Show me a state or Federal law on the books that prohibit shill bidding. You have one week.

Tom, I asked you to show me a state or Federal law prohibiting shill bidding. So far you have shown none.

In all the pending cases there has been no mention of any such laws. In the settled cases they plead guilty to selling fake paintings "EBAY SHILL BIDDING CASE INVOLVING SALE OF FAKE DIEBENKORN PAINTING FOR $135,805. May 14, 2001"

Selling fake paintings is not shill bidding!!! They used shill bidding as a tool.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California man who went on the run for two years after being accused in an Internet scheme to sell a fake painting purportedly by a famous American abstract artist pleaded guilty to six counts of money laundering, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday. Kenneth Walton, a former attorney, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and four counts of mail fraud for making shill bids.

Money laundering is not shill bidding!!! Kenneth Walton plead to wire fraud and mail fraud because he used these tools to sell fake paintings. Just as if you robbed a bank with a gun you would be charged with armed robbery but it does not mean guns are illegal.

Now there is no doubt that people will take this out of context and argue that shill bidding is wire fraud but will those same people argue that guns are illegal?

Don't get me wrong I agree that shill bidding is unethical but I say it is not illegal. When a case comes along where someone is found guilty for merely shill bidding then I will agree it is against the law.