Anchorage Daily News

A bankruptcy auction of Mark Avery's belongings is scheduled for December, and it's not your normal neighborhood garage sale.

Click to enlarge

Avery

Story tools

Comment on this story

E-mail a friend

Print

Digg this

Seed Newsvine

Send link via AIM

Font size : A | A | A

While no military jets are on the auction blocks just yet, hundreds of household items will be for sale along with jewelry, vehicles and some unusual fare. One lot for sale includes handcuffs, drug-test kits, a box of purple gloves, a sign that says "Hard Hat Area" and another that shows a woman flexing her muscle with the words "We Can Do It!"

Avery is the embattled former owner of air charter and medevac business Security Aviation. He also owned a string of other businesses including a prisoner monitoring service.

Trustees who oversee a private trust fund that belonged to a now-dead wealthy widow have accused former colleague Avery in San Francisco court papers of spending more than $50 million from the fund. They say he used it to buy Security, then stock it and other businesses with Gulfstream executive jets, helicopters and military fighter jets. They also contend he spent $1.8 million for items that are personal or can't be explained. For now, the trustees have control of Security Aviation. They want to get the money back.

On Oct. 23, Avery filed a petition in Anchorage to liquidate his assets through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. Business assets will be sold as well as personal goods, said Terry Draeger, Avery's bankruptcy attorney. Quick sales are normal in liquidation cases, he said.

The bankruptcy petition provides a glimpse into Avery's taste and spending. Auctioneers with Alaska Auction Co. say they are still collecting and inventorying the goods and plan a series of auctions starting in December.

"It's going to be huge," said Duane Hill, who along with his wife, Christine, owns the auction house.

Shoppers can place pre-bids online for hundreds of items.

Nothing terribly extravagant was posted as of Monday afternoon. Furniture, computers, jewelry and vehicles are still to come, the Hills said. Some of the vehicles are "outrageous," as in "really, really, really nice," Christine Hill said. They include a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX sports car, a monster truck with a Duramax diesel engine, a Mercedes SUV, Suburbans, even ambulances. A paramedic training school was one of Avery's businesses.

Many of the auction items will fit right in any Alaska household: a survival kit with snow probes and hand warmers. Fishing poles and tackle boxes. Whale baleen. A survival suit, still in the bag. Sorel snow boots. A Carhartt jacket, 2XL. A Rubbermaid box with gun cleaning tools. Drills, saws, hammers and wrenches. Gun cases.

There's copper cookware and mixers, a flat-screen television and a Mickey Mouse TV, and a duffle bag containing medical equipment along with a couple of Red Ledge and North Face coats.

Alaska Auction Co. has tentatively scheduled the first auction for Dec. 2 but is still awaiting approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Court so may push that back a week or two. The auctioneers plan to sell Avery's vehicles in January.

It's not clear what will happen to Avery's planes and boats, Duane Hill said. His collection of weapons is being sold separately.

Security Aviation and Avery's top aide, Rob Kane, were indicted in February on federal weapons charges, accused of possessing rocket launchers that could have been used with the military jets. A jury acquitted them.

A criminal investigation involving Security Aviation is continuing, federal prosecutors say.

Daily News reporter Lisa Demer can be reached at ldemer@adn.com and 257-4390.

• Two duffle bags full of Roller Blades

• Panasonic flat screen television

• Brand-new birthday cake ornament

• Plastic tub full of fishing gear

• Box with gun cleaning tools, pipe cleaners, gun oils