Oded Dessau Suspend From Diamond Exchange

Israeli diamond dealer Oded Dessau was suspended from the Israeli Diamond Exchange (IDE) this morning for not meeting financial obligations. Dessau has $500,000 in outstanding debts on diamond purchases.

During a meeting of the IDE arbitration committee yesterday, Dessau was suspended from the diamond exchange for two weeks, the maximum suspension the committee is allowed to impose. Dessau appealed the decision at a special meeting of the IDE management, headed by IDE President Avi Paz.

Following Dessau’s appearance at the meeting, IDE management discussed his appeal and unanimously decided to suspend Dessau’s membership in the IDE indefinitely.

This means Dessau will not be allowed to trade loose diamonds or even enter the diamond trading room in Israel or any of the diamond exchanges in the world.

Recently a South African company sued Dessau for not paying for rough diamonds he bought from them.

This is an additional blow for Dessau, who is also involved in real estate projects and is a majority owner and chairman of public company Golan Fine Crafts. Recently he was accused by his partners in Golan for taking 4.5 million NIS ($1 million) out of the company without his partners’ consent.

He claimed he took the money to buy a share in an Israeli real estate company. Owners of the company said they had not negotiated a sale with Dessau.