The former chief executive of Firestar Diamond, a jewelry wholesaler accused of taking part in bank fraud allegedly orchestrated by Nirav Modi, transferred his interest in a multimillion-dollar New York residence to his wife days after his company filed for bankruptcy in 2018, the trustee responsible for liquidating Firestar said in a lawsuit seeking to undo the transfer, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Mihir Bhansali made the transfer to place his interest in the residence, which had been purchased for $7.1 million, “outside the reach of his present and future creditors,” Richard Levin, the trustee working to distribute Firestar’s remaining assets, said in a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. It is the third lawsuit lodged by the Firestar trustee against Bhansali, whom Levin said participated in the Indian bank fraud allegedly orchestrated by jewelry magnate Modi. Levin said in his new lawsuit that the residence in New York was bought partly with cash from the alleged Modi scheme. Levin said that Modi was found living in London in 2019 and arrested. In 2021, after a trial, the U.K. granted India’s request to extradite him, but Modi appealed the extradition ruling, and he remains in prison in London, Levin said.
