Canadian man’s fiancee deserts him as Nirav Modi''s diamond rings turn out to be fake
Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, October 8
A Canadian man has filed a suit against Nirav Modi for selling him and his girlfriend fake diamond rings worth US$200,000, which cost them their relationship.
According to South China Morning Post, Paul Alfonso, who met Nirav in 2012, had no idea that the diamond jeweller was accused of multi-crore fraud in India.
Alfonso met Modi at an event in Beverly Hills Hotel; a few months later they ran into each other at another event in Malibu and again at the Mandarin Oriental in New York the next week.
As per South China Morning Post, they did not meet again until this April when Alfonso emailed Nirav with a request, “I’m in the market for an engagement ring. I’m going to propose to my girlfriend and I want something special.”
In his email, Alfonso explained that he wanted to design his own ring. “My budget is in the US$100,000 mark. Do you think you can do something for me?”
Nirav responded on the same day: “I’m honoured to help you create your dream engagement ring...Paul, I have the perfect diamond for you.”
He offered Alfonso a 3.2-carat round brilliant diamond cut, D colour, VVS1–a high-quality grade and colourless stone. “I can give it to you for wholesale at US$120,000. This is such a beautiful diamond…you can’t go wrong with this one.”
Alfonso agreed and explained that he wanted to have the ring as soon as possible. Nirav gave him two week's time saying someone in Hong Kong would get back to him.
All was as per plan till Alfonso’s girlfriend wanted a different design of the ring.
The jeweller offered him another 2.5-carat oval diamond for US$80,000. Alfonso sent the money for both rings to a Hong Kong account.
The rings were hand-delivered at Vancouver on June 17, and they were told that an invoice and the authenticity certificates would follow soon.
As the authenticity certificates did not arrive, several emails followed, with Nirav providing more assurances that the certificates were on their way.
In August, they were in for a shock as Paul’s fiancé found that the stones were fake.
It was then that they searched for him and relaised that the diamond merchant was at the centre of the largest fraud in Indian banking history.
“This affected the relationship between my ex-fiancée and her family. They think I bought these fake rings and proposed to her,” said Alfonso.
“We broke up literally after one or two days...It was just too much for both of us to handle. It does not make sense to her, because she says, 'You are a pretty smart guy, how did you let someone scam you out of US$200,000 without making sure the transaction was legitimate?'"
Alfonso says he has suffered from depression since he realised that the diamonds were fake.
This also took a toll on his business, as most of his energy has been focused on seeking justice.
Alonso said he contacted police in New York and in Vancouver and filed a lawsuit against Nirav with the Superior Court of California, suing him for US$4.2 million dollars. That includes US$200,000 for the value of the rings, US$1 million for punitive damages and another US$3 million dollars for emotional distress, pain and suffering.
A case management conference has been scheduled for January 11, 2019, as reported by South China Morning Post.
