For many years, we have pleaded in these columns that no government should pass diamond industry specific anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) legislation without consultation with the industry. We feared more Belgium-type situations where the rules are so out-of-tune with accepted industry... Read More...

Forget about all the juicy stuff going on in the London High Court case (Jayam N.V. versus DTC), which includes admissions by the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) that it had provided wrong information to the Ombudsman, had used extraneous data in its allocation process (outside of the Sightholder profile), and that its legal department was caught unaware of the facts... Read More...

During the past few days, Antwerp and New York have demonstrated something about the ocean-sized gap that exists between the respective diamond and jewelry industries and their regulators who enforce anti-money laundering laws. In Antwerp, in the so-called Monstrey Worldwide Services courier case, a dozen diamond offices were raided, close to 10 people were arrested, and goods and records were seized; some 40 detectives participated in the action. According to newspaper reports, “the anti... Read More...

The place and time: This past Tuesday night at 10:00 pm, the El Al lounge at Heathrow Airport, London. The people: a handful of diamond industry earthlings, plus yours truly, who either were not privileged to attend that evening’s annual DTC dinner with clients or who, for other reasons, chose not to go. The activity: receiving “live” cell phone reports on the actual tidings emanating from. Read More...

Fabrikant’s eight main U.S. secured lenders have all, in separate and unrelated actions, sold their debts to five different hedge funds that specialize in investing in bankruptcies and distressed companies. The total amount involved is $161.9 million of debt, which was sold for approximately $85 to $90 million. This amount, from a banker’s perspective, was much better than they expected. Read More...

The New Year has arrived – heralding in a year of transition for De Beers, the DTC, their Sightholders, and the rest of the market. The Supplier of Choice marketing mechanism, as we know it today, will expire on December 31, 2007. It has outlived its era. It has become yesterday’s strategy. Thus the year 2007 will become (and must become) a year of transition, planning and “getting... Read More...

With 2007 fast approaching, many of us are wondering what will the next year bring? Some answers to that question are obvious: De Beers will drop Supplier of Choice and replace it with something else; the reduced intake (and obligations to support beneficiation in African countries) will lead to a dramatically reduced DTC client list; the liquidity and synthetic issues... Read More...

Belgian diamantaires revalued (upwards) their diamond inventories this week by at least $2.5 to $3 billion. They paid an additional tax of some $100 to $130 million before leaving town for the season’s holidays or for Indian weddings. This “tax amnesty” (or “one-time inventory revaluation,” which is the industry’s preferred term and is technically correct) was agreed upon... Read More...

The Supplier of Choice (SoC) Ombudsman has ruled that the DTC is in contractual breach with its long-time client Jayam N.V. As the alleged infringement applies to each and every Sightholder, a “guilty verdict” in the current lawsuit Jayam filed against the DTC may set off a flood of new lawsuits. De Beers is confident... Read More...

A phone call in the middle of the week from a friend in London urged me to reread an article that we had written some three and a half years ago, which was around the time Supplier of Choice officially started. In this particular article, many things were predicted for the diamond industry, such as the lack of liquidity in the industry, bankruptcy of a major sightholder, the lack of success... Read More...