Administrators have been appointed to diamond dealer Macabi Diamonds owned by Yoni Levy who saved prominent jewellery store Rosendorff from receivership in 2019.
Administrators have been appointed to diamond dealer Macabi Diamonds owned by Yoni Levy who saved prominent jewellery store Rosendorff from receivership in 2019.
KordaMentha’s John Bumbak and Richard Tucker were voluntarily appointed administrators of the dormant diamond wholesale business, registered under Macabi Diamonds Trust, on October 19.
Macabi Diamonds founding owner Yoni Levy is also the owner of well-known Perth jewellery store Rosendorff Diamond Jewellers, which he bought from receivers during a troubled period in 2019.
Macabi and Rosendorff are seperate entities, and Rosendorff’s business is unaffected by the voluntary appointment of administrators.
The diamond dealer has not traded or had employees for some time, and its business was gradually transferred to Rosendorff following the purchase in 2019.
Rosendorff has just signed a 10-year lease for its flagship store and workshop at a new location for its 22-strong team.
In April 2019, receivers were called into Rosendorff which allegedly owed millions to unpaid creditors including Macabi Diamonds’ boss who was later revealed as the mystery buyer of the prominent company.
FTI Consulting were also bought in as administrators and complied a report which found irregularities in the accounts of the more than 50-year-old businesses founder Craig Rosendorff.
The irregularities included a $1.8 million shortfall in stock and $170,000 worth of products that weren't paid for. However, there was no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr Rosendorff.
FTI's report at the time said the business had been in financial trouble for the last two years, with sales declining since 2011.
The following month the receivers announced a $9 million liquidation sale of diamonds and fine jewellery at Rosendorff's Hay Street store, and later announced they had secured Mr Levy as the buyer to save Rosendorff’s brand and about 20 staff.
Speaking to Business News in 2019 after the sale, Mr Levy said he was negotiating an outcome that kept the store open and provided a platform for the brand to continue operating.
Mr Levy has run wholesaling business Macabi Diamonds since 2011, which formalised a side business he developed several years prior while working in the securities sector in the UK.
Mr Levy has been contacted for comment.
