US Court Stalls $8M Sale of A. Jaffe

RAPAPORT... The sale of A. Jaffe's assets to Parag Diamonds is off forthe time being.The "sale motion" - a proposal to auction off A. Jaffe - has been withdrawn, according to a court notice the company's lawyers filed last week. Parag, also known as Paramount Gems, won the bid to acquire the assets earlier this month for $8 million. A New York bankruptcy judge put the sale on hold because he needed more information about how much A. Jaffe was worth, as well as its connections to Indian fugitive Nirav Modi, according to a report by legal news service Law360. The decision was "without prejudice," meaning the court could reconsider the sale plan in future.A. Jaffe and its affiliates, Firestar Diamond and Fantasy, which form part of Nirav Modi'sglobal business empire, filed for Chapter 11 in February after the jewelrytycoon became the subject of an investigation into alleged bank fraud. Thatprobe damaged the firms' supply chains and back-office support, making italmost impossible to continue as businesses, Mihir Bhansali, the president ofthe three companies, said in a court declaration at the time.