The New York Daily News reported Friday that the rumors are true, Kill Bill star Uma Thurman is engaged to Arpad “Arki” Busson. Thurman’s representative, Stephen Huvane, confirmed to People.com was indeed engaged. The couple also announced the news themselves in an announcement on page 75 of London’s The Times. Continue reading »
Just when you thought you’ve seen it with the bridesmaid auction, another woman has had another auction idea. Deven Traboscia, divorcee and single parent, is auctioning off her home and herself as a package deal on both eBay and Craigslist.org. Traboscia had hoped to have remarried by now, but hasn’t and is now putting herself up for auction. Continue reading »
Twelve years ago, a pair of diamond wedding rings were lost and were nowhere to be found. But on June 30th, 2008 a 10 year old boy, Cameron Delonde, dropped his toothbrush in the toilet and pulled out more than just the toothbrush, but the pair of diamond wedding rings as well. Continue reading »
While most people do not know whom Martin Rapaport is, those in the diamond industry do. He is a man of very high influence. He also produces what is the Rapaport Index. This tool is perhaps one of the most important tools of the diamond market because it helps with diamond pricing for the global industry. He delivered his report earlier this week at the JCK Jewelry Show in Las Vegas. Continue reading »
While many people’s investment portfolios are crumbling with the deflated economy those who own investment diamonds are happy. Investment diamonds continue to hold their value and indeed show significant increases in value over last year. According to a popular auction house the company has seen an increase in demand for good diamond jewelry. Continue reading »
One of the reasons that diamonds are so popular, other than the obvious appeal of their beauty, is that they are a form of currency that is easy to transport and retains its value as an international currency. You can take several million dollars worth of diamonds from Hong Kong to London or New York far easier than you can most other forms of material wealth, such as paintings. It is one of the simplest ways available to take large amounts of wealth with you. Continue reading »
Diamonds come in many different colors although colorless or white diamonds are the most well known. Recently a diamond company reported that it has found some colored diamonds on property located in Quebec, Canada. The discovery is significant because of the rarity of colored diamonds. Colored diamonds are very extraordinary and often demand high prices. Colored diamond prices typically range from 20% to 100% higher prices (depending on color) than white diamonds. Continue reading »
Because diamonds are so precious, owners, dealers and manufacturers religiously protect them. Their rarity is priceless in some situations. If you were like the diamond dealer located in New York, though, you would rather have the money that diamond is worth rather than spending your time selling the diamond. Alternatively, could you do both?In a recent news article that hit the newswires on May 20th, a diamond dealer working in New York decided to report some one million dollars worth of diamonds missing. The lost diamonds were highly valued and the insurance on them was well protecting them. The Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau supposedly reported the fraudulent claim. Imagine contacting your insurance agent and letting them know you lost some $1 million worth of diamonds.
The man’s story is much deeper, though. According to the District Attorney, the man stole the diamonds, more than $3 million in diamonds consigned to him (the alleged thief) from other dealers. With this done, he then claimed that he was the victim of robbery of the diamonds after they had transferred hands. He made a false claim of robbery, according to the police. The robbery never happened.
The District Attorney was able to charge the man with Grand Larceny as well as a few other charges including criminal possession of stolen property, falsely reporting an incident and insurance fraud. Those charges are pending.
How He Did It
You may be wondering which dealers would be willing to give this man $3 million in diamonds. The key thing about this story is that it was not a onetime thing. Rather, the investigation into the incident revealed that the man had contacted and worked with over 45 different dealers of diamonds in the area. Over the course of two months, in the spring of 2007, he was able to get $3 million worth of diamonds from these dealers. He was able to do so without detection of doing anything wrong at the time.
Then, on the 13th of June in 2007, the man who allegedly made the theft happen filed a complaint with the 5th District Police Precinct. He told police his story of what happened. According to him, he was visiting various jewelry stores in the region, which happened to be Canal Street in the Chinatown neighborhood. As he walked through the area, he says someone came up behind him and stole the bag of diamonds. In the bag,he claimed, where $1 million worth of diamonds. The leather bag, as it happened to be, was stolen as the person sprayed pepper spray in his face. Because of the spraying of the pepper spray, the diamond thief never saw the person’s face and therefore could not provide a sketch or any information about what the individual looked like.
From here, he filed a claim with the insurance company in which he had a policy that covered him from robbery of the diamonds. The insurance policy, though designed to provide for robbery, only provided a $100,000 limit. Prosecutors said the man told them that the diamonds that were stolen were valued quite a bit higher than that amount. The man then provided both the insurance company as well as the police with a consignment memorandum that showed the diamonds he had in his possession, supposedly.
Then They Catch Him
While he might have gotten away with his crime, he did himself in when police arrived at his home, which also was the home of his parents. Policed searched there and other locations. When they approached his parent’s home, police saw the man run into the bedroom and into his bedroom closet. When they found him there, he has four diamonds in his possession. In addition, they found more than $12,000 worth of cash in the closet. A thorough investigation of the home revealed another four diamonds, though the values of those diamonds have not been determined.
The diamonds that were within the home were not all diamonds that he claimed someone to have stolen. Two of them, though, were. Detectives determined that the two diamonds were those that matched the consignment memoranda that he has provided to detectives. The diamonds that he claimed someone had stole were in fact those that he was selling, allegedly, out of his home.
Police will continue to investigate the case. There is still concern about the remaining missing diamonds and the discrepancy between what area dealers say he received in terms of diamonds. As the investigation continues, there is no doubt that more information will be uncovered about the case.
Diamond insurance fraud of this scale is rare, but because so many details were misguided here, there is no doubt that police will determine the result with assurance.
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In a press release issued on May 19th by the GIA, Geological Institute of America, the date of the 18th Annual Jewelry Career Fair was announced. According to the press release, the event will take place on Friday, July 25th 2008. The event will be at the lavish Jacob Javits Center in New York City. While this may not mean much to those purchasing diamonds, a significant event will affect those that work in the industry. Continue reading »
