One of world's largest diamonds, 43-karats up for auction in Cleveland
Post Date: 24 Aug 2011 Viewed: 436
CLEVELAND - Ice isn’t rare in Cleveland, but this “ice” is highly unusual in the Rock Capital. It sounds like a plot from the 1980s TV hit show Miami Vice. But it’s real-life playing out in the U.S. Marshals office in downtown Cleveland.
One of the biggest diamonds in the world, more than 43-karats, goes up for grabs online Friday in Cleveland and it could be yours if the price is right. It's called the "Golden Eye" diamond. A giant rock nearly an inch and a half long, no internal flaws.
The fancy intense yellow diamond is a collector's dream. Bidding starts at nearly $1 million. Reportedly, it's worth anywhere from $3 to $20 million, depending on what someone is willing to pay.
If you want to bid , you have to put down a refundable pre-bid deposit of $180,000. Federal investigators said the diamond was forfeited five years ago after Alliance businessman Paul Monea tried to sell it to FBI agents posing as big-time drug dealers.
Monea also bought a mansion in Trumbull County once owned by boxer Mike Tyson and then tried to sell it to undercover agents who were investigating Monea as part of a money laundering scheme.
But how Monea got the diamond and where it came from originally isn't known. It's been inspected and certified as the real thing. 43 and a half karats of diamond.
Proceeds from the auction go to the U.S. government and U.S. Marshals Service. The rest could be divvied up by local agencies that worked on the three year investigation that put Monea behind bars.