TPG Update

[Rolex_Fan_]

Looks like he will be gone for a while unless he gets a Judge he prayed for.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr...y-hills-pleads

Press Release
Former Owner of ‘The Timepiece Gentleman’ Luxury Watch Consignment Store in Beverly Hills Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges
Friday, October 11, 2024
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles man who ran a Beverly Hills luxury watch consignment business and was known as “The Timepiece Gentleman” pleaded guilty today to swindling dozens of his customers of out a total of at least $5.6 million.

Anthony Farrer, 36, formerly of downtown Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. He has been in federal custody since November 2023.

According to his plea agreement, from November 2022 to November 2023, Farrer used his business – also called “The Timepiece Gentlemen” – to connect purchasers and sellers of high-end watches. In a typical consignment sale, a client would ship a watch to The Timepiece Gentleman and Farrer would take possession of the watch, agreeing to display it at his Beverly Hills store and through online and social media marketing. The items involved in this case included luxury watches by Rolex, Richard Mille, and Patek Phillipe, among others.

Once the watch was sold, Farrer was supposed to remit the sales proceeds back to the client, minus a consignment fee, which typically was approximately 5% of the sales price. If the watch did not sell within a specific time or for a specified price, Farrer was to return the watch to the client.

However, instead of remitting watch sales proceeds – or the unsold watches themselves – back to the clients, Farrer sold the client watches and kept the proceeds for himself. He also used client watches – without the client’s knowledge or permission – as collateral for loans that he took out from lenders.

When a client asked about the status of a watch on consignment sale, Farrer lied and said that the watch had not yet been sold. In fact, Farrer already had sold the watch or otherwise disposed of it, keeping the funds for his own personal benefit.

In addition to his consignment sale business, Farrer also purported to purchase watches on behalf of his clients. Typically, a client sent funds to Farrer, often by wire transfers to his bank accounts or through payment processors such as Zelle, for the purpose of Farrer locating and buying a specified watch on the client’s behalf.

But in fact, Farrer took the clients’ money and used it for other purposes, including to fund his lavish lifestyle such as buying or leasing luxury automobiles, apartments, and other luxury goods.

When a client who had sent him money asked Farrer about the status of a watch purchase, Farrer often sent another watch to the client to tide the client over or lull them into a false sense of security regarding the status of the purchase. Similar to a Ponzi scheme, the other watch Farrer sent to the client often belonged to other clients who had themselves sent him that watch for a consignment sale. These clients were unaware Farrer was using their watches for that purpose, rather than attempting to sell the watches on behalf of the clients.

In total, Farrer fraudulently obtained money and property belonging to more than 40 victims and caused total losses of at least $5,691,005.

United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton scheduled a January 31, 2025, sentencing hearing, at which time Farrer will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count.

The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Beverly Hills Police Department investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Joshua O. Mausner of the Violent and Organized Crime Section is prosecuting this case.
Contact

Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-4465
Updated October 11, 2024

[zengineer]

6 years...

[enjoythemusic]

How many years did he get to play and enjoy the good life on others' dime? He drove expensive cars, wore expensive stuff, luxurious trips, i think there was hookers and blow, etc. How many years was he running the good life before being caught?

[Andy0331]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

How many years did he get to play and enjoy the good life on others' dime? He drove expensive cars, wore expensive stuff, luxurious trips, i think there was hookers and blow, etc. How many years was he running the good life before being caught?

Really only about 2 years; he didn't "take off" until mid '21 and was in jail by the end of '23.

He could have settled for his "not a true baller" little Audi R8 and decent life for a long time had he been smart with his money (the business probably net 300-400k at it's peak). Instead he spent probably 3-4x their net and started the ponzi to keep up his image.

[77T]

Originally Posted by zengineer

6 years...

Correct
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr...-beverly-hills


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[0nly5iv3Digits]

Hope tugger rots

[330ci]

Given the amount of people who told me I was a hater, jealous, and talking crap when I raised speculation on multiple discussions surrounding the character. I really don’t feel that bad for those who were taken. Anyone with a brain could tell this guy was a fraud. Anyone with any knowledge of the industry knows the margins are thin and to be able to flex like he was, he was running into massive debt or committing fraud. And given his criminal past, the latter seemed more likely than the former.

Oh how naive the bandwagon was, “people can change” “he’s a true testament to what happens when you turn your life around” etc. fools & their money followed by birds of a feather.


Anyone got a list of the 40 victims? I have an amazing business proposal for them.

