October 21, 2009
Cash4Gold Hit With a Class-Action lawsuit
The parent company of Cash4Gold has been hit with a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company misrepresented its services and defrauded customers who sent in their jewelry for cash.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two California women. Attorneys representing the case want the court to open the lawsuit to all “who suffered injury from Cash4Gold’s unlawful practices from October 6, 2003 and October 6 2009.”
There are three specific frauds named in the “unlawful behavior” of Cash4Gold’s business practices.
The first is the claim of providing the “highest care” for items mailed to their facility. Plaintiffs claim this is a lie as many items are commonly “lost”. A high degree of care is not exercised and at worse items are intentionally stolen.
The second allegation involves Cash4Gold’s 12 day return policy, in which customers are promised to have their jewelry returned if they are not satisfied with the cash offered.
The lawsuit alleges that return policy is also a lie. It is claimed that Cash4Gold issues the payment checks but mails the checks days later making it impossible for the customer to receive it within the 12-day return policy allotment. It also stated that a lot of the jewelry was already melted down, knowing that the customer had no recourse of having the items returned based on the check mailing schedule.
The third is the creation by Cash4Gold a “customer service” staff that deliberately lies and frustrates customers to support the other two frauds of stealing jewelry and fabricating a bogus return policy.
The plaintiffs are also asking for permanent injunctions against Cash4Gold preventing the company from “utilizing any monies acquired by its unfair business practice, and for compensatory, actual and punitive damages.
Cash4Gold has denied the allegations in a written a response to mailed to the National Jeweler. The company said the suit has no merit and will vigorously defend its case.
Russell Oshita, the diamonddude
The Diamond Specialists Inc.
Diamonds Hawaii
August 12, 2009
$65 Million Heist
Two well-dressed men walked into Graff Diamonds, in London, pulled out guns, took a hostage and escaped with $65 million worth of jewelry.
Two of the 43 stolen items were described as a flower necklace with 272 diamonds and a pair of triple-hoop earrings with 216 gems.
A 50 year old suspect has been arrested, but the second gentlemen and two others who participated in the getaway are still at-large.
In 2003, Graff Diamonds suffered another heist, losing $38 million. Nebojsa Denic, a member of the infamous Pink Panther gang was arrested and convicted for that crime.
June 25, 2009
Pittsburgh Steeler’s Super Bowl XLIII Ring
Have you see the cool ring that the Pittsburgh Steelers received as winners of Super Bowl XLIII?
The players were honored with their rings on June 9, 2009 in a special ceremony.
Each ring has 63 diamonds with a total weight of 3.61 cts.
The (6) larger diamonds represent the number of Super Bowl games that the team has won.
The (14) other diamonds represents (7) conference championships and (7) other division titles.
The red, blue and yellow stones resemble the team’s logo.
One side of the ring has (6) Lombardi trophies with and the final score of 27-23. The other side of the ring has the name of the player, his number, the Steeler’s helmet with logo and the NFL logo.
The league allotted $5000 per ring, however, it has been estimated that the actual production ran over that allotment. The manufacturing company absorbed the extra cost for the bragging rights and future production of related jewelry.
June 19, 2009
De Beers sees early signs of recovery
Ramat Gan, Israel-The Israel Diamond Institute and De Beers participated in Israel’s first “Diamond Town Hall Meeting.” At the meeting Gareth Penny, the De Beers Group Managing Director spoke on the industry and its outlook.
He explained that for the past 120 years the diamond industry has been extremely resilient and noted that after every recession the industry has enjoyed an immediate resurgence.
Penny also said that there have been early signs of a recovery with an increase in demand for rough. He believed that the 2009 holiday season would be stronger than it was last year. However, he did not believe that holiday sales would reach former levels until 2010.
June 18, 2009
Diamond Mining to Restart in Namibia in July
Namdeb is a joint-venture diamond mining operation shared by DeBeers and the government of Namibia. Namdeb halted production at all six of its mines on April 1st, 2009 as part of a DeBeers’ plan to reduce the production of rough diamonds by 40%.
DeBeers has now confirmed that mining will begin again on July 1st.
June 17, 2009
Report: Lohan-loaned jewels missing
London–Diamond jewels worth approximately $410,000 have gone missing after a photo shoot involving actress Lindsay Lohan, her U.S. spokeswoman and British police told Reuters on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Lohan, who is trying to rebound from recent troubles that include a 2007 drink driving conviction, acknowledged the probe. But she told Reuters that there were about 20 people at the photo shoot, Lohan was not being investigated personally and that police had not yet questioned her.
May 5, 2009
Jewelry Store Employee Steals $12 Million In Gold
Hi All!
I thought you might find this article interesting. Jeanne, Sweet Moments
Queens, New York:
Teresa Tambunting pilfered $12 million in fine gold jewelry and bullion over the past six years from her employer, Jacmel Jewelry.
The fifty year old vault manager cut a slit in the lining of her purse and took the pieces out one by one over the six years. The day by day pilfering resulted in her stealing over 500 pounds of gold.
Teresa confessed to her crime, when in January 2009, the company underwent an audit and found that their inventory came up $12 million short. In February, she returned 80 pounds of the stolen property. The other 450 pounds were found stashed at her home.
Why would someone with an annual salary of $165,000 do such a crime? Teresa’s attorney is planning to use obsessive compulsive disorder as her defense.
If convicted Tambunting faces up to 25 years in prison.
