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Diamond magnate Lev Leviev was served with a summons by police Tuesday night time upon his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport from Russia, as he’s wished for questioning in relation to the multimillion-dollar “Black Diamond” fraud investigation that started in 2018.
His arrival was coordinated with the State Legal professional’s Workplace and he was set to be questioned by the Nationwide Fraud Unit of the police Wednesday morning, reviews mentioned.
Leviev, an Uzbekistan-born billionaire, made his fortune promoting the dear stones via his firm LLD Diamonds.
Authorities suspect that Leviev was concerned in smuggling NIS 300 million (roughly $87 million) price of diamonds with out reporting them.
In 2018, police interrogated six suspects from his firm — together with Leviev’s son and brother — for alleged tax fraud and smuggling of diamonds after a suspect was stopped at Ben Gurion carrying a diamond price NIS 1 million ($270,000) earlier that 12 months.
Police had sought to convey Leviev to Israel for questioning on the time, and briefly thought-about extraditing him from Russia, the place he was residing. They later rejected the phrases Leviev’s legal professionals proposed for his questioning in Israel.
Three suspects arrested in reference to a diamond smuggling scheme arrive for a court docket listening to on the Justice of the Peace’s Courtroom in Rishon Letzion, November 7, 2018. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)
The investigation, dealt with by the Lahav 433 critical crime unit, discovered {that a} second man, who had been dwelling overseas, entered the nation in 2012 with diamonds hid in his baggage, police mentioned. Investigators who raided his residence discovered lots of of diamond-related delivery certificates.
The investigation was accomplished and expenses of tax offenses and cash laundering had been being ready towards the suspects questioned in 2018, Channel 12 reported.
Additionally in 2018, Mazal Hadadi, a bookkeeper with Leviev’s diamond agency LLD who was additionally being investigated within the probe, died after leaping from the tenth ground of the Diamond Trade Constructing in Ramat Gan in an obvious suicide. An investigation in 2019 dominated out suspicions of foul play within the incident.
Shimon Hayut, often known as the “Tinder Swindler,” posed as a son of the diamond tycoon whereas defrauding girls throughout Europe to fund a lavish way of life and was featured in a Netflix documentary of the identical identify. Leviev’s youngsters sued the fraudster in March.
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