[Blansky]

People are so easily taken in by people portraying themselves in visual media.

Influencers, lifestyle gurus, tech gurus, salvation and political hucksters etc etc....it boggles the mind that people can be so gullible.

Is it a self esteem issue that people are so easily fooled?

[brandrea]

I wonder how this will impact people who bought watches from TPG.

Say you bought a Rolex that he didn’t pay the consigned for …

If the new owner turns it in for service and the consignee reported it “stolen or whatever the term) … I’m assuming the person who bought the watch from TPG has a problem now?

[enjoythemusic]

Are you saying he sold 'stolen' goods he never paid for?

Like, no way! j/k

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

Are you saying he sold 'stolen' goods he never paid for?

Like, no way! j/k

Maybe he didn’t think he had to turn the funds over to the owners

[GB-man]

Back to his old job.

[Dan Pierce]

Originally Posted by Blansky

People are so easily taken in by people portraying themselves in visual media.

Influencers, lifestyle gurus, tech gurus, salvation and political hucksters etc etc....it boggles the mind that people can be so gullible.

Is it a self esteem issue that people are so easily fooled?

Agreed. These are not people targeted by a professional conman who knows just what buttons to push in a fictitious emergency that requires an immediate response.

This seems more like a case of FOMO + lots of disposable cash = bye, bye, cash.
dP

[enjoythemusic]

Originally Posted by Blansky

People are so easily taken in by people portraying themselves in visual media.

Agreed, from 'movie stars' to 'rappers' and 'representatives', etc etc etc.... btw Brett Cooper's recent YouTube ditty talks about their lack of influence nowadays. Guess when an OF girl does 1k in 12 hours, perhaps it's time to re-evalute things?

[2loaded]

Originally Posted by GB-man

Back to his old job.

[0nly5iv3Digits]

Originally Posted by GB-man

Back to his old job.

"It moved, Jerry!!!!"

[BraveBold]

Originally Posted by Blansky

People are so easily taken in by people portraying themselves in visual media.

Influencers, lifestyle gurus, tech gurus, salvation and political hucksters etc etc....it boggles the mind that people can be so gullible.

Is it a self esteem issue that people are so easily fooled?

No kidding. Take a look at Musk - the dishonest, snake oil types are doing gangbusters recently. Reliance on greater fools made easier by technological reach… would be amusing if so much damage wasn’t being done in the process.

[BNA/LION]

Go Directly To Jail!

I wonder how many TRF Members got Scammed by TPG?

[BLACKHORSE 6]

He had a store in Dallas before he moved to LA that I stopped into. Met him and looked around. Not sure if the Ponzi scheme was up and running at that time (this would have been 2020 or 2021). The thing that struck me as weird was that all the sales people he had working for him were young guys in their early 20s wearing expensive t-shirts, sweat pants and gold chains. I was just looking around and not interested in anything but I remember thinking that they needed to be more professional if they were going to sell the Pateks, RM and other watches that I saw there.

[Hollie_Rollie]

I remember when Roman Sharf and all the other YouTube watch dealers were partnering up with this guy…

I’m shocked he’s be in custody for almost 2 years. Times flying


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[GB-man]

My favorite thing about TPG was when he started hoarding Girard Perregauxs claiming they were next to shoot up in value lol

[walds11]

Originally Posted by GB-man

My favorite thing about TPG was when he started hoarding Girard Perregauxs claiming they were next to shoot up in value lol

Yep How about that $1mm+ chandelier model

[TRS1]

I remember when he was hell bent on buying a Pagani, and the look on the face of his female office assistant when he was trying to justify it just screamed Ponzi scheme.

[330ci]

Originally Posted by BLACKHORSE 6

He had a store in Dallas before he moved to LA that I stopped into. Met him and looked around. Not sure if the Ponzi scheme was up and running at that time (this would have been 2020 or 2021). The thing that struck me as weird was that all the sales people he had working for him were young guys in their early 20s wearing expensive t-shirts, sweat pants and gold chains. I was just looking around and not interested in anything but I remember thinking that they needed to be more professional if they were going to sell the Pateks, RM and other watches that I saw there.

Yeah and they literally scrubbed the entire store one day, skipped town and went dark for a few weeks before popping back up saying that it was a media stunt to hype up their move because so many people created this ficticious story up online and he ran with it. People on this forum called him a brilliant marketer at the time.

It was right in front of everyone’s face the entire time. The fact it took as long as it did to catch up with him is bonkers.

The pandemic really was a crazy time