Staff Posed as Customers as Jeweler Collapsed with $220m Debts

(IDEX Online) - Staff at the collapsed luxury diamond jewelry brand Vashi say they were told to pose as customers and even as goldsmiths to maintain the facade that the business was flourishing, according to a BBC investigation.

The UK-based business, founded in 2016, gained attention for its innovative approach to selling high-quality diamonds directly to consumers, primarily online.

It closed with debts of $220m in April 2023, and its Spanish-born founder Vashi Dominguez has since disappeared. There are unconfirmed reports he flew to Dubai.

Investors in the business lost everything when the stock of diamonds valued at $207m turned out to be worth just $132,000. They were told 2021 sales were over $126m, but that figure turned out to be vastly inflated. The actual total was $6.3m, according to internal documents seen by the BBC.

A former store manager Will Hayward told the BBC's Panorama program that Dominguez put on a "facade" for investors. Staff with no jewelry-making experience pretended to be goldsmithing or diamond-setting.

One investor told the BBC: "This is bigger than Hatton Garden, Brink's-Mat and the Great Train Robbery combined."

Dominguez (pictured) attracted investment from high-profile backers, including mobile phones billionaire John Caudwell and Nick Wheeler, founder of British shirtmaker Charles Tyrwhitt.

Dominguez had a flair for self-publicity, positioned himself as a diamond expert in national newspapers and appeared with celebrities on TV.