In 2006, Ralph O. Esmerian bought luxury jewelry retailer Fred Leighton using a loan from Merrill Lynch. He defaulted on the $185 million loan in January, prompting Merrill Lynch to call in the collateral. Christie arranged an auction of the jewelry collection Esmerian put up for the loan, which includes a pink diamond ring ($15 million estimate) and a diamond brooch ($6 million estimate) that once belonged to the wife of Napoleon III. But Esmerian took legal action to block the auction, calling it a “fire sale” and stating that the jewelry would fetch better prices in private sales. The auction was called off, but you know Merrill Lynch wants to see that money soon. Shiny jewels aren’t liquid and Merrill has had enough. Esmerian had also hired Peter Bacanovic as CEO of Fred Leighton which didn’t impress his creditors. Bacanovic used to work for Merrill Lynch and had his 15 minutes of fame and 5 months in prison for being Martha Stewart’s stock broker.