The international jewelry business that’s part of the empire controlled by Nirav Modi, a billionaire accused of masterminding India’s biggest bank fraud, has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. just as the Indian lender at the heart of the scam revised up its fraud estimate, Bloomberg News reported. Firestar Diamond Inc. blamed liquidity and supply chain challenges and listed up to $100 million in assets and debt, according to chapter 11 documents filed Monday in a bankruptcy court in New York. Back in India, Punjab National Bank told the stock exchanges that the fraudulent transactions could be $204 million more than the previously estimated $1.8 billion. Modi has been accused along with Mehul Choksi of defrauding PNB. PNB alleges that the duo and their associates worked with some rogue PNB employees and used fake guarantees to obtain loans from abroad.
