Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
PROVO — A California jeweler already facing charges in Utah County accusing him of defrauding a woman by giving her fake Monet and Van Gogh paintings is now accused of selling lab-grown diamonds to at least two other people after saying they were natural diamonds.
William David Leavitt, 53, of Carlsbad, California, was charged Tuesday in 4th District Court in two separate cases with a total of two counts of communications fraud and three counts of criminal simulation, second-degree felonies.
Leavitt's new charges come on the heels of being charged in February with another count of communications fraud and five counts of criminal simulation, second-degree felonies. In that case, Leavitt is accused of defrauding a woman out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by exchanging jewelry, watches and other items for paintings he claimed were authentic pieces of art by Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali and Claude Monet that turned out to be fake.
Leavitt owns an antique and estate jewelry store in California and opened a jewelry store in Provo where he employed others to run it.
Investigators say a man bought a pair of earrings from Leavitt in June 2020 that he was told were natural diamonds.
"(The man) paid $10,700 for the earrings, but later found the diamonds were lab-grown and not natural as represented by Leavitt. The lab-grown diamond earrings were valued at only $2,500," according to charging documents filed Tuesday.
The man further told investigators that he had purchased "hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry from Leavitt or his business over the last few years. (He) stated he purchased 15 pieces of jewelry that were represented to him as being natural diamonds and priced as such," but were later determined to be lab-grown, according to the charges. "(The man) also reported being defrauded as to the purchase of the Winston Suite diamond wreath collection."
Leavitt told the man the price for the wreath collection was $5 million, which the man then paid to Leavitt. The man later found out the collection price was about $3.4 million and Leavitt pocketed the balance, the charges allege, adding that the man also bought four paintings from Leavitt which turned out to be fake.
In June 2021, a second man purchased more than $54,000 in jewelry from Leavitt at a business in Provo, according to investigators. Then in August 2021, Leavitt reached out directly to the same man "about another bracelet he had for sale that matched a diamond and earrings that he had purchased from Leavitt in June" and in June 2022, the man and his wife "purchased over $170,000 in jewelry, to include a pair of heart-shaped diamonds earrings and a ruby and diamond ring."
But in November, a man who had been helping Leavitt sell his jewelry at the Provo business contacted the victim and told him that "several of Leavitt's clients had been sold fake, or lab-grown diamonds" and that he should get the diamonds he bought from Leavitt inspected, according to the charges.
"Upon inspection, (the man) found out the heart-shaped diamonds earrings he paid $58,000 for were worth approximately $12,000 and the ruby and diamond ring he paid $20,000 for was worth approximately $5,000 due to containing lab-grown diamonds instead of natural diamonds," the charges state.
