Rene Hajas of Auction North America is surprised at how many items are involved. “We work directly for the Civil Enforcement Agency,” he said. “We went and removed two households with a large warehouse and we didn’t go out until four in the morning, just because of the sheer volume of stuff.” Hajas says it took hours to arrange everything and then photograph and document it all for the auction. There are over 3,000 lots up for grabs. “Everything he bought — 98 percent was a valuable asset, it’s collectible,” he said. “I mean, they only made so many of these – there’s only going to be so many around. If he collected pins, he had hundreds of them. It’s amazing how much this person has collected over the years.” The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) says Felgate allegedly raised more than $2 million from 11 investors through fraudulent methods between January 2015 and the summer of 2018. His case is still before the courts and the ASC cannot comment specifically, but says its mandate is to protect investors and encourage a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta. The commission is currently working to collect fines from Felgate totaling nearly $100,000. The ASC says that in appropriate cases it will try to recover funds or other assets that have been transferred in an attempt to hide assets from being seized and sold. It says any proceeds recovered through Civil Enforcement Act processes and sold at auction are held and shared among all creditors. Felgate’s next trial is scheduled for September 16, and his trial is currently set to begin on January 9. Hajas says there are deals to be made at the unconditional auction, and ultimately the people who bid set the prices. “Some of these pieces haven’t been traded in a while because there’s only so many of them (there are),” he said. “It’s called a collection, it’s not a sale, so it’s rare when that happens when you’re actually selling so many different collectibles. There’s going to be a lot of happy buyers.” More information about the auction is available at www.naa.bid.
