A Texas judge has ordered the owner of a controversy-riddled African art collection to surrender one or two valuable objects to settle an outstanding legal debt of nearly $1 million. The court-order follows two temporary restraining orders issued by the same Harris county judge halting planned auctions of the mysterious collection, which has been at the center of a years-long police investigation that’s involved Houston taxpayers and the county commissioner.
The collection of 1,400 African artifacts of unclear provenance is owned by real estate agent Sam Njunuri. The auctions were planned to settle debts that Njunuri owed Darlene Jarrett and Sylvia Jones, former tenants who allege that Njunuri changed the locks and removed their belongings while they were vacationing in 2015. The couple sued Njunuri in 2021, with a jury ruling in their favor. Njunuri was ordered to pay Jarrett and Jones $990,000 in damages. Njunuri intended to pay them back with the profits made from an auction of his art collection, but a bankruptcy filing in April put an indefinite stop to those plans.
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Meanwhile, investigators have attempted to uncover the origins of Njunuri’s prodigious collection, the existence of which was only publicly broadcast in 2020. That year, KPRC 2, a Houston media outlet, discovered via a tip a discreet shed decorated with high-end security cameras and surrounded by an electronic gate. Inside were hundreds of African artifacts, of varying origin. A subsequent investigation found the shed had been converted with taxpayer money into an art storage facility to the price tag of $326,000. The facility was later revealed to be owned by Harris County and is located in Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis’ precinct.
“A lot of money got spent on a building, clearly to make it so that it could be used to store this art collection,” Former Harris County Judge and KPRC 2 Analyst Ed Emmett said in a statement. “The art collection doesn’t belong to the county. The art collection wasn’t even on loan to the county.”
In 2021, local reporters linked the shed to Njunuri, the owner of African Art Global. A connection was also established between the company and the sister-in-law of Ellis. Two criminal investigations were launched by Harris County District Attorney’s public integrity investigators, during which a Harris County grand jury declined to indict Ellis for his involvement. Njunuri has admitted to owning some of the artworks and has testified under oath that a portion of the collection may have been stolen.
The FBI has determined that a federal crime was not committed, however as of April, investigators are pursuing paperwork to authenticate the collection’s ownership.
