New Jersey Family Cannot Keep Stolen Diamond Given to Them as a Gift

Imagine this...  You're given a beautiful diamond as a gift, when you go to have it insured, you're told the diamond was stolen in 2003.  Yikes!

That's exactly what happened to one New Jersey family.

The 7.35 carat pear-shaped diamond was purchased by Frank Walsh of Saddle River, NJ.  Walsh's wife gave the diamond to their daughter, Suzanne and son-in-law, Stephen Zaretsky in 2012.  The Zaretskys attempted to have the diamond insured and were told that they diamond was stolen in 2003 by celebrity stylist Derek Khan.

Khan borrowed the diamond for a celebrity photo shoot, but pawned the gem instead.  The William Goldberg Diamond Corp. reported the diamond as stolen to the police and according to NJ.com, "later reported the theft to the Gemological Institute of America, which maintains a database of stolen jewelry."

In 2014, a judge ordered that the Zaretskys were the rightful owners of the gem, however a higher court recently ruled that "the lower court erred because Khan was a stylist and not a merchant under New York's commercial code.  Therefore, he could not legally sell the diamond and the Zaretskys could not legally hold title to it, the judges ruled in a 32-page decision."  Again according to NJ.com.

Man, I guess I understand, but what a terrible twist of fate for the Walsh's and Zaretskys.