Online shoppers will get a chance to bid on everything from ornate horse show shirts to a football autographed by NFL Hall of Famer-turned-horseman Terry Bradshaw when assets once belonging to convicted embezzler Rita Crundwell go to auction on Oct. 20.

In 2012, a federal grand jury in Illinois indicted Crundwell for misappropriating more than $53 million in funds from the City of Dixon, Illinois, where she had served as comptroller since the 1980s. Federal law enforcement agents later charged her with one count of wire fraud. Under a plea deal, Crundwell admitted to stealing the funds and using them to finance her Quarter Horse breeding business, horse show attendance, and other equestrian activities. She also agreed that she owed the City of Dixon $53,740,394 in restitution. Crundwell was subsequently sentenced to serve more than 19 years in federal prison. She continues to serve her sentence at the Waseca Federal Correctional Institute, in Minnesota. 

Crundwell’s assets, including horses and collected stallion semen, were sold at auction. In May, a federal judge allowed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to seize about 700 of Crundwell’s personal items, including horse show-related clothing (chaps, shirts, vests, breeches, pants, boots, and spurs). 

Those assets will be sold Oct. 20 through Nov. 3 during an online auction, said DOJ Chief Inspector Jason Wojdylo