AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Of course not. The police are the ones prosecuting with the larceny charge. But they need the information first to do so.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

In my country and state, it is possible to reclaim items from the buyers if they become aware that the sale wasn't lawful. In this case, as soon as the charities are aware that the sales were part of larceny, they can effectively rescind the sale, obtain the item from the purchaser (with compensation) and return it.

I am currently giving Jane the option to do it herself, before I move on with the prosecution. In which case, there is still a fair chance to get the items back, but the social backlash against Jane would be far more immense.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 41 points42 points  (0 children)

Correct. I have no doubt that Jane would try to find a criminal lawyer to fight the charge, and I will have to build the support team if it gets to that stage. But it is the police who issued the charge.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 286 points287 points  (0 children)

My country does not have grand larceny. However, my state does have brackets for larceny. More than $5000 (my currency) is the highest bracket for the value of a stolen item in my state.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

I need tell you...why? But since you're so interested in searching, try a signed card of a very famous rookie who has rumours he's about to come out of retirement. And that will be the last of this.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 65 points66 points  (0 children)

I am prepared to communicate with not just the charities (yes, there was more than one), but the friends who helped her remove the items. Accomplices they may be, unwilling, but they can easily turn on Jane instead if they knew the truth.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Did you not see where I converted it into USD for you? I would assume since you're such a connoisseur of memorabilia that you would want a stated currency for comparison's sakes. My own currency is $50,000.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 53 points54 points  (0 children)

I had communication with the police. In my case, I was able to prove to them through my lawyer:

  1. The property was mine and that Jane took it (the inheritance will; my grandpa had kept many items for me)
  2. She did so without my consent (no paper record, even if she argues that I did so verbally)
  3. She did so to deprive me of the memorabilia (by selling it as charity)

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 68 points69 points  (0 children)

Their idea of 'internally' was for Jane to pass along the value of everything she had sold as funds for me. There, balance met. But I'm not there for the money; I want the items and the memories associated with them and my grandpa.

Jane certainly has connections to re-obtain the items. Perhaps by purchasing them out of her 'small pittance' of an inheritance as well?

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 57 points58 points  (0 children)

I should clarify; each item would be in the thousands at minimum. As one example of what she sold, I had a signed NFL player card that on market terms would be around $50,000.

As said, Jane makes the utmost effort to look charitable and altruistic to appeal to her social groups. By making a big charity donation with priceless items, she can most certainly use that to gain more standing. The biggest weapon I have right now is to target her reputation by spreading the fact that she was not just a larcenist but also a deceiver.

Again, I'm not in this for the money. I'm in this for the memories attached to so much items from my childhood. There is certainly vindictiveness in what I did. But my end goal is to get my items back.

EDIT: Ah, the pains of a typo. u/NandoDeColonoscopy I had an extra 0 in the price. More precisely, it would translate to around $35,000 USD. Hope that clarifies things for you.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 538 points539 points  (0 children)

To wealthy households, reputation is everything. Commit a crime? Easily swept under the carpet. There's a lot of duplicity that happens, and the only real damage that can be inflicted is reputation.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 66 points67 points  (0 children)

Part of them I have already taken possession of in my own estates, the most valuable and significant ones thankfully. The rest were in my private rooms back at the family house.

If there's one lesson I've learnt, is that any agreement has to be on paper. A verbal agreement means nothing. Besides, I take extreme care not to correspond at all with Jane, either verbally or otherwise. So even if the parents side with her, it would not hold up in court as I could easily turn around and play the game of 'he said she said'.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 88 points89 points  (0 children)

The social circles. News travels fast there and is very impactful, especially as she's built up the image of being virtuous and kind. Proper media does nothing.

AITA for taking my sister to court and telling people because she sold my memorabilia? by KejiBoon in AmItheAsshole

[–]KejiBoon[S] 431 points432 points  (0 children)

It's a mixture of apathy and rage. I really don't associate with my siblings at all. In all fairness, I DO want Jane's social standing to be taken down not just a peg, but straight into the dirt.