Recently unsealed testimony from a number of young Hollywood stars convinced a Los Angeles Country grand jury to indict five suspects in what had become known in the media as the "Bling Ring" – a series of break-ins to celebrity homes between October 2008 and August 2009 – the Associated Press has learned.

Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan – who would herself be sentenced to jail time two weeks later – told the grand jury that fingerprints the burglars left on her walls left her "unnerved."
"That night I went back to the house, I just felt… so violated and uncomfortable that I literally packed as much stuff as I could," Lohan told the jurors, adding that the break-in represented a violation of the "only private space" in her highly-reported life. 

Lohan had a fur coat, two paintings, and jewelry and clothing stolen during the break-in.

"O.C." star Rachel Bilson lost something more personal when her house was burgled – her mother's engagement ring. After the burglary, Bilson told the grand jury, she wouldn't sleep in her bedroom for a month. She said she had been so scared that she considered selling her house.

Orlando Bloom, of the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean film franchises, lost about a half-million dollars worth of possessions to the Bling Ring, including a collection of watches that he had kept hidden. Bloom testified that while the monetary loss faded, he was finding it difficult to trust people. "It's just awful because you are suddenly second-guessing everything… It's really about who is it, who am I starting to question?" he said.

Brian Austin Green, whose house was the last one targeted, said that in his case, the burglary had been so stealthy that he didn't realize his home had been invaded until a detective notified him that his Sig Sauer handgun had turned up.

Reality star Audrina Partridge and socialite Paris Hilton were also victimized in the Bling Ring burglaries and testified before the grand jury.

The celebrities' heartfelt words on the stand prompted the jurors to indict Nicholas Frank Prugo, Rachel Lee, Roy Lopez Jr, Courtney Leigh Ames and Diana Tamayo on charges of felony residential burglary. On July 2, all five pleaded not guilty. A sixth member of the ring pleaded out and served time; the remaining five will stand trial and are due in court on September 20 for a pre-trial hearing. 

Photo credit: Justin_pets, carola_hoo

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The Shefa Yamim company has been prospecting for diamonds in Israel's Kishon River since 1999. In the coming months, the firm is seeking to issue $100 million worth of stock. This is a new and different approach, since fundraising for diamond companies – especially Israeli ones – is done via banks and going public has never been an option.

According to TheMarker.com, The story of Shefa Yamim began in 1988, when Haifa's then-mayor, Arie Goral, traveled to New York to meet with the Lubavitcher rabbi who was the seventh Chabad admor and considered by many to be the Messiah, but has since passed away. The rabbi gave Goral a tip: "Haifa sits on the sea, and one shouldn't be impressed by depth. Haifa has a sea, and it has a valley, and the valley contains good and precious stones. The Lord has done something miraculous: he has hidden the stones deep in the earth, and it looks like they're deep in the river."

The 86-year-old rabbi's mention of "good stones" sparked considerable interest among the Chabad hassidim. They accepted it as prophecy, and decided to devote their time and money to finding the buried treasure.

The founder and CEO of Shefa Yamim is Avraham "Avi" Taub, who comes from a family of diamond dealers and worked his whole life polishing an selling diamonds. Sources close to Taub said he was so close to the rabbi that he decided to leave everything and devote his life to Shefa Yamim. In the early 1990s, the Lubavitcher rabbi instructed Taub to mine diamonds, which together with the prophecy, prompted Taub to found Shefa Yamim. The company took out mining licenses for the Zevulun Valley and Mount Carmel areas and began searching.

First name? Kalish, a former IAF pilot who found religion, is one of the more colorful and well-known figures in Israeli high-tech. In 2007 Forbes named him the best local venture capitalist. But he has also known some failures. 

Shefa Yamim employs dozens of workers and two vehicles. The company has some 200 stockholders, most of whom own shares in the company. The main stockholders are Eight Global Corp. (42.33%) and the Taub family's 101 Zahav Holdings (7.2%), which also has a number of other companies in the diamond, gold mining, and precious stones industries.

Thus far, some $10 million has been raised from private investors, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. In recent weeks Shefa Yamim has been busy preparing a draft prospectus for the securities authorities ahead of the stock issue. This isn't the first time Shefa Yamim has tried to issue stock. Before the global financial crisis took hold, the company tried to issue stock on London's AIM exchange but then reversed the decision. Right now, the worth of the company is a sticking point – Shefa Yamim wants to issue stock based on the $100 million valuation by Mount Morgan Resources.

The signatories doubt whether they will be able to raise money based on a $100 million company valuation, and a source said that "if the company had been interested in raising money based on a value of nothing, we would have taken the opportunity."

Shefa Yamim is the first and only company prospecting for precious stones in Israel. Anyone reviewing the history of searches for gold and gemstones in the Holy Land will see that searches for gold were conducted in the Eilat area, but called off. The company operates under the mining regulations of the National Infrastructures Ministry, and unlike companies prospecting for oil or natural gas – established as cooperative ventures – does not receive any reduction in income tax.

Over the past 11 years, the company has conducted a number of exploratory drills, which did not reveal the promised wealth, but turned up a number of other interesting things. In 2004 a kimberlite boulder was discovered on Mount Carmel. The De Beers syndicate took the rock to its laboratories, cut it open, and discovered micro-diamonds.

Shefa Yamim has discovered 76 diamonds, mostly micro-diamonds, and 14 kimberlite boulders. In addition, a few other precious stones – sapphires, rubies, emeralds, kainite, and corundrum. At the moment the company is not drilling, and the next plan is to drill into the kimberlite layer.

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Diamonds might be forever, or at least for several hundred million years, but diamond jewelry is slightly more fragile and requires some maintenance to keep it looking brilliant. Dirt and gunk, not to mention the skin's natural oils and everyday wear and tear, can dull the sparkle of even the brightest diamond, so here are some tips to keep your diamond jewelry bright and shiny:

• Clean jewelry is warm, soapy water. Use a soft brush – an old toothbrush makes the perfect tool! 
• Use cleaning products designed for diamonds, or mild soap like dish detergent
• Take the metal of the jewelry's band and settings into account and verify that your cleaning product won't tarnish or dull the gold, silver, or platinum
• Remove jewelry when using abrasive cleaning products, especially those containing chlorine or bleach
• Don't wear diamond jewelry while cooking or operating heavy equipment or while performing heavy manual labor
• Take off the diamonds while playing sports – this is also a safety issue!

A diamond is most vulnerable to chips and cracks during the setting process, especially at the girdle and corners. This holds particularly true for princess cut diamonds.

Dirt and damage aren't the only dangers to your diamonds. Owners of fine diamond jewelry should consider keeping their pieces in a safe or a safe deposit box, because burglars will zero in on a jewelry box right away. One of the major advantages to jewelry is that it is relatively light and easily transportable, but this makes it easy to steal, as well.

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