Ex-NFL player Blake Martinez shifted his interest to another industry last year. After successfully selling a Pokemon card in 2022, the former New York Giants linebacker decided to call it a career and retire from professional football for good. Martinez went on to continue his card trading business and established a company called Blakes Breaks. However, Blake Martinez and his whole company are about to go down after they were banned from the online marketplace/trading platform called Whatnot after Blakes Breaks was found out to be scamming buyers. Know about the full story below.
Last year, NFL 2016 4th-round pick Blake Martinez made headlines after retiring from professional football at just the age of 28
In seven seasons, Martinez played for the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and Las Vegas Raiders. In that span of his career, he made a pretty huge amount of $28.9 million in salaries. But, in the pandemic, he would find himself dedicating his time to buying, selling, and trading Pokemon cards. Yep, you read that right, Pokemon cards. It also helped that a lot of people were into that stuff that became a trend in 2020. However, after he bagged more than $600,000 after selling a rare Pikachu TCG card, Blake Martinez hung his boots and ended his 7-year NFL career.
Congrats on your retirement, @big__blake50! And good luck on your new journey. ☠️ pic.twitter.com/GeNF5Ej3H6
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 10, 2022
Safe to say that he chose the pain-free path by choosing the Pokemon cards. So far, his company Blakes Breaks has made $11.5 Million in just a year of operations, which is very impressive. They have been on the market for selling rare Pokemon cards including some of the most expensive ones. Unfortunately for Martinez, he would make the headlines again for the wrong reasons. Blakes Breaks are reportedly banned on Whatnot, a social marketplace where various types of communities gather around. One of which is the Pokemon card trading industry.
Whatnot issues a statement banning Blake Martin’s Blakesbreaks on their platform
After days of investigation, Whatnot finally drops the axe and bans Blakebreaks on their platform. On their official Twitter account, they have decided to remove Blake Martinez’s company from the online marketplace.
“We really appreciate the community’s commitment to reporting trust & safety issues. Our priority is ensuring a fair and honest experience for customers and upholding our community guidelines. After a comprehensive investigation into Blakesbreaks’ operations we have decided to permanently remove the seller from our platform, including the individual employees involved in misconduct.”
We really appreciate the community’s commitment to reporting trust & safety issues. Our priority is ensuring a fair and honest experience for customers and upholding our community guidelines. After a comprehensive investigation into Blakesbreaks’ operations we have decided to…
— Whatnot (@Whatnot) August 4, 2023
Additionally, Whatnot promised to refund all the buyers who were involved in the incident. Surprisingly, Whatnot did not disclose the real reason why Blakes Breaks is banned. But, internet investigators speculated that this is due to the scam Blakesbreaks have been doing relentlessly in the past.
Is Blake Martinez scamming people? What really happened?
Evidence such as recorded videos of Blakes Breaks allegedly scamming Pokemon card buyers has spread on the internet like wildfire. In Whatnot, sellers can put their products via stream for all the buyers to see. In that manner, both parties may communicate in the stream for a possible transaction. These videos are circulating everywhere and you can find them in a Whatnotapp subreddit discussion. Also, YouTuber Rattle Pokemon made a video exposing the Blakes Breaks scam.
If we look closely at the videos, we can notice that Blakes Breaks are switching Pokemon card packets. Redditors’ theories are like these:
- Blakes Breaks’ employees switch the packet with their desired content to make more money. Instead of selling rare cards, they get away with selling the usual stuff.
- They open the packs to see what is inside. Then, they reseal it with the help of their 20-strong employees.
- Basically, Blakes Breaks generate thousands of dollars by scamming Pokemon card traders
- According to various sources, this has been going on for quite some time.
In a now-deleted video, Blake Martinez made a public apology but did not address the issue
About a week ago, Blake Martinez released a public apology via his stream. The 29-year-old former athlete even cried on the video saying that “it wasn’t about money”. Unfortunately for him, his former clients did not believe in his tactics. As of this writing, Blake Martinez and the Blakes Breaks company are yet to issue an official statement.
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