NY Diamond Dealer Charged with $3.3m Wire Fraud
May 22, 25
(IDEX Online) - A dealer from New York's Diamond District has been charged with wire fraud after he allegedly falsified bank records to obtain almost $3.3m of rough diamonds from a supplier in India.
Edward St. Mary III, aged 55, orchestrated an international scheme to steal the diamonds and repeatedly lied to line his own pockets, according to Jay Clayton, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The unnamed seller agreed to dispatch a parcel of 287 carats to the US in June 2021 on the understanding that they would only be released by the security company after payment had been received, according to court documents.
St. Mary then, allegedly, went on to make made numerous false statements, after failing to pay for or collect the diamonds.
In August he turned up at the security company's premises and managed to pick up the diamonds "without paying for them and without the diamond company's knowledge or authorization," according to the court documents. It is not clear how that happened.
He later claimed he had in fact paid, and in November he sent the seller a "fraudulent account statement purporting to show a wire transfer of over $3m," according to the documents.
In December St Mary, from Houston, Texas, admitted he hadn't actually paid for the diamonds and falsely claimed his banker had assured him throughout that the funds were in the seller's account.
According to court documents St. Mary did not communicate with anyone at the bank. To date, he has neither paid for nor returned the diamonds.
Christopher G. Raia, FBI assistant director in charge said: "Edward Carlos St. Mary allegedly unlawfully procured hundreds of carats of diamonds worth millions of dollars with fabricated documents and promises of payment that were never upheld.
"The defendant allegedly disrupted the operations of an international company, and utilized our city to do so. The FBI remains committed to investigating anyone who orchestrates illicit surreptitious schemes to enrich themselves."