The 13.15 ct. pink diamond that was mysteriously pulled from Christie’s Dec. 6 auction prior to its sale may have been seized by federal agents who believed it to be stolen, court documents reveal.
The diamond, which carried a $25 million–$35 million estimate and was intended to be the highlight of the New York sale, was removed from its lineup in November, as first reported by Rapaport.
Court Watch has discovered that a “psychic adviser,” accused in a criminal complaint of wire and mail fraud, may have filched the gem, after telling a victim he would “cleanse” it.
According to the complaint, filed Nov. 21 in the Middle District of Florida, a woman in Doha, Qatar, first made contact with the purported psychic through Purple Garden, a site that allows users to communicate with psychic advisers. After the woman and her adviser took their communications off-site, the psychic asked the victim to send him her jewelry.
“Victim 1 sent the jewelry to him in the hope that he could cleanse the jewelry of bad spirits,” the complaint charged. “After Victim 1’s jewelry was returned, Victim 1 continued to experience negative feelings. [The accused] convinced Victim 1 to send him jewelry belonging to [the victim’s employer.]”
The victim removed some items from her employer’s safe, the complaint said. Among the jewelry, sent to an address in Florida, was an approximately 42 ct. white diamond, as well as two large canary diamonds. A second shipment, sent a month later to an address in New Jersey, contained a large pink diamond, taken from the safe of the victim’s employer.
The pink diamond wasn’t returned to the victim, but was sold to a watch broker “for approximately $8 million worth of watches and loose diamonds,” the complaint said. The pink diamond was scheduled to be sold at what court documents called “Auction House 1.”
A jeweler recognized the stone and contacted the victim’s employer, who confirmed the diamond has recently been stolen, the papers said.
“[Homeland Security] agents, who were in the vicinity during the showing of the pink diamond, took immediate possession of the stone, as it was readily apparent the diamond was stolen property,” the complaint said.
The legal counsel for the defendant said his client will be entering a not guilty plea.
Christie’s declined comment, citing ongoing litigation. But it told Court Watch: “We can confirm that we cooperated with the authorities.”
Photo courtesy of Christie’s
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