Luxury Watch Dealer Charged With Swindling Millions From Customers in Fraudulent Rolex Deals
A businessman who dealt in luxury watches was arrested by the FBI this week, accused of running a "Ponzi-type" scheme that defrauded at least 20 customers out of approximately $3 million from his consignment business. Instead, he allegedly used the money to fund his lavish lifestyle, which included sports cars, motorcycles, and gambling trips to Vegas.
Anthony Farrer, 35, operated a store called Timepiece Gentleman on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills from around November 2022 through August 2023, which he used to connect purchasers and sellers of high-end watches. After collecting a watch from a customer, Farrer would have them sign a consignment agreement that stipulated he would collect a commission from the sale, typically around 5 percent.
However, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Farrer would instead keep the total proceeds for himself. In some instances, he would allegedly persuade customers to wire him money to purchase watches for them, but then would either keep the money or "send a completely different watch," prosecutors state.
In one instance outlined in a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office, a victim "received a Rolex watch from Farrer in lieu of money Farrer owed, but the Rolex belonged to another victim who had provided the watch to Farrer to sell on consignment and did not authorize Farrer to use the watch as payment for his debts to other victims."
Similar to a Ponzi scheme, Farrer would also gain the trust of his victims by engaging in successful smaller transactions before asking them for significantly larger amounts of money, thereby "lulling them into a false sense of security."
Farrer is accused of defrauding at least 20 victims who contacted authorities to say that he either kept their watches, or money that they had given him to purchase watches. However, the investigation is ongoing and law enforcement officials are in the process of identifying additional possible victims.
When detectives with the Beverly Hills Police Department visited the business in August, they found the doors locked, the lights off, and a camera doorbell removed.
On Tuesday, Farrer was arrested on felony wire fraud charges "without incident" at a storage facility in Venice ahead of his arraignment, which is scheduled for Dec. 14. If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
