Entrepreneur Martin Rapaport, founder and chairman of the Rapaport Group, which owns Diamonds.com, began his career in 1975 as an apprentice diamond cleaver in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1976, Martin founded his eponymous company. He soon recognized a need in the market for fair and transparent diamond pricing.

In 1978, when he was in New York City, Martin revolutionized the industry when he published the Rapaport Price List. He transformed the business again in 1996 when he launched the online RapNet Diamond Trading Network. Together, RapNet and the Rapaport Price List, provide diamond pricing, availability and trading transparency in a competitive environment.

A major recycler of diamonds, the firm offers Rapaport Trading and Auction Services selling over 500,000 carats of previously owned diamonds annually. Over the years, the Rapaport Group products and companies have evolved and expanded internationally to include a broad range of added-value services with a unified purpose: The development of fair, honest, transparent, competitive and efficient markets.

The company currently employs 230 people internationally. The Rapaport Group operates offices in major diamond hubs around the world including New York, Las Vegas, Antwerp, Ramat Gan, Mumbai, Surat, Dubai and Hong Kong.

The Rapaport Group is an active member of the international diamond, gemstone and jewelry industry and is a member of several organizations including New York Diamond Dealers Club, U.S. Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association, Jewelers Vigilance Committee, Antwerp Diamond Bourse, Israel Diamond Exchange, Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association, Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), Dubai Diamond Exchange and the Shanghai Diamond Exchange.

The Rapaport Group takes a strong proactive role promoting and implementing corporate responsibility programs around the world. Internal controls and audits ensure that our companies are in full compliance with local and international laws. The Group’s in-house compliance team includes experienced lawyers who monitor all of our activities and our strict adherence to best practice principles. Independent external audits ensure full compliance with all aspects of the Kimberley Process, U.S. Patriot Act, anti-money laundering regulations and other guidelines.

Rapaport’s corporate responsibility activities extend well beyond commercial ventures. Our mission transcends the standard corporate goals of profit maximization. Rapaport champions all of the people in every aspect of the diamond industry. From artisanal diggers in Sierra Leone to millions of cutters in India and jewelers across the globe, we believe that everyone is worthy of being treated fairly and respectfully. We are committed to supporting these values in all that we do.

We believe that the private sector has a critical and irreplaceable role to play, driving sustainable economic development in the poorest countries of the world. We are committed to using our economic power and strategic positioning in the diamond and jewelry industry to help artisanal diggers and other disadvantaged groups obtain economic self-sufficiency. The Rapaport Group regularly donates at least 10 percent of profits to charity and initiates programs to alleviate poverty in Africa and elsewhere.

Martin is an industry activist and leader who advocates for the rights of artisanal diamond diggers in Sierra Leone. He is one of the originators of the Kimberley Process (KP), a United Nations–backed set of requirements instituted to stop the flow of diamonds funding conflict from entering the mainstream market. In 2000, Martin attended the first KP meeting in Kimberley, South Africa. He helped form the World Diamond Council (WDC), which represents the diamond industry in the development and implementation of regulatory and voluntary systems to control the trade in diamonds embargoed by the United Nations, or covered by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. Martin later resigned from the WDC following its refusal to notify the trade about limitations of the KP.

In April 2000, Martin’s article “Guilt Trip,” about diamonds being used to bankroll the Sierra Leone civil war, was published in Diamonds.com Magazine. The article was read into the Congressional Record by Congressman Tony Hall (D) Ohio, when he introduced the Clean Diamond Act in 2001, legislation that Martin actively supported. The Clean Diamond Act, a bill to implement effective measures to stop the trade in conflict diamonds, was passed by congress in 2003. More recently, he has protested greenwashing by the KP regarding the legitimization of diamonds from Zimbabwe. In 2005, Martin established and funded the first Sierra Leone diggers cooperatives in coordination with the State Department’s U.S. AID (Agency for International Development) and the U.K. DFID (Department for International Development).

In 2017, the Sierra Leone government selected the Rapaport Group to market and auction the “Peace Diamond,” a 709-carat rough gem (pictured above) found by a group of artisanal miners. The Rapaport Group provided its services at no charge so that all of the money from the sale of the stone benefited the artisanal diggers and the people of Sierra Leone. The rough diamond was purchased by London-based jeweler Graff.

Diamonds.com’s collection of diamonds and fine jewelry showcases rare and luxurious pieces personally chosen by our experienced curator. Our graduate gemologist concierge will be your personal contact through every step of your acquisition to ensure that you get exactly what you desire. You may call or email our concierge directly and she will answer any questions that you may have so you can make an informed decision about your purchase. With over 40 years in the diamond and jewelry business we have a global network of connections enabling us to source whatever you request. We emphasize top quality and fair pricing so that your jewel is extraordinary not only in gemstones and design, but in value as well.