Art dealers have written off about $8 million they paid for stalls at an exhibition which was never held, saying the organiser and their cash have disappeared.
An art agent who recruited exhibitors for the Fine Arts and Antiques Exposition - originally scheduled for May 1998 - says she has been given the cold shoulder by the British organiser.
Gallery owners say they have telephoned and faxed exposition director William Burris in Britain, but have had no response for months.
About 30 dealers in the SAR - and others from as far as New York - are believed to have paid up to $350,000 each to show their wares at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.
They began to fear for their money after Mr Burris faxed them, just days before the show's proposed opening, to say it would be postponed indefinitely.
Agent Yumi Kunizuko said she had recruited dealers who paid large deposits to Mr Burris, but had no idea whether he would return the millions collected.