Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan, authorities said.
Richard Brendan Globensky, 39, of Augusta, GA, got away with the alleged thievery for 13 years – from 2009 to 2022. But his run of reported rip-offs came to an end with criminal charges, and on Wednesday, May 15, he pleaded guilty to a federal felony of transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 29. Prosecutors plan to ask a judge to make Globensky pay millions in restitution and serve 24 to 30 months in federal prison.
Some context: The Masters is the first of pro golf’s four Major Championships and occurs each year at Augusta National. Steeped in tradition, the official tournament merch is exclusive and highly prized, being sold only at Augusta during the week of the competition. This leads to rampant reselling online at marked-up prices by people who attend the Masters and legitimately purchase the swag. It also proved an enticement to crookery for Globensky, prosecutors said.
While working as a warehouse assistant at Augusta National, Globensky stole Masters-branded shirts, hats, flags, watches, mugs and other items. He sold them to a broker in Florida, who then retailed the goods online at significant markups, according to court papers.
Globensky also allegedly stole and sold high-value items never intended for sale, including Green Jackets worn by Masters champions Palmer, Hogan and Gene Sarazen. Since 1949, tournament champions have received the now-iconic green sport coat. The winners keep the jacket for a year, then return it for storage at the club. They don the coats when at Augusta.
Globensky sold jackets and other memorabilia to the broker, who then sought to offload the goods at dizzying prices through private channels. Beyond the jackets, memorabilia included tournament programs and tickets from the 1930s, tournament records from 1942 and an Augusta National Clubhouse Trophy.
Authorities said Globensky’s scheming earned him $5.3 million in payment from the broker and nearly $300,000 from the broker’s associate. His theft translated to losses of about $3.45 million for Augusta National, court papers said.
Things reportedly began to unravel when one of the people involved in theft ring came to the attention of authorities and decided to cooperate, leading them to the warehouse worker.
Globensky was charged in Chicago because the 1958 Arnold Palmer jacket he allegedly stole was allegedly being sold to a collector in the Windy City for $4 million – all while the Federal Bureau of Investigation monitored and waited outside the collector’s home.
The plea agreement did not identify the online broker or its associate with whom Globensky allegedly worked.
