10 held for duping people in US, India of $9 million

New York, April 6 : Ten persons have been arrested and two others charged for allegedly duping persons in New York, Las Vegas and Mumbai to the tune of over $9 million through fraudulent diamond trade.
Godel Sezanayev, Mark Mullakandov, Albert Foozailov, Imanil Muratov, Manashe Sezanayev, Nathan Itzchaki, Arkadiy Israilov, Ali Javidnezhad, Mark Natanzon, Sholom Muratov, Menachem Abramov and Nizamuden Akbari were arrested for defrauding diamond traders of more than $9 million, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon Kim said. Two others named Javidnezhad and Akbari are absconding and have been charged, he said.
“Centered in Manhattan’s diamond district, America’s busiest hub in the diamond trade, the defendants allegedly took advantage of an industrywide system of credit and trust to obtain largely untraceable diamonds, and then, using various allegedly illegal schemes, refused to pay,” Kim said.
Since in or about 2015, the FBI has been investigating a series of predatory frauds perpetrated by a group of diamond merchants in the city. This group swindles diamond wholesalers in a variety of ways, and then resells the ill-gotten diamonds through Manhattan’s diamond district.
From at least January 2015 to November 2016, the defendants deployed an ad hoc strategy to obtain as much of the diamond inventory from the victims as possible without full payment, the attorney said.The defendants also induced numerous victims in Mumbai to send diamonds by interstate carrier by purporting to agree to payment terms that they had no intention to, and did not, honour. The defendants caused these victims losses in excess of $7.44 million, Kim said.
According to the complaint, the victims in Mumbai worked in diamond wholesale businesses in and around the Indian city.