News and notes from around the interweb:
- Michigan Couple Sues Ritz-Carlton After Alleged $425,000 Armed Robbery on St. Thomas The property is allegedly not hard to access from the condo next door, and the security guard reportedly has a criminal record (perhaps suggesting collaboration here).
A member of the hotel’s security team transported them to the building where they were staying. Upon arrival, the pair realized they did not have their room key. The complaint states that Mr. Sullivan specifically asked the security guard not to leave them alone. The guard, however, departed to obtain a replacement key.
“Within seconds of the security guard’s departure, multiple armed assailants emerged from nearby bushes in the immediate vicinity of the Plaintiffs’ building and robbed Plaintiffs at gunpoint,” the lawsuit alleges.
The complaint states that the assailants stole custom jewelry, a luxury watch, a designer bag, and other items with a combined appraised value exceeding $425,000. Mr. Sullivan also alleges that he was pistol-whipped during the robbery and suffered “excruciating pain and a pronounced black eye.”
Credit: Marriott - This is cool. I’m sure the route is subsidized, and it lasts only two and a half months. It’s part of the American Airlines – Qantas joint venture, which they did promise would support more new routes…
Qantas to commence flights to Las Vegas (LAS).
A new route from Sydney (SYD) to Las Vegas (LAS) begins December 29.
Flights to operate 3 weekly using 787-9 until March 12, 2027. pic.twitter.com/fx6cuWfWZU
— Ishrion Aviation (@IshrionA) February 25, 2026
- 60,000 aircraft engine component forged authenticity certificates, done by one guy operating from his garage
- Qantas double points or status credits for bookings mae by March 2 and travel March 3, 2026 – February 12, 2027
- 25% bonus on points transfers from Citi to Wyndham through March 21. Meh.
- Air India’s Aircraft Safety Inspection Reports Make For Genuinely Horrifying Reading (HT: Paul H.)
- Amex is folding Tock into Resy which should be great for Platinum dining credits – more restaurants.
$ 425000. worth of jewelry to take on a vacation? Sounds very suspicious to me.
why owuld nayone in their right mind take that value of jewelery to leave in a hotel room safe? I bet we will hear new things about this eventually
Who travels with nearly half-a-million dollars worth of anything? Still, that’s a decent Ritz-Carlton in STT. Ironically, it’s pretty close, geographically to… Little Saint James. Time for accountability, folks. Start at the top. The very top. Never forget. 249 days to go.
A lot of expensive jewelry to wear at a resort.
The article about fake parts is spot on. Anyone buying from a relatively unknown source has to do due diligence in making sure the parts are genuine and cannot only rely on the paperwork. I have worked in acceptance testing before and know it can add quite a bit to the cost of an item. Some items did not live up to their specifications.
@jns — Now that diamonds can be made in factories, only precious metals really hold value. Even those who are into numismatics know that it’s basically tied to the cost of gold, silver, platinum, etc., and less so the rareness of that particular coin, year, etc., unless you’re a real freaky fella.
Although diamonds can be made in the factory, they are not the same as the ones found in the ground and aren’t priced anywhere near as much. Maybe in the future the fakes will get so good that De Beers will collapse and not just lose value as they have been doing for a while. I suppose that fake diamonds are a threat to the economies of several countries.
@jns — Eh, probably will be fine… *nervous sweating in Russia, Botswana, Angola, DRC*
Huh. Insurance ( with a rider for each individual item) can be purchased. To rely on a random guard seems rather suspicious.
Did the couple not insure their valuables back in the US sufficiently to cover theft of the reported stolen valuables? While many people with high-value personal jewelry self-insure, those are often the kind of people who don’t lug around high-value items when going to a hotel for a vacation..
1990 asks the kind of question I do too: who travels from Michigan to St Thomas with $425k of valuables for vacation. Even sensible billionaires don’t commonly travel with that much in valuables when going to stay at a hotel resort. And if it’s high-value jewelry for a wedding or something, you ought to first think about arrangements that are more secure and insured than the not-so-safe room safes.
About insurance riders for jewelry, a family friend who was a major honcho in the European insurance industry told lower net worth acquaintances that he wouldn’t’ seek to insure most personal jewelry, when asked about personal insurance costs for jewelry. We were talking about items in the $10k to $200k range for people who were making at least $200k+ per year in their mid- 20s or early 30s.
@1990 – Let me know when we can get manufactured diamond windshields. My windshield took a debris hit the other day while driving to the airport. Again.
