The phony robbery was a "desperate gamble" by jewellers Atul Shah and Mahaveer Kankariyam that went wrong, a New York judge ruled Friday finding each man guilty on all seven counts, New York Daily News reported.
Shah, 49, and Kankariya, 44, face up to 15 years prison when sentenced in the New Year's Eve, 2008 heist.
Prosecutors had said the pair paid guys dressed as Hasidic Jews to barge into their store with fake guns, just like in the 2001 Guy Ritchie movie.
"I find that this fraud was predicated on a fake robbery," said Judge Thomas Farber in the bench trial at Manhattan Criminal Court. "The emptying of the safe, to me, is suspicious."
Farber also called Shah's testimony that he buzzed in the two Hasidic-dressed gunmen thinking they were Bombay couriers "frankly ridiculous."
As the judge read his verdict, both men looked straight ahead while their families leaned forward and gripped each others' hands.
Farber said he determined both men worked together in the scheme.
"It is clear to me that this was a conspiracy and could not have worked any other way," he said. "This was the most difficult thing I've done in my career. I find the defendants guilty."
The jewellers' insurance bid went sour after officials recovered surveillance video of Shah and Kankariya clearing out a safe two hours before the fake gunmen got there on Dec 31, 2008, Daily News said.
The partners had attempted to destroy the evidence, pouring Drano over the recording equipment in their offices, but the video was in good enough shape for technicians to repair it.
Source: IANS