The most valuable contracts in sports history remain in the hands of federal authorities as a settlement over Jackie Robinson's 1945 and 1947 paperwork is expected to be formally reached in the coming months.
Mykalai Kontilai, the man who bought Robinson's first professional baseball contracts for $2 million in 2013, was recently found guilty of securities and wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison.
A final judgment entered last month in federal court gave Kontilai 30 days to pay a civil penalty of $23.3 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Collectors Cafe, a proposed online auction platform Kontilai raised money for, with the contracts being the sole collateral, owes $24.5 million.
The payments were due last Sunday. Cllct reached out to an SEC spokesman to see if the money had been paid. There was no immediate response.
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As Kontilai's scheme to defraud investors unraveled, he tried to sell the contracts through Goldin Auctions in 2017, but the Dodgers asserted the team owned the contracts and had transferred rights to the Jackie Robinson Foundation for display at its museum in New York.
Whether the Dodgers actually owned the contracts was of serious debate. In 2023, the foundation sought summary judgment to have the courts grant rights to the paperwork. A judge refused to do so because, he argued, the Dodgers abandoned the documents for nearly seven decades, seemingly without caring.
In the 1950s, the team gave the contracts to the Brooklyn Hall of Records, and the documents eventually found their way to St. Francis College in Brooklyn. At some point, one of the caretakers at St. Francis, Arthur Konop, took possession of the contracts, according to court documents.
In 2012, three years after Konop died, his family sold the contracts to an auction house for $750,000. The winner then resold the historic papers to Kontilai.
On April 4, all parties had a call to further discuss a proposed settlement. In it, the Robinson Foundation would give up its claim to Robinson's 1945 Montreal Royals contract in exchange for ownership of his 1947 contract with the Dodgers. Robinson's Royals contract would then go to auction, and the proceeds used to settle the case.
The investors in Collectors Cafe — who smartly required Kontilai to link their investment with the contracts — would get 72.5% of the funds from the auction, and the SEC would receive 24.2%. Goldin Auctions would get the remaining 3.3%.
The Royals contract is likely worth in the $4 million to $6 million range. Robinson's historic contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers is worth significantly more.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.