(Sydney Dauphinais/KRBD)
A Ketchikan jeweler will have to pay a $10,000 settlement to the state of Alaska for misrepresenting their products. Jai Mahtani, the owner of Gold Rush, told undercover investigators that all of the products in the store were “locally sourced” when they were not mined in Alaska.
Mahtani says he never claimed his products were locally made. They were purchased in Alaska, he says. He told KRBD he takes full responsibility for his statements.
Mahtani, a Ketchikan City Councilmember, also allegedly misrepresented gold quartz during an undercover investigation in 2023. The State said in a press release that it was later identified as “likely fake.” Mahtani told KRBD it was a legitimate piece but had the incorrect certificate of authenticity.
Assistant Attorney General Ian Engelbeck was the lead attorney on the case. Engelbeck says misrepresentations of origin aren’t uncommon in Alaska, but they are working to hold business owners accountable.
“Folks come up here for a trip of a lifetime, and they want to buy something from Alaska, and it is a bad thing that people come away instead with something that isn’t from Alaska at all,” Engelbeck said.
Englebeck says if a sale seems too good to be true, there’s a chance it probably is. The settlement comes just over two weeks after another jewelry store in town, Miner’s Gems, had to pay a $20,000 settlement to the state for misrepresenting the origin and authenticity of gold quartz.
