Bryson Burke Diamond Corporation: Diamond Exploration and Mining in Canada

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May 17, 2001
Pawning a Fake is Fraud

Fraud detectives have obtained an arrest warrant charging theft against a Nashville woman who received $1,500 from a local pawnshop after putting up as collateral what she claimed was a two-carat diamond ring.

Actually, the diamond was fake, although the loan company’s commercial diamond tester showed it to be real.

Tisha Ann Paschall, 19, received the money from the pawnshop on May 10th. The warrant against her was issued yesterday.

The “diamond” Paschall gave the loan company was actually made of the synthetic moissanite, a silicone carbide based stone that is an extremely good replica of a diamond. Moissanite retails for about one-tenth the cost of an actual diamond. Moissanite stones are of very good quality and are “eye clean,” meaning that a person cannot see imperfections with the naked eye. Even skilled jewelers have had difficulty differentiating between moissanite and diamonds.

This case represents the first fraud complaint brought to the Metro police department concerning moissanite; however, detectives now know the stones are in this area and fear other persons could be scammed into buying what they think are real diamonds.

Stock Fraud -Do Your Research

James Ashpole, 59, of Peoria, Arizona, was sentenced this morning in Superior Court to 9 years in prison after convictions on 39 counts of fraud schemes, theft, sale of unregistered securities and conducting an illegal enterprise. The convictions stem from Ashpole's sales of stock in his company, Black Diamond Mining Corporation. The Attorney General's office, in conjunction with the Arizona Corporation Commission, prosecuted the case. Commission Chairman, Jim Irvin, applauded the sentence as "upholding the Commission's strong stand against those who would commit securities fraud in Arizona".

Diamond Fraud

Use the extensive Left Side Index to learn all about Diamonds

Guys Who Give Fake Engagement Rings May Become Accessories To Fraud

A young man purchases a 14-karat gold engagement ring with Moissanite for $500. The salesman tells the buyer how great the material is. So good, in fact that it looks and tests like a diamond. But, it's Moissanite. No fraud here. The young man gives this gorgeous ring to his girlfriend.

She takes the ring to a local jeweler for an appraisal to add it to her insurance policy. The jeweler examines the ring. He is very diligent and suspects the material. As any good jeweler would do, he gets his handy-dandy diamond tester out and verifiers the material is diamond. The jeweler finishes the appraisal and places the value of the ring at $5,000. The actual retail value of the ring is $500. Now an insurance company is falsely responsible for $4,500.

Ashpole told at least 35 investors that Black Diamond would be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange within a few months, as the company owned a gold mine east of Prescott worth over $250,000,000. The state produced evidence that Black Diamond had lost money in 1996 in a failed attempt to work the mine, with assays showing no viable precious metals. After the failure, Ashpole began his stock sales through a telemarketing office in north Phoenix.

Investors lost over $150,000 before the Arizona Corporation Commission shut down the boiler-room in September1997 after a few months of operation. However, Ashpole moved his operations, continuing to telemarket stock from Texas and Florida. The Arizona state grand jury indicted him in February 1998. While out on bond following the indictment, Ashpole was arrested in September 1998 for making more stock sales back in Arizona. Since that time, Ashpole was jailed until his March 1999 trial, where jurors convicted him on all counts.

At trial the state produced evidence that Black Diamond did not qualify to be listed on NASDAQ, nor did Black Diamond own full rights to the mining property. Investors had not been told about Black Diamond's earlier failure to produce any economically viable quantities of gold. A state's accountant testified that Ashpole used most of the investor money for personal expenses, and to operate the boiler-room in north Phoenix to sell the stock.

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