Mykalai Kontilai purchased the physical copies of Jackie Robinson’s first pro contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Montreal Royals for $2 million in 2013. By then, he had already built a reputation for leaving behind troubled companies with unpaid debts. But it was his next act, a blatant years-long fraud, that had him in front of a federal judge Wednesday facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Kontilai, 55, was ultimately sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $6.1 million in restitution after pleading guilty to wire fraud two weeks ago. Other charges in the criminal indictment included securities fraud, money laundering and “willful failure to file tax returns for his alleged participation in an investment fraud scheme.”
Kontilai leveraged his claim to the Robinson contracts, which have since been seized by the U.S. Marshals Service, to raise upwards of $23 million in the name of a start-up e-commerce auction business called Collector’s Coffee, Inc. (CCI). The Robinson contracts, which Kontilai falsely told investors were worth up to $36 million, served as a key part of a fraudulent business plan Kontilai used to lure investors into transmitting money to CCI.
He subsequently misappropriated $6.1 million of such funds for his own personal use, which included purchasing a Cadillac with a license plate that read, “MYKALAI,” paying for private school tuition, and renting luxury homes across the United States — all meant to portray a “lavish lifestyle.”
In a federal indictment, prosecutors alleged Kontilai, “misled banks to steal investor funds from corporate accounts; lied to the SEC about his misappropriation of investor funds; and concealed the proceeds of his scheme from the Internal Revenue Service.”
Kontilai sought asylum in Russia — claiming to be a whistleblower — in 2019 after the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had launched respective criminal and civil investigations. Kontilai was arrested on an Interpol Red Notice in Germany last year and eventually extradited to the U.S. in May.
Criminal indictments brought against Kontilai in Nevada and Colorado collectively carried a maximum sentence of 300 years in prison, before he entered a Nov. 21 plea deal that reduced the maximum possible sentence to 20 years and required $6.1 million in restitution. Charges in Colorado were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
The SEC’s civil case remains ongoing, pending an agreement that will resolve ownership of the Robinson contracts. The SEC suggested in March that Kontilai pay $50 million in penalties.
(Photo of Robinson and Branch Rickey at Robinson’s 1950 contract signing: PhotoQuest / Getty Images)
