Police arrested 10 suspected Russian gangsters on Wednesday for allegedly defrauding diamond dealers in New York, Las Vegas and Mumbai out of more than $9 million in diamonds. The gangsters concentrated on melee diamonds to avoid detection and traceability.

The group, under investigation since 2015, wrote bad checks and forged documents among other things to convince wholesalers to send them diamonds on credit, investigators said.

The group never made good on their promise to pay and resold the diamonds through the diamond district in Manhattan.

Those arrested were Godel Sezanayev, who was also known as “Gary”, Mark Mullakandov, Albert Foozailov, Imanil Muratov (”Eddy”), Manashe Sezanayev (“Michael”), Nathan Itzchaki, Arkadiy Israilov, Ali Javidnezhad, Mark Natanzon, Sholom Muratov, Menachem Abramov and Nizamuden Akbari.

Acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim said, "We commend our law enforcement partners for their work in shutting this alleged criminal scheme down for good."

https://www.gemkonnect.com/news/ny-police-arrest-10-scamming-us-indian-dealers-9m-diamonds