New York, NY – Jewish Diamond Merchant Sues NYPD For Revoking Gun Permit In Scandal Probe

New York, NY – A 47th Street diamond dealer whose gun permit was yanked in the aftermath of a scandal that rocked the NYPD’s licensing division is suing the police department claiming that, without his weapon, he is an accident waiting to happen.

32 year old Yechiel Fastag, owner of CFE Diamonds and manager of Ideal Brilliant who said he frequently carries expensive inventory and large amounts of cash, got an unrestricted license to carry a handgun from Shaya Lichtenstein in 2015. Lichtenstein was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for selling illegally obtained gun permits as previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2fqu74Z).

The Daily News (http://nydn.us/2fraNVi) reported that the father of six filed suit against the NYPD in Manhattan Supreme Court, saying that his gun permit was pulled in 2016 during an investigation into the Lichtenstein matter, leaving him an easy mark for predators.

Fastag’s suit claims that he often drives through dangerous neighborhoods, sometimes at all hours of the night, while carrying “precious stones and a king’s ransom in currency.” The legal filing includes receipts for bank deposits in amounts ranging from $9,000 to $203,000 and details of a late night delivery of two diamonds valued at $135,000 to Crown Heights, according to the New York Post (http://nyp.st/2frkseN).

Fastag also alleged that during a 2016 NYPD interview he was accused of collaborating with Lichtenstein after saying that he had no idea the permit he received from had been obtained through ill-gotten means. That permit was ultimately revoked by the NYPD which made a determination that Fastag had not demonstrated sufficient need to carry a handgun.

In court papers, Fastag alleged that the suspension was a damage control measure taken in the wake of the scandal which rocked the NYPD in an effort to regain “public credibility.”

Fastag’s suit seeks the return of his gun permit.