A diamond dealer in New York has admitted to defrauding two merchants by covertly swapping their natural diamonds for lab-grown ones worth substantially less.
Manashe Zezanayev, 41, pleaded guilty on Feb. 27 in New York State Supreme Court to second-degree grand larceny.
Under terms of his plea, he is expected to be sentenced to five years of probation and make restitution of $200,000, which has already been paid. A $200,000 diamond was also returned to a victim.
“Manashe Sezanayev is facing accountability for stealing diamonds from merchants and replacing them with fake stones,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. “We will continue to prosecute those who take advantage of consumers and conduct business deals in a dishonest manner.”
According to court documents and statements made on the record, and as admitted in the defendant’s guilty plea, in early 2024, SEZANAYEV operated his company, Rachel’s Diamonds, in the Diamond District in Manhattan.
On February 5, 2024, a diamond merchant visited SEZANAYEV at his office with two diamonds that SEZANAYEV claimed to be interested in buying, valued at approximately $185,000 and $75,000. SEZANAYEV inspected the two stones and turned his back to the merchant to weigh them on his scale. He swapped the diamonds for lab grown stones that had been recut to imitate the natural stones and inscribed with forged Gemological Institute of America (“GIA”) laser inscriptions.
On March 27, 2024, SEZANAYEV told a second diamond merchant that he had a customer interested in buying that merchant’s diamond, valued at approximately $200,000. That same day, SEZANAYEV purchased a lab grown stone that was later recut to resemble that natural diamond and inscribed with a forged GIA laser inscription to mimic that natural diamond.
On April 2, 2024, the second merchant met with SEZANAYEV and the purported customer, and SEZANAYEV examined the merchant’s diamond. That merchant later learned that the stone SEZANAYEV returned to him was a lab grown diamond that was cut to resemble his stone.
Assistant D.A. Minji Kim (Financial Frauds Bureau) is handling the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Hope Korenstein (Deputy Bureau Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau), Kelly Thomas (Deputy Bureau Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau) and Kofi Sansculotte (Bureau Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau) and Executive Assistant D.A. Jodie Kane (Chief of the Investigation Division). Financial Frauds Paralegal Varun Gaitonde is providing valuable assistance in the case. Former Assistant D.A. Ben Rose also handled the prosecution of this case.
D.A. Bragg thanked the NYPD, particularly Detective Joseph Metsopulos of the Major Case Squad. He also thanked GIA for their work in this investigation.
