RAPAPORT. Indian dealer Nehal Modi was charged Friday with grand larceny for allegedly stealing $1.4 million in diamonds from a New York wholesaler in a multipart scam.
In March 2015, Modi the brother of infamous Indian jeweler Nirav Modi borrowed nearly $800,000 worth of diamonds from LLD Diamonds for a purported deal with Costco, prosecutors said Friday in a court filing. However, instead of selling those diamonds to Costco, Modi pawned them for a short-term loan, according to the document.
Modi allegedly returned to LLD three times between April and May 2015, and took approximately $1.1 million in diamonds he said were for sale to Costco. He paid back some of the funds owed to LLD, but spent the majority on personal items, the prosecution noted. Modi purportedly told the wholesaler the rest of the payments were late due to a “Costco fulfillment error,” and promised to pay the rest back soon.
About the data: Belgium is usually a net exporter of polished diamonds. As such,
net polished exports representing polished exports minus polished imports will normally be a positive number. The nation has historically been a net importer of rough, though in recent years, it has often been a net rough exporter. While Antwerp is still home to some high-value manufacturing, its main role in the market is as a facilitator of rough-diamond trading, with companies from around the world coming to the city to buy rough. The
net diamond account is total rough and polished exports minus total imports. It is Belgium’s diamond trade balance, and shows the added value the nation creates by exporting rough or manufacturing it into polished.
RAPAPORT. What if the pandemic presents the largest growth opportunity the jewelry industry has
ever seen? Covid-19 and lockdowns have effectively wiped out in-person shopping, but they’ve also forced the jewelry industry as a whole to embrace e-commerce. The resulting data, if used correctly, can result in a long-overdue industry-wide recalibration that will dramatically improve efficiency and transform the customer experience to be more in line with the expectations of today’s consumer.
“Big data” is the most recent buzzword consultants are touting as the silver bullet for helping retailers predict customer behavior, gain marketing insights to boost sales, make accurate inventory projections, and increase customer satisfaction. Oxford Languages defines “big data” as “extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.”
RAPAPORT. A Canadian court has consented to Dominion Diamond Mines’ sale of its Ekati site and most of its assets to two of its bondholders.
Under the agreement, DDJ Capital Management and Brigade Capital Management are set to acquire “substantially all” of the miner’s assets, except for its 40% stake in the Diavik mine, which it shares with Rio Tinto. In return, the purchasers will assume a number of Dominion’s liabilities, other than those owed to the Diavik joint venture, and will grant Dominion $70 million in working capital, the miner said Monday.
The approval was an important step toward restarting Ekati by January 29, the cutoff by which Dominion needs to begin operations so it can transport supplies using the 400-kilometer ice road that only opens for two months a year. It follows a failed attempt to sell to affiliates of its owner, the Washington Companies.
RAPAPORT. Mountain Province reported strong sales during the fourth quarter, noting that rough prices surpassed pre-Covid-19 levels in most categories.
Revenue for the final three months of the year reached $61.7 million, the Canada-based mining company said Thursday. That represented an increase of 25% compared to the same period a year earlier. Sales volume grew 24% to 956,348 carats, while the average price achieved grew 1% to $65 per carat. Full-year revenue fell 18% to an estimated $171.2 million, according to Rapaport records.
“The diamond industry has faced immense challenges during 2020, so to end the year with such a strong sales performance is very encouraging,” said Mountain Province CEO Stuart Brown. “Rough diamond prices in the larger and better qualities have been exceptional, and pleasingly we saw further improvement in the smaller and lower-quality diamonds, which we believe will continue to strengthen in 2021.”