Charles & Colvard agrees to sell assets for $1.5 million after Chapter 11 filing

Charles & Colvard’s planned $1.5 million asset sale is a brutal reminder that the lab-grown diamond boom has not translated into durable value for every player in the market. The company, once a notable name in moissanite and later lab-grown diamonds, entered Chapter 11 on March 2 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina and has now agreed to sell substantially all of its assets to Van Lang Jewelry LLC or its affiliate, Jewelry Design Partners LLC.

The proposed deal, disclosed in an April 15 Asset Purchase Agreement, covers intellectual property, inventory and fixed assets. It still requires bankruptcy court approval and a higher-or-better-bids process, but the price tells the story: even after years of pushing into man-made gemstones, the company’s assets are fetching a sum that is modest against the scale of its former business. The purchase price may also be reduced through a credit bid or offset against debt tied to the debtor-in-possession financing agreement.

That financing, approved in an interim order on March 24, gave Charles & Colvard access to up to $1 million from Van Lang Jewelry LLC under a senior secured superpriority facility. In practical terms, the buyer is already embedded in the rescue process, a common feature in distressed retail and jewelry cases where the fastest path to keeping inventory and operations alive is often also the clearest sign that equity holders are unlikely to recover anything meaningful.

The collapse did not happen overnight. Charles & Colvard said annual revenue fell to about $16 million in 2025, down from $22 million in 2024 and $30 million in 2023, while the company operated at a loss for three straight years. In April 2025, it warned of substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern, citing a $14.4 million fiscal 2024 loss and a $4 million arbitration settlement with Wolfspeed, formerly Cree. It also pointed to falling lab-grown diamond and moissanite prices, higher precious metal costs, inflation, supply-chain consolidation and intensifying competition from companies including Brilliant Earth and Blue Nile.

For shoppers, the lesson is sharper than any marketing pitch. A lab-grown diamond may still offer more carat weight for the money than a natural stone, but Charles & Colvard’s unraveling shows how quickly retail pricing can outrun long-term value. Before buying, verify the exact grading report, compare the price against a mined diamond of similar cut, color and clarity, and ask how the seller handles returns, upgrades, trade-ins and warranty coverage. The real question is no longer just what a diamond looks like in the case. It is what it will be worth after the market moves on.