|THE DEN|
Peak net worth: $1.74billion
Current net worth: $100million
‘To be a jeweller it’s all about having trust’ - Nirav Modi
Nirav Modi is a fugitive Indian diamond merchant who is being investigated in the $2 billion Punjab National Bank scam since the Indian government charged him for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, corruption, money laundering, fraud, embezzlement and breach of contract in January 2018 in the PNB fraud case.
Journey from pretentious Diamantaire to fugitive
With aspirations to become an extraordinaire jeweller, Nirav Modi worked with his jeweller uncle, Mehul Choksi and learnt the trade. With a vision of his Indian brand to be recognised in the world as a luxury, he established Firestar International in 1999, however, Nirav hit the headlines in 2008 when his Lotus necklace with a rare Golconda diamond was auctioned by Christie's for more than $3 million.
This was the phase when People weren't looking for Guccis or Pradas anymore but for the Indian luxury brand “Nirav Modi”. However there was something to ponder on, he came out from India really quick then opened stores in New York, in China, in Singapore, in London and with the project of 100 stores by 2025 he wanted to expand his business all over the world.
The thing is it’s very hard to make that much noise all around the world that too this quick without having an obscene amount of money behind you. It always looked like he had this fountain of money but ...
Where was it all coming from ?
On March 10, 2011 Nirav Modi obtained his first fraudulent guarantee from PNB and managed to get 1,212 more such guarantees over the next 74 months. He was doing that by simply bribing officials of Punjab National Bank.
In 2014, his trade went slow and wasn’t making enough profit, so he started borrowing very heavily. This scam was happening this carefully that nobody would ever suspect that a massive fraud was building up
Then, how did this scam get busted ?
In 2017, one of the PNB officials retired and then on January 29, 2018, when Modi’s representative again turned up at the bank for more LoUs that is when newly appointed PNB officials got puzzled and after the research they got to know that more than 11,000 crores were siphoned off from the bank.
Nirav Modi immediately fled the country with his family members much before the FIR was filed. After a long run from the government, on March 20, 2019, He got arrested from Holborn metro station in London.
Nirav Modi remains imprisoned at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, fighting extradition to India, Although On June 23, 2021, he appealed against his extradition to India but the UK high court rejected his application.
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