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AKRON, Ohio – Federal marshals will auction off a 43-carat, one-inch tall diamond seized in a money laundering investigation in Ohio.
The diamond, which federal prosecutors say could be worth up to $20 million, was confiscated from a man who tried to sell it to an undercover agent posing as a broker for a South American drug cartel. Paul Monea of Alliance, near Canton, was convicted of money laundering.
This week federal Judge John Adams ruled that marshals can auction the diamond, with the money going to the government. He rejected ownership claims from Monea’s children, a New York minister and a California business owner.
Monea became rich distributing Tae Bo fitness tapes.