Nirav Modi

The diamond was earlier sold in the 1960s; it was repolished.

It featured a lattice of white and pink diamonds.

Nirav Deepak Modi (born 27 February 1971) is a Belgian businessman and fugitive who was charged by Interpol and the Government of India for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and dishonesty including delivery of property, corruption, money laundering, fraud, embezzlement and breach of contract in August 2018.

Modi is being investigated as a part of the $2 billion fraud case of Punjab National Bank (PNB).

After moving to India in 1989, and training in all aspects of the diamond trading business, Modi founded Firestar in 1999 (formerly known as Firestone), a diamond sourcing and trading company.

Firestar is the exclusive distributor of Rio Tinto’s Argyle pink diamonds in India.

In 2002, his company started manufacturing jewellery on a contract basis.

He acquired Frederick Goldman in 2005, and Sandberg & Sikorski and A.Jaffe in 2007 in the USA.

In 2008, a close friend asked Modi to make a pair of earrings, after which he created the brand.

In 2010 he launched a diamond store bearing his name in New Delhi's Defence Colony, followed by one in Mumbai's Kala Ghoda.

17 other store openings followed across the world.

He became well known after he designed his "Golconda Lotus Necklace" with an old, 12-carat, pear-shaped diamond as a centerpiece in 2010.

It was included on the cover of Christie’s catalogue in Hong Kong, and was auctioned for US$3.6 million in 2010.

In 2012, the Riviere of Perfection, featuring 36 flawless white diamonds weighing a total of 88.88 carats, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction.

It is believed that he was overextended for several years and used new MOUs to pay for the past ones for about seven years.

One of his employees has stated that, "He wanted to grow his business, and to do in five years what might otherwise have taken 20 years."

He claimed that "If he’d gone public, maybe he could have pledged his equity, raised some money, and finally paid the bank back. Perhaps he would have done that."

The Union Bank of India sued Modi in a Hong Kong court.

Modi launched globally with boutiques in New York City and Hong Kong in 2015, followed by two other boutiques opened in Hong Kong in 2016.

and one in MGM Macau in 2016.

In March 2018, Modi applied for bankruptcy protection in Manhattan, New York.

In June 2018, Modi was reported to be in the UK where he reportedly applied for political asylum.

Union Bank claimed in a writ filed at the High Court on 26 September 2018 that Modi guaranteed two loans made to Firestone Trading Private on 21 October 2011 and Firestar Diamond on 15 November 2011.

The bank demanded that he pay more than $5.49 million plus interest after both firms allegedly defaulted on repayments.

In February 2018, the Indian government's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched an investigation of Modi, acting on a complaint from the Punjab National Bank alleging Modi and his partners defrauded the bank of ₹28000 Crore (approximately US$4 billion) by conspiring with bank officials to fraudulently obtain Letters of Undertaking for making payments to overseas suppliers.

While ₹28000 Crore is the fraud that has been alleged to date, the potential loss to Punjab National Bank is reported to be up to ₹11000 Crore.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is looking into the case of fraud that the CBI has registered against him.

A few of Modi's stores initially remained open for business as usual, including the one at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, however these have gradually all closed.

On 7 March 2018, Modi's firm Firestar Diamond Inc. applied for bankruptcy protection at a Manhattan bankruptcy court, in order to protect its assets in the United States and their revolving credit facility with Israel Discount Bank.

Modi responded to the bank on 15/16 February 2018, stating that "In the anxiety to recover your dues immediately, despite my offer (on 13 February, a day before the public announcement, and on 15) your actions have destroyed my brand and the business and have now restricted your ability to recover all the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts".

Modi estimated his domestic business at around Rs 6,500 Crore, and said "this could have helped reduce/discharge the debt to the banking system," but claimed that this is now impossible as all his bank accounts have been frozen and assets have been seized.

Modi bought a Rs 900 crore sea-facing property in Mumbai's coveted Samudra Mahal properties with his wife Ami Modi.

His properties in India, including jewellery, paintings, and real estate, worth about Rs 523 crore (about $75 million) have been attached by the Enforcement Directorate.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached four wind power plants, owned by Modi, in Rajasthan with a total capacity of 9.6 megawatt (MW).

In June 2019, Swiss authorities froze a total of US$6 million present in Nirav Modi's Swiss bank accounts along with the assets.

Nirav Modi was born in Palanpur, Gujarat, and grew up in Antwerp, Belgium.

His family has been in the diamond business for several generations.

When he was 19, he and his father Deepak Modi moved to Mumbai to work in his uncle's business, Mehul Choksi, the head of Gitanjali Group, a retail jewellery company with 4,000 stores in India.

Modi attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania but eventually dropped out.

While studying, he met his future wife, Ami, the daughter of a diamond businessman Amukuraj Choksey.