A missing chunk of Sukamto Sia's high-priced wine collection hits the auction block this morning in California. Sia’s wine collection
goes to auctionBy Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.comThe indicted businessman turned over the bottles last week to his bankruptcy estate, to help pay creditors.
The missing collection was uncovered earlier this year by Guido Giacometti, the trustee appointed to supervise Sia's bankruptcy case. Sia had previously failed to tell Giacometti about the wine.
Sia, former chairman of the now-defunct Bank of Honolulu, filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy protection in Honolulu in November 1998, after his arrest in Las Vegas for bouncing checks in casinos. At the time, Sia said he had $9.3 million in assets and more than $296 million in debts. The bankruptcy case was converted to Chapter 7 liquidation in April 1999.
Giacometti had originally considered going along with a dismissal of the bankruptcy. But in September 1999, Giacometti changed his mind, saying that Sia was not cooperating and had failed to reveal all of his assets.
Sia originally claimed a wine collection that amounted to a few hundred bottles with a total value of $60,000. They were auctioned.
Meanwhile, in the summer of 1999, several thousand pounds of wine bottles were ordered to be shipped to Sia's resident estate in Bel Air, a posh suburb of Los Angeles. Giacometti found the shipping records during a deeper review of Sia's financial records.
Today's invitation-only auction is taking place at the estate in Bel Air.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved the sale last week, without objections from Sia's attorneys. The auction firm had recommended selling the wine as soon as possible because of its storage condition.
Sia has stayed at the Bel Air estate for much of this year with his girlfriend Kelly Randall. Both are awaiting trial in October. Federal prosecutors say Sia ran a complex scheme to commit fraud, which included the double-pledging of the Indonesian investor's stock in the Bank of Honolulu for million-dollar loans.
Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of the $4.5 million estate in Bel Air, which is alleged to have been purchased through Sia's network.
Sia and his associates face 22 federal counts from multiple indictments, including bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
Randall is named in several of the newest charges, which came down in May. Sia and Randall have both pleaded not guilty to all charges.
After a federal grand jury returned the first indictment against Sia a year ago, he was placed in Oahu Community Correctional Center. Sia was later allowed to move to the Bel Air estate to await treatment at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Sia, 42, has said he has a medical condition in his parathyroid gland. Prosecutors are skeptical of the situation. It is unclear whether Sia is still in Los Angeles.
Also charged along with Sia are his two younger brothers, Suwardi and Sumitro Sukamto, who are said to be somewhere in Asia. Warrants were issued for their arrest nearly three months ago, and the U.S. government is trying to locate them.