Two men in the diamond business were sentenced to jail for their scheme of stealing from themselves and then reporting it to their insurance company, as reported by the Associated Press for Yahoo News.
A.S., one of the two men charged, said at his sentencing through tears, “Every day for the rest of my life, I will carry the sin of this case. Every day for the rest of my life, I will live with the fact that I have brought this sin and terrible hardship on my entire family.”
A.S., 49, and his partner, M.K., 45, were sentenced to 20 months to five years in prison.
The two were convicted in March for their calculated heist that occurred on December 31, 2008. The bandits disguised themselves as Hasidic Jews, wore fake beards and carried toy guns.
Then they appeared to force open a safe and steal all of the gemstones it held.
Police collected plastic ties and duct tape at the scene. They also recovered video footage from the security camera.
Prosecutors contended that the scheme also included destroying any and all evidence – the jewelry dealers had tried to destroy the taped images by dousing the camera with drain cleaner.
Instead, the footage showed A.S. and M.K. emptying out the contents of their safe, and replacing the diamond collection with empty boxes, a few hours before they executed their robbery plans.
After the robbery A.S. and M.K. filed an insurance claim for $7 million.
When insurers and authorities discovered that the business was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, they became suspicious.
The two men shared offices in Manhattan’s Diamond District. M.K. dealt in jewelry under the company name Real Creations and A.S. both bought and sold loose diamonds for his company, Dialite Imports.
After their insurer, Lloyd’s of London, investigated they didn’t pay on the claim.
At the start of the trial both A.S. and M.K. maintained that they were innocent and had been robbed. But, as the trial neared its end, the two came clean and admitted to being responsible.
Benjamin Brafman, A.S.’s attorney, said that his client has “lost his honor and his name.”
Michael Bachner, M.K.’s attorney spoke for his client when he said that his client was “enormously remorseful” and that the reason for the theft was that the two were plagued with “serious financial issues, they just messed up.”
Both men are immigrants from India.
M.K., in making his situation worse, allegedly told a bail bondsman, “Any way I can bribe the judge ... because in my country, you know, we normally do that.”
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber said that though the idea of bribing a judge was “incredibly upsetting” it just “kind of rocks my world, for lack of a better word.”
The two forwent a jury decision and Farber found them guilty. He said at the sentencing, “I believe I am dealing with men who are basically good people who did bad things.
I have two people in front of me who were raised in loving and supportive families and who should have known the difference between right and wrong — who were raised to appreciate that you don't lie, and you don't steal.”
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