The trunks that Muhammad Ali wore to his last Madison Square Garden fight in 1977 are now at the center of a long-running feud between a top federal official and a sports memorabilia collector. The Wall Street Journal reports that IRS and Social Security Administration chief Frank Bisignano is battling entrepreneur Eric Inselberg, who says he put the white shorts with black stripes up as partial collateral for a $500,000 loan in 2010, then fully repaid the debt. Inselberg claims the shorts—now pegged by him to be worth about $800,000—never made their way back to him. Bisignano flatly denies ever receiving the trunks and dismisses their supposed value, painting Inselberg as a chronic litigant exploiting a onetime favor.
Bisignano also says he and Inselberg were never friends, as Inselberg has claimed. Inselberg, for his part, who was once indicted (and later cleared) in a fake-memorabilia case involving Giants items, calls Bisignano an "apex predator" and "closeted collector" hanging on to the gear just to drive the screw into Inselberg. "He's vindictive. He thinks he can do whatever he wants," Inselberg notes. The dispute, delayed for a trial in New Jersey until September, may hinge on a mutual friend who says he saw the Ali shorts displayed in Bisignano's "man cave." Bisignano's legal team dismisses that possible testimony, with one attorney noting, "We try cases in the courtroom, not the pressroom. We look forward to prevailing at trial." More here for the full drama.
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