{"id":54646,"date":"2023-11-08T18:07:11","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T02:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54646"},"modified":"2023-11-08T18:07:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T02:07:11","slug":"founder-of-beverly-hills-gentlemen-timepieces-consignment-store-allegedly-conned-victims-in-ponzi-type-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54646","title":{"rendered":"Founder of Beverly Hills “Gentlemen Timepieces” Consignment Store Allegedly Conned Victims in Ponzi-Type Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"A Los Angeles man who once owned and ran “Gentlemen Timepieces,” a luxury watch consignment company in Beverly Hills, was arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anthony Farrer, 35, who until recently lived in downtown Los Angeles, was charged in a federal criminal complaint filed Monday with wire fraud, a felony. If convicted of the charges, he is facing up to 20 years in prison. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Farrer also referred to as “The Timepiece Gentleman,” was taken into federal prison overnight after being apprehended at a storage facility in Venice without any problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Law enforcement estimates that victim losses currently total about $3 million. The investigation is ongoing, and law enforcement is in the process of identifying additional victims.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Farrer established the business in Texas in 2017 and launched a site in Beverly Hills in 2022, according to an affidavit submitted with the case that was unsealed today. Through this company, Farrer facilitated the exchange of luxury watch buyers and sellers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"After collecting a watch from a customer, he would usually have them to sign a consignment agreement stating he would get paid a commission\u2014typically 5%\u2014for the sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Farrer established the business in Texas in 2017 and launched a site in Beverly Hills in 2022, according to an affidavit submitted with the case that was unsealed Wednesday. Through this company, Farrer facilitated the exchange of luxury watch buyers and sellers.<\/span><\/p>\n

After collecting a watch from a customer, he would usually have them to sign a consignment agreement stating he would get paid a commission\u2014typically 5%\u2014for the sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The complaint alleges that Farrer defrauded victims from late 2022 until the summer of 2023, when he promised customers he would sell their luxury watches on consignment. <\/span><\/p>\n

He kept the proceeds for himself rather than remitting funds back to the customers, less the commission. Farrer lived in a luxury rental property and was known to drive a Lamborghini and Ducati motorcycles. <\/span><\/p>\n

He traveled frequently to and engaged in gambling in Las Vegas, according to the complaint.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Farrer induced victims into wiring funds for the purchase of luxury watches and, instead of purchasing the agreed upon watch, he would send them a different watch, the complaint alleges. <\/span><\/p>\n

In one case, 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The complaint further alleges that Farrer similarly operated a Ponzi scheme and would lull victims into a sense of security by engaging in smaller, successful transactions before requesting significantly larger ones.<\/span><\/p>\n

Multiple victims contacted law enforcement to report that they wired funds to Farrer for the purchase of a watch or mailed him a watch to consign for sale, but were never paid for the watch or never received their watch back. <\/span><\/p>\n

Farrer abandoned the Beverly Hills store in August 2023 and began posting about his travels throughout the United States on social media. As recently as October 2023, Farrer continued to advertise watches for sale on his social media platforms, according to the complaint.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Beverly Hills Police Department are investigating this matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua O. Mausner of the Violent and Organized Crime Section is prosecuting this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Anthony Farrer, 35, who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nFounder of Beverly Hills "Gentlemen Timepieces" Consignment Store Allegedly Conned Victims in Ponzi-Type Scheme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES\u00a0 A Los Angeles man who once owned and ran "Gentlemen Timepieces," a luxury watch consignment company in Beverly Hills, was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54646\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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