Drew Brees on Jewelry Lawsuit: 'It Was All a Scam'

Drew Brees is speaking out on his lawsuit against a San Diego jeweler -- saying he trusted the man with $15 million in diamonds ... but "in the end it was all a scam."

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Brees sued Vahid Moradi of CJ Charles jewelers claiming Moradi misrepresented the quality and value of several high-priced diamonds over the years.

In fact, Brees claimed he severely overpaid for an $8.1 MILLION blue diamond in 2015 -- which is really only worth about $3.75 mil.

Now, Brees has issued a statement through his attorney Andrew Kim saying, "From 2010 to 2016, Moradi advised [my wife and I] to allocate funds into an alternative asset class of investment grade diamonds and told us that he would use his connections and expertise to acquire them on our behalf at or below market value."

"In an effort to diversify our investment portfolio, we trusted Moradi and invested. Moradi assured us he was being compensated by the sellers for any investment grade diamonds he acquired on our behalf."

"In the end it was all a scam. After thinking long and hard, Brittany and I decided to take this lawsuit on in part because we fear we are not the only ones Moradi has misled and defrauded."

Moradi has denied any wrongdoing -- with his attorney -- saying the fault lies with Brees.

"Mr. Brees's behavior and his belief that he was wronged because the jewelry did not appreciate in value as quickly as he hoped both demonstrate a lack of integrity and contradict basic principles of both economics and the law."