A New York City diamond wholesaler was arrested Aug. 5 and charged with allegedly forging the seal of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
According to a statement issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tejas Mehta, 36, owner of Saritijediam, allegedly forged the seal to avoid paying $1 million to other wholesalers for gems he had on consignment.
A statement from a DHS special agent charges that Metha told business associates he could not return or sell the merchandise because it had been seized by the border patrol. He then allegedly created false documents that he represented as from the Customs service.
Mehta is charged with wire fraud and forging the seal of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
At press time, neither Mehta nor his attorney returned requests for comment from JCK.
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