Bankruptcy auction sells Vaughan items

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Going, going... Well, almost gone. Items belonging to bankrupt real estate tycoon and accused Ponzi scheme Doug Vaughan are up for bidding.

His extravagant personal items went sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Sheraton Uptown in an auction conducted by Bentley & Associates .

Some of the items up for the public auction include a $32,000 snooker table, $8,000 24k gold hourglass filled with diamonds and a $10,000 executive desk. Despite the estimated value of the items, they could go for any price as it is a public auction.

Part of the money will go to cover the costs of the auction. The rest will be split - 65-percent to Vaughan himself and 35 percent to the investors who lost $70 million when his empire collapsed last year.

Vaughan declared personal and business bankruptcy. He was indicted in February on 30 federal counts of fraud and other charges, and a civil complaint from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission accuses him of selling unregistered securities.

Investors gave Vaughan money they believed would be used in real estate investments. Instead, according to the SEC and the indictment, Vaughan ran a classic Ponzi scheme where money from new investors covered dividends to earlier investors while Vaughan pocketed the difference.