Department: Craig Drake and All That Glittered

Always the life of the party, Drake was a jet-setting jeweler who catered to Philadelphia’s wealthiest clients and hosted the city’s most lavish soirees. Then, suddenly, the party stopped

TODAY, CRAIG DRAKE’S HOUSE is for sale. If you’ve got $4.2 million, he’d like to talk to you.

Last September, a Chester County woman named Kathleen Cole filed a police report, outlining, in vivid detail, her allegations that the previous June, Drake and Craiger had taken possession of a 20-carat diamond that Drake had sold her 25 years ago, telling her they could now sell it for $250,000. Cole had purchased more than a million dollars’ worth of jewelry from Drake over three decades; despite some reservations about letting go of the jewel, she agreed to let the Drakes sell it. According to the report, Craiger told her he already had a buyer lined up.

According to the search warrant eventually executed on Craig Drake’s business in connection with the dispute, in early July 2009 Drake called Cole and told her he’d sold the ring, but could only get $150,000 for it. Furious, Cole demanded the ring be returned, saying she’d never authorized its sale at that price. Craiger eventually upped the total to $170,000, but said that was the best they could do. Unappeased, Cole insisted the Drakes get the ring back.

According to the warrant, over the next month Cole continually called the Drakes to try and find out the status of her ring. She claimed Craiger wouldn’t take or return her calls. Drake eventually came to the phone, reportedly telling her he “would take care of everything.” By mid-September, Cole had had enough; she went to the local cops, who obtained a search warrant later executed by the Philadelphia police department. In September, Philly cops swarmed Craig Drake Manufacturing’s offices on Walnut Street, hauling out boxes of billing records, paperwork and bank records. Fox 29 aired a story, which also contained details of a similar investigation taking place involving a 91-year-old Delaware man and allegations over a $225,000 sapphire.

Craig Drake’s party was over.

The Drakes eventually settled the Cole matter; Craiger Drake characterizes the whole affair as a “miscommunication,” adding, “No charges were ever filed, and there won’t be.” When I ask if the stone was returned to Cole, he says, “That’s between my dad’s company and her. Everything is taken care of on her end.” (Cole declined to comment for this story.) But the whole ugly, public mess had exposed an unpleasant truth: Craig Drake was in trouble, and not just because of a pricey diamond. It turned out there were legal land mines planted all around him, some of which had been there for years. There was, for example, the matter of Victor Rosenberg, a Manhattan physician who has sued the Drakes over a necklace he’d consigned, alleging he was still owed $8,500 from its sale. Last Christmas, he sent Drake a handwritten note pleading with him to pay up. “I can’t imagine you would do anything to hurt us in any way,” the letter said. “My wife is really upset with me and will not forgive me for what has happened.”