Manhattan-based diamond dealer Manashe Sezanayev has been indicted Thursday (July 25) for alleged fraudulent practices against fellow jewelry merchants. 

The Associated Press reported that 41-year-old Sezanayev, who owns Rachel's Diamonds, allegedly had a scheme where he would swindle other merchants by replacing their real diamonds with a total worth of $460,000 with lab-grown duplicates. 

It is understood that the charges referred to two separate incidents of him targeting diamond merchants who came to his shop earlier this year. 

Prosecutors alleged that Sezanayev substituted the fakes while pretending to weigh two diamonds, with the counterfeits having forged laser inscriptions from the Gemological Institute of America. 

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Sezanayev History of Jewelry Crime

Sezanayev pleaded not guilty to the charges of grand larceny, a scheme to defraud, and criminal possession of a forged instrument. 

He was among a group of 10 defendants that were arrested in 2017 on federal charges of defrauding wholesalers of $9 million worth of diamonds. Sezanayev was eventually sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty to the charges and was ordered to pay over $500,000 worth of fines in restitution to one of the victims. 

According to a statement by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the recent charges Sezanayev was involved with were, when compared to the longevity of diamonds, "short-lived."

QNS reported that the jeweler was also charged with three counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the third degree.

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