Queens Mall jeweler indicted for money laundering

A Queens man has been charged with money laundering, accused of acting as a fence for a gang of violent robbers who robbed jewelers at gunpoint in New York and New Jersey, ripping off 2million dollars in expensive watches and diamonds, authorities said.

Stanislav “Steve” Yakubov, a jeweler at the Jamaica Colosseum Mall, allegedly turned over a bag full of $84,000 for a stolen $250,000 Richard Mille watch, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said.

The watch, along with a $35,000 chain of diamonds, had been taken in October 2019, when two men attacked a Diamond District jeweler in Long Island City, kicking and punching him, then stealing the merchandise, according to a court document.

The robbery was part of a series of armed robberies on Big Apple jewelers in 2019 and 2020, in which two men allegedly seized $2 million worth of merchandise, accosting jewelers near their home in the Queens, Brooklyn, Upstate Woodbury and New Jersey.

Thieves snatched a $500,000 Richard Mille watch, a $160,000 Patek Philippe, a $150,000 Rolex, a $28,000 Audemars Paget watch and other gems, like a $28,000 diamond bracelet, according to court records.

Yakubov, who was arrested last month, allegedly bought stolen goods from the thieves on three separate occasions, authorities said. Yakubov was indicted April 6 in Manhattan Federal Court.

He paid $34,000 for the stolen Rolex, which was also stolen in October 2019, and $60,000 for the Patek Philippe, prosecutors say.

Yakubov denied the allegations and said the thieves he allegedly dealt with were former customers, authorities said. His lawyer noted that the jeweler himself was assaulted in a “vicious” robbery in 2017 and was out of the country during alleged encounters with thieves.