I received the letter below from EGL USA’s Mitch Jakubovic (reprinted with permission). In my opinion EGL USA is in a fight for it’s life (and will probably not win), I will do another post about what is going on between EGL and Rapaport in another post… here is the letter EGL USA is trying to get out into the wild.
November 10, 2014, New York, NY — In response to Martin Rapaport’s article, “Honest Grading,” in the November 2014 issue of Rapaport Magazine, Mitch Jakubovic, director of EGL USA, has issued the following open letter:
Mr. Rapaport,
Like you, all of us at EGL USA believe that honest, accurate gemological grading is essential. And, like you, we are extremely concerned about EGL International’s apparent disregard for it.
As you know, we’ve been engaged in a 10-year federal court battle — fighting EGL International’s flagrant practices of unfair competition and inflated grading. We pursued this action to protect both the integrity of our work and the interests of our customers and final consumers. The judicial decision — which is imminent — could literally make EGL International reports a thing of the past in the US.
In addition, through the years, we have repeatedly asked you to protect the industry by delisting EGL International. Recently, at long last, you heeded our plea. For that, we thank you. However, your simultaneous decision to dismiss EGL USA and issue defamatory statements about our work is simply unconscionable and unacceptable.
We are outraged by your contention that EGL USA is “aiding and abetting” the sale of EGL International reports.
EGL USA has been fighting the good fight for years, while others — including you — have continued to promote, publicize, and profit from EGL International. We can’t help but wonder how much aiding and abetting was provided by RapNet listings for the “hundreds of thousands of diamonds worth billions of dollars … sold to consumers with overgraded reports.”
Adding insult to injury, you claimed that your policy is to “work with good laboratories” and, unfortunately for EGL USA, you are “not sure” about how good we are.
Allow me to refresh your memory: For nearly four decades, EGL USA has provided exceptional gemological service. Just last year you yourself published a survey, “Grading the Graders.” In it, you confirmed that our standards are “comparable” to those of GIA and IGI, two decidedly “good” labs that you work with every day.
If there is confusion in the marketplace, you have certainly contributed to it. And we hope, as an industry leader, that you will finally use your power to improve this situation, instead of making it worse. But rest assured, whether you do so or not, whether you right the wrong and reinstate us or not, we will carry on.
All of us at EGL USA are proud of our outstanding work and our name. And we are incredibly grateful for our loyal customers. We will continue to serve them, working with other fair-minded trading platforms, to promote and protect genuinely honest grading.
Sincerely,
Mitch Jakubovic
Director of EGL USA
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