A Swiss precious metals and gems trader stands trial on Thursday accused of knowingly buying diamonds worth $750,000 on behalf of Italian criminals to help them launder the proceeds of a $35 million tax scam. C., as he can only be named under local reporting restrictions, knew or should have known that the money used to buy the stones was linked to Italian organized crime, Swiss federal prosecutors wrote in their January indictment. At the time of the diamond purchases, his three alleged Italian accomplices had already been convicted and sentenced to prison in 2011 for running a VAT tax-fraud scheme that issued fake ... (full story)