Newsclipping summary:

FEAR-List Bulletin posted by Leon Felkins, 4/2/98 - revised 10/01/01

The Business Wire reported on April 1, 1998 that the U.S. Customs Service and the famous auction house, Christie's, have joined forces to auction valuable diamonds obtained from a forfeiture of an accused drug lord's assets. In part the article says,

WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 1998--In the first-ever partnership between the Treasury Department and Christie's, Treasury Under Secretary for Enforcement Raymond W. Kelly announced today thatthe auction house will sell a collection of 33 rare diamonds seized by the U.S. Customs Service from an infamous drug smuggler.

The diamonds, which are valued between $400,000 and $500,000, will be sold by Christie's to benefit Treasury's Asset Forfeiture Fund which supports federal, state and local law enforcement efforts including crime prevention and drug abuse programs. `Treasury's forfeiture program destroys the building blocks that support drug traffickers and takes the profit out of crime,` said Under Secretary Kelly. 'The 33 diamonds ranging in value from $2,000 to $120,000 represent this drug dealer's bank where he stored his ill-gotten gains.'