Who is Mykalai Kontilai?
Michael Contile, 55, of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States now goes by Mykalai Kontilai. A former resident of New York City, New York, USA, he was a broadcast executive before he became an entrepreneur.
Based in Las Vegas and incorporated in California, USA, Kontilai’s company Collector’s Coffee Inc. did business as Collector’s Café or Collector’s Coffee. He claimed that the company was on the verge of launching an online auction house for third-party owned collectibles, such as Hollywood and sport memorabilia.
From 2012 to 2018, Kontilai made or caused to be made numerous materially false and misleading representations to induce victims to invest in the company and told them the investor funds would be used for legitimate business purposes. When he was engaged in this scheme, he failed to file tax returns for tax years 2015 through 2018.
As a result of the scheme, Kontilai successfully raised around $23 million from the investors. Instead of using the proceeds as represented, he stole for $6.1 million for his own personal use, including for the purchase of apartments, vehicles and luxury goods.
In 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started investigating Kontilai for misappropriating investor funds. To obstruct the investigation, he forged documents that he caused to be transmitted to the agency and lied under oath to the agency.
While under investigation, Kontilai fled to Russia. On March 10, 2020, he was charged in Colorado, USA with conspiracy to obstruct proceedings, tampering with documents, two counts of obstruction of proceedings and two counts of false statements.
On June 3, 2020, Kontilai was charged in Nevada with securities fraud, money transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity, four counts of willful failure to file tax returns, six counts of wire fraud and six counts of laundering of money instruments. In 2023, he was arrested in Germany on an Interpol Red Notice.
In May 2024, Kontilai was extradited back to the U.S. The charges filed against him in Colorado were dismissed as part of a plea agreement he signed on September 7, 2024.
On November 21, 2024, Kontilai pleaded guilty to wire fraud. On December 4, 2024, he was sentenced in Las Vegas to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $6.1 million in restitution
CONAN Daily 