NY Police Arrest Russians Suspected Of Defrauding Diamond Firms Of $9 Million

(IDEX Online) – New York police have arrested a group of Russian men suspected of defrauding merchants in New York, Las Vegas and Mumbai out of more than $9 million in diamonds.

Investigators said the members of the group, under investigation since 2015, wrote bad checks, forged documents and used other methods to convince wholesalers to give them diamonds on a promise to pay on delivery, according to ABC7NY.

The men made off with millions of dollars in diamonds and left the victims high and dry, according to court records. The diamonds were then resold in the Diamond District in Manhattan.

To avoid detection, the group focused on melee diamonds due to the difficulty in tracing them.

The report named the 12 suspects charged as: Godel Sezanayev, AKA "Gary", Mark Mullakandov, Albert Foozailov, Imanil Muratov, AKA "Eddy", Manashe Sezanayev, AKA "Michael", Nathan Itzchaki, Arkadiy Israilov, Ali Javidnezhad, Mark Natanzon, Sholom Muratov, Menachem Abramov, and Nizamuden Akbari

"Centered in Manhattan's diamond district, America's busiest hub in the diamond trade, the defendants allegedly took advantage of an industry-wide system of credit and trust to obtain largely untraceable diamonds, and then, using various allegedly illegal schemes, refused to pay," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said. "We commend our law enforcement partners for their work in shutting this alleged criminal scheme down for good."

The suspects were expected to appear in court in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday.