A gem trader in New York claims $500,000 in stolen uncut diamonds. The trader says he was drugged by a Cuban prostitute he had taken back to his hotel, and that the woman stole 290 carats worth of diamonds. The woman was apparently last seen on the hotel’s surveillance video, carrying his briefcase.

The trader, Kurt Kaiser, says he met the woman in  Whiskey Park, a Manhattan bar. During the course of their conversation he spoke about losing out on a lucrative diamond deal.

"I was sitting by myself having a last vodka and soda, and she came up and asked, 'Mind if I join you?' I said 'Hell, yeah!' said Mr. Kaiser.

Kaiser and the woman later took a cab to his hotel room in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Manhattan. Kaiser claimed he did not realize the woman was a prostitute until she stopped at a drug store and bought a box of condoms and a $500 gift car with his credit card, before they reached his hotel.

Despite feeling ill and knowing that the woman was a prostitute, Kaiser had sex with her in his hotel room. Kaiser claimed that fearing the woman would steal the diamonds, he had managed to hide them in a drawer. The following morning he woke up and the woman was gone, alone with 45 uninsured diamonds, diamond certification documents, his passport, his sunglasses, and his watch.

“I woke and thought 'I've been screwed. It's the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life…Whatever she drugged me with, it took effect very quickly,” said Kaiser.

Kaiser told police that he was planning on trying to sell the diamonds to a Hong Kong dealer. Kaiser says he put $50,000 down for the diamonds and the rest was covered by two investors whose names he would not reveal.

Kaiser says he is desperate to retrieve the diamonds and believes the prostitute may not be aware of what she stole.

“If she gives them back, I probably won’t press charges,” said Kaiser. “She can have someone drop them off at the 1st Precinct.”

Police are conducting an active investigation. Some reporters have questioned Kaiser’s account, mainly why someone carrying $500,000 worth of diamonds would choose to stay at a low-end hotel with the gems and not take the basic precautionary action of keeping the diamonds in a safe or vault.