HOUSTON – The saga of the African Art once stored inside a remodeled Harris County maintenance shed in the precinct of Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis continues with the abrupt cancelation of a highly-anticipated auction.
Early Thursday morning the auction of more than 1,000 pieces of African Art set to go to the highest bidder at 10 a.m. was canceled after the lead attorney involved in the sale received word the owner of the art filed for bankruptcy, “Last night Sam Njunuri filed for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy,” attorney Joe Walker said in a statement.
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Walker goes on to write, “This morning Deputy Bivens informed me that as such the sale has been canceled. Of interest in his filing is his statement that he has between 1 and 10 million (dollars) of assets. Filing for bankruptcy to avoid this auction is like jumping into the Tiger cage at the zoo.”
The reason for the auction in the first place was for the sale to help fulfill a judgment of approximately 1 million dollars according to legal records that Walker was seeking on behalf of his client Darlene Jarrett,
“I will continue to actively fight for Darleen’s and Sylvia’s rights and will leave no stone unturned in doing so,” said Walker.
The series of stories into the African Art is undoubtedly one of the investigations KPRC 2 Investigates hears more about than any other in recent memory: A February 2020 investigation into a massive private African art collection we uncovered secretly stored inside of an old Harris County maintenance shed at the expense of taxpayers.
The shed was completely transformed to store the art at a price tag of $326,000.
The man overseeing it all, Commissioner Rodney Ellis, wasn’t happy with our investigation and refused to answer direct questions on multiple occasions. If you recall, the private collection had only one owner, Sam Njunuri. His business had direct ties to the sister-in-law of Commissioner Ellis.
RELATED: ‘Priceless’ African art without paperwork stored in Harris County-owned maintenance shed
A criminal investigation was launched following KPRC 2 Investigates’ series of reports. In October 2021, a Harris County grand jury declined to indict Ellis for the art without permission.
However, to this day, there is still one question that remains unanswered: Who owns it?
Last October KPRC 2 Investigates found the art inside a corporate office building on the city’s southwest side. Although it’s now in the private sector, there is still a civil battle over who exactly owns all of the art.
Legal records from the civil lawsuit also show that aside from admitting multiple ownership, Njunuri also testified under oath that some of the artwork may have been stolen.
“This is another layer being peeled off the onion of this case, and every time you’ve peeled off a layer you go, ‘Oh, look at this,’” said KPRC 2 Analyst Ed Emmett at the time of our last report, “I think there needs to be a continuing look at what’s going on. This is a story that has never gone away,” added Emmett.
As a result of the new revelations by Njunuri, Emmett believed law enforcement should give the case another look.
Thursday’s auction was slated to be conducted by the office of Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap.