Michel Germani, the 67-year-old founder of Germani Jewellers, concocted the January 2023 "heist" at his luxury CBD store to claw back funds before mounting rental debts forced him out, a NSW District Court jury has determined.
Germani had long claimed two men stormed the Hilton boutique, binding him and sales assistant Lana Al-Khoury with cable ties before making off with 164 pieces of high-end jewellery. The insurance claim, lodged the following morning with Avalon-based Barrenjoey Insurance Brokers and underwritten by Lloyd's of London, sought to recoup $2,821,348 — with the retail value of the "stolen" goods put at more than $7.5 million. The claim was never paid.
Germani and his accomplice, Mounir Helou, 59, had already admitted the robbery was a fabrication. But both denied one count of aggravated robbery with corporal violence and one count of detaining without consent in relation to Ms Al-Khoury, arguing she was in on the plan.
The jury disagreed — at least on the detention charge. The pair were found not guilty of the aggravated robbery count but convicted of detaining Ms Al-Khoury without her consent. They will be sentenced on 21 May.
Prosecutors painted a picture of a businessman under acute financial strain. The court heard Germani owed more than $184,000 in unpaid rent to the Hilton and was staring down the closure of his flagship store. The staged robbery, Crown prosecutor Cate Dodds told jurors, was a last-ditch attempt to recover funds through the insurance policy.
Central to the Crown case was the treatment of Ms Al-Khoury, who had not been rostered to work that evening but was called in by Germani shortly before the two "robbers" arrived just after 6.30pm. Ms Dodds told the jury Germani needed "a real victim" to lend credibility to the ruse and convince both police and insurers the attack was genuine.
Police bodyworn footage played during the trial showed the sales assistant breathless and disoriented as officers arrived at the scene. She had acted swiftly once the supposed robbers left — hopping to the shop's front door while still cable-tied to a chair and calling out for help from passers-by. Prosecutors said those actions, and the fact she did not wait calmly inside, undermined the defence's claim that she knew the robbery was staged. "On one or two occasions she was so scared she wet herself," the Crown told the court.
For brokers, the case is a pointed reminder of the exposure that fraudulent claims — particularly in high-value specie and jewellers' block risks — can create across the distribution chain. The policy at the centre of the case was arranged through Barrenjoey Insurance Brokers and placed into the Lloyd's market, with Germani submitting a formal claim form within a week of the incident.
While the claim was ultimately denied, the matter illustrates the forensic scrutiny now routinely applied to large specie losses, and the reputational stakes for brokers placing cover for high-net-worth retail clients whose financial position may be deteriorating quietly in the background.
Germani began his career as a jewellery designer in the 1980s and built a brand synonymous with bespoke pieces, rare stones and celebrity clientele — Princess Diana among them. The Hilton boutique became a fixture on Sydney's luxury shopping circuit, with Germani also operating a nearby store and dabbling in wholesale distribution.
A third man, Andrea David Cusumano, 59, was convicted at an earlier trial of attempting to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage for his role in activating a mobile phone used to coordinate the plan. He is due to be sentenced on 19 September.
Germani remains in custody ahead of his May sentencing hearing, where he and Helou face the prospect of significant jail terms for a scheme that, had it succeeded, would have ranked among Australia's largest jewellery insurance frauds.
