Crime is not just the the domain of the inner city as the daily pounding by the if-it-bleeds-it-leads TV news might lead some to believe. It only differs by the scale of the crime. This time it includes a famous Detroit name, although I don't see where it implicates the famous Auction house of the same name.

I can kind of see where there might be a reason for crime in impoverished areas, but crimes at this level of prosperity boggle the mind.

A Birmingham jeweler was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty to participating in a $12 million wire fraud scheme.

Joseph DuMouchelle, 61, of Birmingham, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Detroit. DuMouchelle was the owner of “Joseph Dumouchelle Fine and Estate Jewelry Buyers, Sellers, Appraisers, and Auctioneers.”

According to a news release, DuMouchelle began his scheme in late 2018 when he presented the purchase and sale of a diamond called “Yellow Rose” to a client. The client was asked to wire transfer $12 million to the “seller's account,” which was in fact DuMouchelle's own account. After receiving the transfer, DuMouchelle withdrew the funds and used them to pay personal and business debts and expenses.

This was not the first time DuMouchelle conducted this fraud scheme.

According to the release, DuMouchelle defrauded a total of about $25.3 million from various victims.

“Victims were lulled into believing Du-Mouchelle's false promises because he held himself out to be an expert with valuable connections that would provide them substantial profits,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in the release.

DuMouchelle has more than 30 years of experience specializing in the appraisal and sale of fine gems and jewelry, and his auction house has handled the Nat King Cole collection and Maples-Trump engagement in the past.

https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...50600e_134855d