The New York Giants are jumping to Eli Manning's defense against allegations he tried to defraud sports collectors into buying game used helmets that weren't really game used.
Background -- the Giants, Manning and other are being sued by 3 sports memorabilia dealers who claim the star QB was part of a racketeering scheme.
The lawsuit alleged Manning had a contractual obligation with a major NY sports dealer to provide game used helmets ... but tried to weasel his way out of it by using fakes.
In fact, the dealers submitted very old emails from Eli's AOL account to a Giants equipment manager which they claim reference the scam, according to the NY Post.