The man behind a popular consignment watch business in Beverly Hills has pleaded guilty and faces up to 20 years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement Friday.
Anthony Farrer, owner of Timepiece Gentleman, defrauded dozens of customers out of more than $5.6 million, according to the guilty plea. He pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud for using his clients’ funds to finance his lavish lifestyle and for running a Ponzi scheme, taking watches that clients had asked him to sell in consignment and giving them to other customers who had paid him to buy them. monitors them, prosecutors said.
He was arrested in November 2023 — after a Times article detailed numerous theft allegations — and charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.
His business was simple: customers would send Farrer a watch and pay a small fee for his services. The fees typically amounted to about 5 percent of the watch’s sale price, according to the Justice Department.
However, several customers began noticing their watches disappearing from the Timepiece Gentleman website without notice or payment. Rumors swirled on social media.
What customers, online sleuths and, ultimately, law enforcement discovered was essentially a Ponzi scheme, prosecutors said.
“Farrer took clients’ money and used it for other purposes, including to fund his lavish lifestyle,” Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. This included purchasing or leasing luxury automobiles and apartments, Estrada said.
March 2022 screenshot of Anthony Farrer during an interview after his home was targeted by burglars.
(KTLA)
In other cases, Estrada said, Farrer used the watches as collateral for loans, without the watch owners’ knowledge.
“When a customer who had sent him money asked Farrer about the status of a watch purchase, Farrer would often send the customer another watch to reassure them or lull them into a false sense of security regarding the status of the purchase,” Estrada wrote. One such exchange was detailed in the Times report before Farrer’s arrest.
Farrer posted on social media about his debts in August, admitting what he did was wrong.
“Spending people’s money, living beyond my means…I dug this hole myself and it’s a $5 million hole,” he said in a video. “Of this debt, approximately $3 million is intended for two of my large clients. One who acted as an investor and I used his money to fund my lifestyle.
Farrer is scheduled to be sentenced on January 31. His scheme ensnared more than 40 victims, some of whom are now taking legal action to get their watches back.
Times staff writer Noah Goldberg contributed to this report.
