They have admitted in depositions that they, like many of their colleagues, routinely understated the value of the jewelry being transported on manifests they filed with Brink's, in order to keep their insurance costs down to a level where their businesses can be profitable.

Brink's in turn has sued to limit the payout to the declared value of the jewelry, accusing the jewelers of breach of contract.

[2] Due to the valuable merchandise readily accessible, jewelry shows and those who sell at them are vigilant for possible thieves, usually those attempting smash and grabs.

On that day, one jeweler present later recalled, the announcements seemed more frequent and specific than usual, mentioning the presence of "suspicious individuals on site".

The show's manager, Brandy Swanson, chased a man wearing a surgical mask and earpiece who had been sitting on a folding chair watching jewelers pack up after the show ended, when all members of the public were no longer allowed in, and had him escorted out of the event center after he claimed not to be able to speak English in response to her questions.

[2] James Beaty and Tandy Motley, the two Brink's guards who would drive the jewelry bags to Pasadena, began loading the 73 bags, weighing 70–100 pounds (32–45 kg) each,[1] all identically wrapped in orange plastic with no indication as to what was inside, save a color-coded tag supposedly representing the cash value of the contents,[2] into a tractor trailer.

Security also found another man, also with an earpiece, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, loitering near the loading area.

After loading the truck and locking it up, with a single padlock and plastic security seal on the rear doors, they began the 370-mile (600 km) drive shortly before 8:30 p.m. Before it left, Beaty had gone into the sleeper in the rear of the cab to get the 10 hours' rest mandated by federal hours of service regulations before he could drive the truck again.

[4] At 2 a.m., having driven almost 300 miles (480 km) nonstop down Interstate 5 since leaving San Mateo, Motley pulled off the highway at the Frazier Mountain Park Road exit just south of the small town of Lebec, where I-5 climbs through Tejon Pass.

A short distance to the west, he turned into a Flying J truck stop on the south side of the road, just over the Los Angeles County line.

They called the company and then notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which sent deputies to the scene to take a report and investigate.

[2] Months after the theft, the Los Angeles Times reported on an exchange captured on bodycam footage it was able to review a transcript of.

Thieves stealing this much jewelry would probably very quickly take it to jewelers working with them to use chemical agents to separate stones and metal, melt down the metals for resale in bulk and remove any identifying marks, such as the ten-digit IDs etched on stones authenticated by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) from the jewels themselves.

[2] There have been accusations, due to the planning likely involved and the nonpublic information the thieves seem to have had, that the theft was an inside job perpetrated by someone tipped off by the company.

The local Brink's office told them nothing about what had happened, and only two days later did the company send him and other jewelers a letter vaguely referring to a "loss incident".

[2] Brink's had fixed the value of the stolen jewelry at $8.7 million based on the information given by the jewelers on forms they or representatives had signed and filed with the carrier for insurance purposes.

But media reports began circulating that the true value of the jewelry was much higher, closer to $100 million by some estimates.

In early August the company filed suit against the jewelers in federal court in New York, accusing them of breach of contract and seeking to limit the payment to the jewelry's declared value.

[11] The jewelers, incredulous at what seemed to them to be weak and lax security, filed a separate suit two weeks later, in state court in Los Angeles, alleging negligence on the company's part, asking $200 million in damages.

[2] Some also sued Flying J's parent company, arguing under a premises liability claim that with a history of theft incidents related to the truck stop over the previous six years it should have been more security-conscious.

He granted the plaintiffs 30 days to file an amended complaint after their lawyer said he had just learned of a similar incident where a driver returning to his truck had found the door open and people milling around in the back.