Stan Fitzgerald steps down as head of Veterans for Trump after the Daily Mail revealed his history as a conman and new complaint about his fundraising work

Stan Fitzgerald announced Sunday he was resigning as the head of Veterans for Trump days after DailyMail.com revealed his history as a fraudster and concerns about the way he was running his fundraising effort.

Fitzgerald, his wife and mother were part of a vast criminal ring that forged signatures on sports memorabilia before it was shut down by an FBI investigation that uncovered $100 million in fraud.

But he found reinvention in recent years as a key Trump promoter. He appeared frequently at Mar-a-Lago alongside the former president and top MAGA personalities such as Kari Lake and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

In his resignation statement he said negative headlines about his past life and a legal battle over Veterans for Trump made it impossible to continue his work. 

'While I appreciate the encouragement from so many to continue, I understand optics,' he said.

Stan Fitzgerald and his wife Donna are frequent visitors to Mar-a-Lago, but they have a dark secret. They both pleaded guilty to fraud charges in relation to a fake memorabilia network

Baseballs with forged signatures of Babe Ruth recovered during Operation Bullpen

'These optics are impossible to work around so its time for me to return to a normal life. I have my own business to run and possibly some more films to make. It’s time for me to put my family first.

'The fight to Save America must continue; without Donald Trump we have no country. He must win and we must flood the polls to beat the cheat.' 

For five years, Fitzgerald ran Stan's Sports Memorabilia, one of the biggest names in the business. It was shut down in a 1999 FBI raid for selling more than two million dollars of baseball bats, balls and photographs carrying faked autographs. 

Fitzgerald, his wife and his mother were even accused of ordering up forgeries of  athletes when they died, such as baseball star Mickey Mantle, knowing the value would rocket.

He was eventually sentenced to eight months in prison after striking a deal with prosecutors.

The Fitzgeralds used their business in New Jersey to sell items forged-to-order on the the West Coast.

'The defendants sold over $2 million of sports and celebrity memorabilia to wholesale and retail customers, falsely representing the signatures of the celebrities and athletes to be genuine,' reads the indictment.

They were just one part of a machine that obtained photos or sports gear, along with blank certificates of authenticity, before sending them to a forger in California who would supply signatures copied from a 'black book' of originals, according to the indictment.

As part of a plea agreement, the family lost two homes, including one on the Jersey Shore that Fitzgerald bought with a $500,00 down payment days after the raid. 

In recent years, Fitzgerald has proclaimed his innocence, insisting he was pressured into pleading guilty.

Details of the FEC complaint and Fitzgerald's past resurfaced in a bitter court clash with conservative commentator Angie Wong

The Fitzgeralds are seen here with Arizona Republican candidate for Senate Kari Lake

A 2003 indictment sets out the charges against them, that they 'did knowingly combine, conspire and agree together and with others to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses' as part of the scam

Details of his crime resurfaced in a legal battle with rightwing commentator Angie Wong, who fell out with him over the running of a network of political action committees and related lobbying companies, including Veterans for Trump, which is also known as Veterans for America First (VFAF).  

She said he hid his criminal past and was less than honest about the way he was running the group, and made a formal complaint to regulators that he set up look-alike for-profit groups designed to fraudulently attract donations. He in turn is suing her for defamation after she went public with her claims. 

She laid out her allegations in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, which is among documents submitted to a Georgia court as part of their duelling cases.

'Stan Fitzgerald, Donna Fitzgerald, Jared Craig and other others are also accused of defrauding donors with another political organization named Veterans for America First/Veterans for Trump,' it says.

It accuses Fitzgerald and his allies of using a non-profit group to route donations to companies they controlled.

'It is alleged they were selling services through L Strategies, a Georgia based LLC to create fake Veterans organizations to solicit charitable donations across at least six states including VA, FL, GA, CT, TX or others,' runs the complaint.

The indictment sets out the results of the FBI investigation into a forgery network 

Rep. Nancy Mace posed for a snap with Fitzgerald at a Trump campaign rally in South Carolina

He and his Legacy PAC hit back seeking $50,000 in damages for what he says are defamatory statements made by Wong after she went public with her allegations. And he in turn accuses her of misconduct, retaining control of their website to vent against him. 

In his resignation statement, he again professed his innocence and said bitter battles with online trolls were putting his family at risk.

'I was cut out for this battle; my family is not,' he said. 'When I took over as political director three vehicles of VFAF members had their brakes tampered with. 

'Recently I have had my home, condo and business addresses doxed with comments clearly encouraging violence toward myself and family with my 80-year-old mother having congestive heart failure.'

And he said Wong could only beat him by dragging up an old conviction.

'What ever you believe about my conviction is not relative to our litigation against Angie Wong, my conviction is her only "defense" to the evidence against her,' he said.