Former New York Giants linebacker Blake Martinez abruptly retired from the NFL in November of 2022. The announcement came just one month after he had signed with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Martinez later revealed that the decision came following the sale a rare Pokémon card for more than $650,000. He then dove head-first into the hobby, amassing more than $5 million in just seven months.
“Every single day when I wake up, my shoulder doesn’t hurt and my back doesn’t hurt anymore,” Martinez said at the time, via CNBC. “When all that hurts are my fingers from opening, like, 1,000 packs of cards per day, I think, ‘I’m going to keep doing this.'”
Martinez quickly opened multiple warehouses and established “Blake’s Breaks,” an entity that employed more than 20 people and livestreamed Pokémon card openings for 16 hours a day.
A little under the year mark, Martinez’s total sales had reportedly eclipsed $11 million.
However, things took a turn for the worst on Friday when Whatnot, a popular marketplace application, permanently banned “Blake’s Breaks” and all of their individual employees, alleging “misconduct.”
We have refunded all buyers impacted by the infractions. If you believe you were affected by an incident on his streams, please submit the details here, and we will investigate: https://t.co/u1qXaCUgIF
— Whatnot (@Whatnot) August 4, 2023
Whatnot did not provide specific details into what was discovered during their investigation, but Pokémon YouTuber “Rattle Pokemon” published an eight-part series breaking down what he believed to be scams carried out by Martinez and Blake’s Breaks.
Prior to his Whatnot ban, Martinez did offer an apology of sorts, acknowledging that the “optics” of one of his team’s breaks did not look good.
“I understand the optics,” Martinez said. “I understand how it looks, trust me. I know the type of business I run. I know the type of decisions I made across the board.
“I made a good amount of money — everybody knows, in the NFL — I knew stepping into this was going to have a target on my back.
“I know people that come in here, spend their hard-earned money that they could spend elsewhere — and I want this to be a safe space. I’m definitely going to take this as a learning experience … and I’m going to make an improvement.”
Martinez said the person (“Snee”) who ran the break that initially raised red flags had “no ill intent whatsoever” but would no longer be running breaks for his company. That same person also offered an apology of their own.
Martinez has not yet addressed the Whatnot ban publicly or the allegations by Rattle Pokemon, who invited Martinez onto his platform to discuss the accusations, Whatnot ban and the seemingly shady behavior.
