A Ketchikan jeweler will have to pay $60,000 to the state in disgorgement and restitution to four customers for selling fake gold. That’s according to a settlement filed in a Ketchikan Superior Court last week.
State prosecutors filed a lawsuit in May of 2024 against Soni, Inc., which owns Flawless Fine Jewelry in downtown Ketchikan on Front Street, right in front of the cruise ship docks. Company director Sunita Lakhwani is also listed as one of the defendants. Undercover investigators with the state purchased what was represented as gold quartz mined in northern Alaska and handmade primarily by Ketchikan-based jewelers. In reality, the jewelry was from Southern California. What was misrepresented as “natural gold quartz” and “24-karat gold nuggets” was often low-purity 14-karat gold, and sometimes contained no gold at all.
Salespeople also told undercover investigators that natural gold quartz only occurs in Alaska and can only be legally purchased in Alaska, which is false.
Assistant Attorney General Ian Engelbeck was the lead attorney on the case.
“This case was important because it’s not just about one business telling folks that something’s from Alaska when it isn’t,” Engelbeck said. “When a business misrepresents its goods like that, it doesn’t just hurt the guests who get fooled by these misrepresentations. It also hurts every honest business that’s trying to compete with businesses that are not representing their goods truthfully.”
In a permanent injunction, the state ordered Soni, Inc. to truthfully represent the origin of its products and required the business to refrain from using the word “Alaskan” to describe any of its products without documentation that the raw materials were sourced here. The company is also open to being audited by state investigators, and is ordered to clearly tag all jewelry containing fake gold as “imitation stone.”
Additionally, Soni, Inc. will have to make three payments of $20,000 to the state by Oct. 1 of this year. They are also required to pay restitution payments to four customers who were misled by store employees, totaling nearly $9,000. The payments made to the four individuals will be deducted from the $60,000 in disgorgement.
Engelbeck said in Southeast Alaska, salespeople misrepresenting Alaska-themed goods to visitors isn’t uncommon.
“And after we had filed this lawsuit against Soni, Inc, we sent a copy of this lawsuit to jewelry stores across the state, reminding them of their obligations to sell their goods truthfully,” he said.
The store Flawless Fine Jewelry is currently closed and the number listed online is disconnected, likely for the tourist off-season, but the state reports they are still doing business. The company could not be reached for comment.