Factory-manufactured diamonds can be identified as distinct from natural diamonds, and the former have a much lower market value than the natural ones even as otherwise the traditional quality distinctions under GIA grading would otherwise make the factory-manufactured ones are quite good and a non-professional/non-trained individual wouldn’t know the difference if not told.
TIP: When going to a resort: Casio Watch, Walmart purchased handbag, and costume jewelry.
@GUWonder — Technically, St. Thomas is the US… it’s one of our territories, US Virgin Islands…
@Denver Refugee — Glad you’re alright! Colorado remains one of the states where I’ve repeatedly had issues with windshields. Brutal. Have you guys finally gotten some real snow yet?
As 1990 properly noted, St Thomas is part of the US territory, but it is not a state. And give the sort of US territory St Thomas is, people leaving St Thomas for the US (states) are subject to US CBP customs when leaving STT to the US50 and some other places under US jurisdiction.
Gary you’re off by a factor of ten. He sold 5,627 parts for which he forged more than 60,000 certificates.
Correction to my correction. Looking deeper its not clear how many parts he sold in total, only that he forged more than 60,000 certificates.
@GUWonder — Good points. Also, I think most insurance laws are state laws anyway. Wonder if Global Entry was working when exiting STT, before the shutdown. Was there in 2023, and I recall they required you to have your physical Global Entry card to use the GE services. Kinda lame. YYZ also selectively enforced that for special security lanes. Few other places demand the GE card.
@Denver Refugee: You don’t want a diamond windshield. You are mistaking hardness for shatter resistance.
St Thomas is highly corrupt and crime ridden, but the described scenario is quite overall very sketchy. Amount of high priced jewelry? Who knew about the jewelry? Timing? Convenient that the guard left at just the right time, but what use would a hotel security guard have been against armed robbers? None of it makes sense.
When going to any overpriced Marriott understand it’s fake luxury and they may hire thugs and ex prisoners to do security
Don’t risk it!
I only wear a half million dollars dripping in jewels fashion when I visit the Four Seasons in Haiti.You need to be sensible and I also carry them in a Walmart shopping bag
Anything else of value goes into a Kentucky Fried chicken bucket for added protection.
Insurance laws are generally state laws, and insurance companies can’t legally market/sell insurance to US state residents unless the insurance policy is approved by the state insurance commissioner’s office for the state of relevance for a US person seeking insurance.
I haven’t been to STT in quite some time, but the family of a friend of Indian origin had at least one jewelry store there even before the 1990s and was the first person I knew to live on STT. 😀
Many wealthy people do travel with valuables, and sometimes they are targeted by professional thieves.
There was a rash of thefts in Paris where crooks targeted people who arrived by private jet at Le Bourget airport:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38064242
@GUWonder — It’s actually a beautiful place (as with much of the Caribbean). I enjoyed my visit, and would like to return to USVI to see more. I’ve heard St. John and St. Croix are lovely, too. BVI is really nice as well; the Rosewood there is incredible. They’ve all recovered since hurricane Irma.
@Michael Fitzgerald — It can’t possibly be more ‘highly corrupt and crime ridden’ than the current administration and the oligarchs pillaging our public resources and taxpayer funds for their own enrichment, but, please, by all means, do go on…
Global Entry “cards” are ONLY valid for using dedicated lanes for land vehicles and SOME sea crossings of the Mexican or Canadian borders. This excludes train or bus passengers. All vehicles must be pre-cleared by CBP and all occupants must have either a passport or Global Entry card. Physical passports are required for all air traffic both commercial and private.
Global Entry cards have repeatedly been asked for by airport contractors at some airports and sometimes even by CBP at US CBP Preclearance airports in order to access/use GE at some airports. While the card shouldn’t be required for that, sometimes they make it seem like it is required or that the person controlling access requires it.
Also, the GE card has also been valid to access priority security privileges with CATSA at Canadian airports even when not using a US CBP Pre-clearance facility.
Thinking over the “robbery”, I wonder if it is a play to extract money from the hotel. I’m sure that resorts have to deal with fake claims from time to time, maybe even quite often. I hope an update is made after some investigation.
@Win Whitmire — Yeah, try telling that to the agents that will deny you access to GE without it… (obviously, right now, all of it is closed, but, still.) @GUWonder is correct; it’s not supposed to be required at airports, but, occasionally, some rogue agents do demand it.
@jns — For sure. This story smells fishy.