This is why I will never buy diamonds until prices come down:
The De Beers Group is a Johannesburg-based diamond mining and trading corporation. They have historically held a near-total monopoly in the diamond trade, although recently other producers have developed new mines, such as in Russia and Canada, challenging their dominance. In 1994 De Beers was charged by the United States Justice Department with antitrust violations for conspiring to fix prices for industrial diamonds. On 14 July 2004
De Beers pleaded guilty to the charges and paid a $10 million fine. The plea has enabled De Beers to trade directly in the United States diamond market after years of acting through intermediaries. Using its monopoly,
De Beers has created an artificial scarcity of diamonds, thus keeping prices high. The modern tradition of diamonds as a part of engagement in many cultures has been largely created by De Beers through an amazingly effective advertising campaign started in 1938. The "A Diamond is Forever" campaign not only convinced the public that the only suitable gift for engagement is a diamond, but also served to limit the market in used diamonds.
source =
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers