A man from Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced for his part in a $6.1 million investor fraud scheme.
According to a Justice Department report, Mykalai Kontilai, formerly Michael Contile, 55, of Las Vegas, was given a custodial sentence of 51 months in prison for his role in the scheme.
He was extradited from Germany as part of a joint effort by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)’s Phoenix Field Office investigated and announced the Kontilai/Contile case.
Las Vegas man sees jail time for $6.1 million investor fraud
Kontilai/Contile was alleged to have run an investment fraud scheme from his company, Collector’s Coffee Inc., doing business as Collector’s Café, based in Las Vegas, but was incorporated in California.
The court heard that from “2012 to 2018, Kontilai made or caused to be made numerous materially false and misleading representations to induce victims to invest in Collector’s Coffee — a company he claimed was on the verge of launching an online auction house for third-party owned collectibles, such as Hollywood and sport memorabilia.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began noticing Kontilai/Contile’s movements in 2017 after he raised $23 million from Collector’s Coffee investors.
The SEC recorded that Kontilai/Contile knowingly submitted false and misleading statements, obstructed their investigation and lied under oath.
Kontilai was charged in connection with this conduct on June 3, 2020, and in a separate case in the District of Colorado on March 10, 2020. He fled to Russia while he was under investigation but had not yet been charged in a court of law.
The United States authorities issued an Interpol Red Notice on Kontilai/Contile and he was arrested in Germany in 2023. Due to the aforementioned efforts of German and American authorities he would be extradited to face charges in May 2023.
He will now be serving out a 51-month sentence for the money he swindled in the region of “$6.1 million for his own personal use, including for the purchase of luxury goods, apartments, and vehicles.”
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