Beverly Hills consignment store owner pleads guilty to conning customers

A Los Angeles man who previously operated a business in Beverly Hills known as Gentlemen Timepieces pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding customers of his luxury watch consignment business.

Anthony Farrer, 36, who previously lived in downtown Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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Farrer founded the company in Texas in 2017 and opened a location in Beverly Hills in 2022, using the business to connect purchasers and sellers of high-end watches, prosecutors said. He would typically collect a watch from an individual and have them sign a consignment agreement that stipulated he would collect a commission from the sale, typically 5%, according to court papers.

Federal prosecutors say Farrer defrauded victims from November 2022 to November 2023, promising customers he would sell their luxury watches on consignment. Rather than remitting funds back to the customers less the commission, he kept the proceeds for himself, according to his plea agreement.

Court papers show that 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. To date, investigators estimate losses to about 40 victims at more than $5.6 million.

Farrer, who lived in a luxury rental property and was known to drive a Lamborghini and Ducati motorcycles, frequently traveled to Las Vegas to gamble, prosecutors said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, 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.

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, prosecutors said.

Farrer operated in a similar manner to a Ponzi scheme and would lull victims into a sense of security by engaging in smaller successful transactions prior to requesting or engaging in significantly larger transactions, according to prosecutors.

Farrer apparently abandoned the Beverly Hills store last year and began posting about his various travel throughout the United States on social media. In October 2023, a month prior to his arrrest, Farrer continued to advertise watches for sale on his social media platforms, according to the criminal complaint.

U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton scheduled a Jan. 31 sentencing hearing, at which time Farrer will face up to 40 years in federal prison, federal prosecutors noted.

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