LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS Volume 37, Number 50
INSIDE
Holiday Shopping
December 15, 2008
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Mixed-Income Ordinance gets a nod, and other happenings Around Town.
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LAUSD looks at a new charter school on Contreras Learning Complex campus.
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
The Downtown Diamond Caper The Jewelry District Reels Over a Case Involving One Man, 19 Victims and Millions in Missing Gems by AnnA Scott
L.A. Live tower gets ‘topped off.’
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Saying goodbye to Supt. Brewer.
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Taxis, from the cabbies’ POV.
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Chinese American Museum photos.
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Holiday concerts at Disney Hall.
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StAff writer
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ziz Noghreian can barely hold back his tears when he talks about Oren Shachar. “He destroyed me,” Noghreian, 70, says, referring to the man he once considered a kind of honorary son. “We are penniless.” It’s a Wednesday afternoon in November and Noghreian, tall and lean with neatly parted white hair, is sitting with his wife Floria in the office of their Century City attorney. She appears as shaken as he is as they recount how Noghreian’s Downtown Los Angeles business, which he started after coming to this country from Iran, was victimized. For more than a decade Noghreian owned a diamond wholesale business, called Gemco, on Hill Street in the Downtown Jewelry District. In the spring of 2006, Noghreian said, he gave some gems to Shachar, a salesman and a familiar face from the industry who was then in his late 30s, who in turn sold the merchandise. Shachar then paid Noghreian — in the Downtown jewelry business, money often changes hands not after the product is turned over, but when it is subsequently sold — and soon Noghreian gave Shachar more gems. The relationship continued over roughly the next year and a half, with greater quantities of diamonds in each deal. At the same time, Noghreian said, the two forged a close friendship, rooted in their shared Jewish faith. Floria took to packing her husband double lunches, which he shared and often prayed over with Shachar. But after several months, Noghreian realized something was wrong. Shachar’s payments became unreliable. The checks he gave Noghreian in return for merchandise — written from Shachar’s own bank accounts, or sometimes his mother’s or purported clients’ — regularly bounced or were otherwise returned. Still, Noghreian continued to trust Shachar, who was always able to give
photo by Gary Leonard
Aziz Noghreian outside the building that housed his former business, Gemco. Noghreian closed Gemco late last year, after allegedly losing $3 million in diamonds to Oren Shachar.
what sounded like a plausible excuse. Ultimately, Noghreian said, he gave Shachar approximately $3 million in diamonds that were never paid for or returned. That began a downward spiral in which Noghreian lost credibility with his own diamond suppliers and fell into debt. After 14 years in Downtown, Noghreian shuttered Gemco in the fall of 2007. Now, at an age when he
Dear Santonio Claus Getting to the Bottom of the City Hall Holiday Mailbag by Jon regArdie
Claus’ staff goes through them to see which are likely to inspire television coverage, he grants some of the results, then ignores the rest. Here is a collection of this year’s correspondence.
Dear Timmy, Instead of a talking Elmo, I have a better gift for you: I’m giving you, and the rest of the citizens of the city of the 21st century, 10,000 police officers! I know you thought that was coming last year or the year before, but Santonio Claus can’t do everything when he has so many cities to visit and press openings to attend. If you want a talking Elmo next year, make sure your mommy and daddy contribute $1,000 to my election campaign. (Hint: There may be more than one.) And thank mommy and daddy for sending in those trash tax fees. Ho ho ha ha ha!
Dear Santonio Claus, I’ve been very good this year. Can you please bring me a talking Elmo? Timmy, Silver Lake
Dear Santonio Claus, Some people think I’ve been naughty this year, but with my vertically integrated charts and leadership see Santonio, page 12
executive editor
Five great entertainment options.
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18 CALENDAR LISTINGS 20 MAP 21 CLASSIFIEDS
expected to be retired, Noghreian is looking for pharmacy work, which he did in Iran more than 25 years ago. Noghreian is not alone. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley’s office has charged Shachar with defrauding 19 people or businesses, most of them Downtown-based diamond and see Diamonds, page 8
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very year around this time, thousands of letters are sent to the Downtown Los Angeles office of Santonio Claus, with children, and those who act like children, expressing their holiday gift wishes. After Santonio THE REGARDIE REPORT
Since 1972, an independent, locally owned and edited newspaper, go figure.