Diamonds have long been connected to heists, thefts, and so on because they are so gorgeous and worth so much money. The rarer the diamond, the more people wanting to get their hands on it. A dealer from the Manhattan Diamond District in New York has found himself in serious trouble, facing criminal charges after being accused by various business associates of stealing more than $3 million worth of diamonds.
Last June, the dealer by the name of Alfred Avi Taub claimed he had been mugged, and from his person, someone stole more than $1 million of precious diamonds. However, the value of missing diamonds has proven to be much greater and some 45 other diamond and precious gem dealers who had consigned stones to Taub state he is nothing but a rotten thief.
Only 29 years of age, Taub, who is originally from Long Beach and Long Island, faced the court this past week and pled not guilty. The charges against Taub include several serious crimes: insurance fraud, grand larceny, and a number of other charges. The Judge, Justice Kirke Bartley of the State Supreme Court in New York put a bail of $100,000.
Taub’s story last summer when he had the $1 million of diamonds stolen said he had been going around to different jewelry stores in Chinatown with the stones in a leather bag. As he was walking around, a man approached him from behind, sprayed him with mace, grabbed the bag and took off. Because of the pepper spray, Taub claimed he was not able to get a visual on the attacker.
After the supposed attack, a claim was filed with the insurance company. To support the diamond value, Taub provided consignment documents. Then just two weeks after Taub claimed to have been attacked, detectives from the New York Police Department obtained a search warrant and upon entering his home, found Taub hiding in a bedroom closet. Along with Taub were four diamonds and over $12,000 in cash.
As detectives continued the search of the home, they found four additional diamonds, two of them being the very stones claimed to have been stolen. While all this was occurring, Taub and his father were being sued by 45 dealers who had given Taub consignment stones. In this past week’s court hearing, it was disclosed that Taub had left the country going to Israel, taking with him 70 diamonds from these dealers.
Arguments went back and forth that Taub was a huge flight risk but the defense lawyer reminded the judge that Taub had come back to the states on his own. There is still much information needing to be considered and the lawsuit is pending. As far as the criminal case, Taub is currently being held on bond and it will be quite some time before this goes to trial. With a lot of evidence against this Manhattan diamond dealer, things do not look good for his future.
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