High-End Jeweler Graff Diamonds Sues Insurer Over $7.5M Bitcoin Ransomware Payment

Famous British Jeweler Graff Diamonds Corp. has filed a lawsuit against its insurance company, The Travelers Companies Inc., over $7.5 million it spent after falling victim to a ransomware attack in September 2021, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

According to the report, the billion dollar jewelry brand said that the loss it incurred over the extortion should be covered under the insurance company’s policy. However, Graff alleged that Travelers had refused to offer indemnity. 

“We are extremely frustrated and disappointed by Travelers’ attempt to avoid settlement of this insured risk. They have left us with no option but to bring these recovery proceedings to the High Court,” the company’s spokesperson said. 

Graff Diamonds Gets Hacked

As a high society store that deals with premium diamond jewelry, the company boasts an affluent customer base including David Beckham, Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Sir Philip, former American President Donald Trump, and Middle East royalties. 

Earlier last year, the infamous ransomware gang “Conti” exploited the firm to obtain files containing sensitive information about its clients. 

The hackers asked for a multi-million ransom in crypto to avoid leaking the contents of the stolen files and released part of the files relating to purchases made by David Beckham, Oprah, and Donald Trump as proof of the hack. 

The gang also published about 69,000 other confidential documents, including customer lists, invoices, receipts, and credit notes, with claims that the published data represented just one percent of the stolen files. 

Graff Diamonds Pays $7.5M Bitcoin Ransom

To stop the hackers from further publications, Graff Diamonds was obliged to make their payment requests and offered to pay half of their initial demand in bitcoin. On November 3, 2021, the Conti group accepted payments of 118 BTC worth $7.5 million sent to a Bitcoin wallet. 

“The criminals threatened targeted publication of our customers’ private purchases. We were determined to take all possible steps to protect their interests and so negotiated a payment which successfully neutralized that threat,” said Graff’s spokesperson. 

Meanwhile, this is not the first time a ransom has been paid in BTC. In 2020, Coinfomania reported that CWT, an American-based travel company, paid $4.5 million worth of Bitcoin to regain access to its sensitive files after a security breach.