"Unprecedented" Prosecution for Kimberley Process Fraud
October 07, 20
(IDEX Online) - A dealer is facing up to 10 years in prison for attempting to bring diamonds into the USA with bogus Kimberley Process certificates.
Stanley Tipton, 45, from Ohio, admitted violating the Clean Diamond Trade Act in a prosecution that "sets an international precedent," according to the US Attorney's Office.
He told an undercover Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) special agent, posing as a broker, that he could "legitimize" up to 100 carats of smuggled diamonds - by providing what turned out to be fake KPCs (Kimberley Process certificates).
The US Clean Diamond Trade Act prohibits foreign trade in rough diamonds without KPCs.
"This investigation and prosecution sets an international precedent regarding the Clean Diamond Trade Act," said the HIS.
Tipton told the special agent that he had contacts in Tanzania and Namibia and could arrange for the purchase of KPCs to "legitimize" the smuggled diamonds.
He provided one KPC that bore the purported seal of the Guinean Ministry of Mines and Geology, and another that purported to be from the Sierra Leone Ministry of Mineral Resources. Both were fake.
No date has been set for sentencing at the Middle District of Florida federal court.