Bankruptcy Warning Issued for Diamond Trader Dessau

The Tel Aviv County Court has issued a bankruptcy warning for former Israeli diamond trader Oded Dessau. The ruling was handed at the request of the International Bank following a final court ruling against Dessau in relation to his debt guarantee.

The bank told the court that Dessau did not pay a NIS 455,000 ($117,000) debt and that a collection process has been initiated.

The court granted the warning request, saying that the bankruptcy process will make tracing Dessau’s assets easier.

In July 2006, Dessau was suspended from the Israeli Diamond Exchange (IDE) for not meeting financial obligations. Dessau had $500,000 in outstanding debts on diamond purchases.

The decision means that he 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.

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

Dessau was involved in real estate projects and was a majority owner and chairman of public company Golan Fine Crafts. He was accused in 2006 by his partners in Golan for taking 4.5 million NIS ($1 million at 2006 exchange rate) out of the company without his partners’ consent.