A Manhattan couple claims TSA agents at JFK Airport lifted more than $95,000 worth of rings from their luggage.
Natalie and Michael Hekmat were booked on a February flight to Los Angeles when they checked their locked luggage with JetBlue at the curb, according to their lawsuit.
Inside her suitcase, Natalie Hekmat had packed nine rings into a brown suede jewelry roll, including an $80,000 2.10-carat diamond ring and several others from the Italian company Pomellato, including a $3,050 ring with brown diamonds; a $2,800 ring with black diamonds; and a $2,350 amethyst ring.
“Upon arrival at LAX, [they] immediately inspected their luggage,” according to court papers, and “found that the jewelry roll had been opened and all the property . . . was missing from the roll. The roll was not taken.”
The Hekmats put in a claim with the Transportation Security Administration, but it was denied in May, prompting them to file the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against the TSA and the airline.
The TSA, which has surveillance cameras monitoring its agents as they search luggage, declined to comment.
A JetBlue spokeswoman said the airline had investigated the claim.