Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 'Timepiece Gentleman' Locked Up For $5M Scam

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Anthony Farrer appeared to be living the good life as he posted videos of his luxury watch business on YouTube. But the FBI and IRS said Farrer's life was a sham and he promised to sell the watches for clients and then pocketed the cash. A federal judge recently sentenced Farrer to prison. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at Farrer's fall from grace in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. This is my last video on YouTube for, you know, I don't want to say indefinitely, but definitely for a long, long time. A luxury watch dealer who swindled his clients out of millions learns his punishment, I dive into the case of the timepiece gentleman and how his life of luxury online was all a lie. They would rather me end my life, end up in prison, do whatever it takes to not be able to pay you guys back. I'm not going that route. I'm not going to succumb to the pressure. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Time is finally up for Anthony Farrer, a scam artist who dealt in luxury watches and dubbed

himself the Time Piece Gentleman. The name sounds very fancy and refined, and it makes you think of this image of a suave salesman. But the feds say Anthony Farrer is nothing more than a two-bit con and a thief, and he basically admitted as much on YouTube of all places. Farrer's Instagram page is full of luxury watches for sale, but the FBI said Farrer was taking the watches and promising to sell them for customers and then pocketing the cash. Over the course of a year, he stole more than $5 million, and now a U.S. district judge has

sentenced Farrer to prison time. Just how much time will he spend behind bars? I'll get to that in a bit. But first, I want to start at the very beginning. I want you to really know who I am and get an understanding of where I come from, how I got into the business. Anthony Farrer started posting videos on YouTube in 2020. He said he was adopted as a child and grew up in Texas, and he's no stranger to life behind bars. He claims he served 11 months for a third DUI,

lost his mother while he was inside, and even missed the birth of his son. When he got out, Farrar knew he wanted to put his life in the right direction. He decided pursuing his passion for watches was the way to go. I had this weird idea that I was going to be a watch dealer. Where it came from I couldn't tell you. I didn't see an ad anywhere. I didn't take a aptitude test that they tell you and they say you're going to be a watch dealer. I think I remembered missing having a watch because they wouldn't let you wear one in the halfway house and whatever reason it just made me think, that's what you're gonna do. I found a course online that somewhat taught watch trading.

I took it and there was a little bit of valuable information. It wasn't near anything that was really gonna make me what I've created today. And I remember the first deal I ever did was, I found this watch on Craigslist in Oklahoma City. And the guy, it was a Tag Heuer, and the guy wanted like $2,100 for it.

So we went back and forth for a couple days and I negotiated it down to $1,300. And I drove halfway to meet him. He came and dropped it off. I got it back and I took some pictures of it, posted it on Facebook and on a couple other sites online. And within three days, I sold it for $1,800 and I made a $500 profit. At one point, Farrar also shares the story of how the timepiece gentleman was born. So I was sitting there in the office one day, and at the time,

I was wearing a Breitling Chronomat 39 two-tone with a gold dial and blue sub-dials. It was one of my first high-end watches that luckily I did not have to get rid of when I went to prison. It was cheap enough. I could keep it. I took that watch off and I put it down on the desk and I took a picture of it and I started an Instagram account. And when I first started it, I just named it my first name and that was it. But I kept thinking, I was like, I've got to name this something that one day somebody's going to walk up to me and say, hey, you're... And that's what I had to think.

What is this person going to call me? And I came up with the Time Piece Gentleman. It just sounded kind of bizarre and out there and maybe a little cocky. I don't know. But what it did have, it had great SEO. If you Googled at that time, the timepiece gentleman, gentleman timepiece, timepieces for gentlemen, there was absolutely no search results for that that related to those keywords. Life looked pretty good for Anthony Farrer in October of 2021.

It's been a long time coming. People have been asking for a personal channel. He even gave viewers a glimpse inside his office as he set up inventory one morning. Look at the rows of luxury watches he was claiming to sell for clients. If a watch is sold through Shopify, it creates a receipt, I'm guessing, not an invoice. Hey, I want to tell you about Upside. It's a free app that gets you cash back on things like gas, groceries, and restaurants. This is real cash back. It's money that appears in your Upside app that you can transfer straight into your bank account. I've used Upside at a number of places, especially when I need a cup of tea or coffee, and that's a lot. I claim an offer on the app, I pay as usual, and I follow the steps steps and I get cash back. It's really, really easy. You can also use Upside at places like Shell, Exxon, 7-Eleven, Taco Bell, and that's just to name a few. To find out how much you could earn, click the link in the description to download Upside or scan that QR code on your screen and use our promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas.

That's promo code CRIMEFIX for extra cash back. Life was looking pretty good. It was looking up. That day, Farrer even had a video showing him picking up a Lamborghini. He was making big bucks, or so it seemed. It's very possible that Anthony Farrer was enjoying a lot of success in the very beginning, but his business was a Ponzi scheme. And like all Ponzi schemes, they eventually collapse when the person running it can't keep up with paying investors. They're basically robbing Peter to pay Paul, using money from one person to pay another until the money runs out. Farrer even recorded himself in Las Vegas betting $100,000 on blackjack in October of 2021. But in May of 2023, Farrer was caught on police body cameras in Scottsdale, Arizona, and it appears he was running a con.

There's an argument on this whole one, watching the stuff between fire and it's getting a little heated and we need some help here to keep the situation de-escalated. This is the owner, Joe, and Don and this gentleman is accusing us of some stuff. Okay. How are you doing, sir? Good. So this is my original invoice when I bought this watch from a dealer in LA. I have, I can't tell you how many pictures and videos of me wearing this watch. I was at a bar on... I'm not gonna run out, come on, I'm not stupid.

March 18th, I was here for a Grant Cardone conference. I was wearing this watch out. Went to a bar, was drinking, got f***ed up. This was taken off my wrist. I posted it on social media and in my dealer groups the very next day. I've put a $100,000 reward out for it. It's been posted on YouTube videos. And now all of a sudden in Scottsdale, Arizona,

I even told him about it two months ago when it happened. I said, hey, if anybody offers you a Richard Mittle, let me know mine got stolen. Pull up on me. See if I text you that also. So if it was stolen and you filed a police report, so we purchased the watch. You purchased it from someone? We purchased it from someone. We submitted it in Leeds. It's been in Leeds for Scottsdale Police Department. It hasn't come back stolen yet. Just so you know, when the woman behind the counter says they submitted the watch into

Leeds, that's a database where pawn shops, jewelers, places like that submit serial numbers for items they buy to ensure that they're not stolen. Anthony Farr is not a fan of Leeds Online. There's dozens of websites and none of them are effective because every police department across the country is not on board with them. Correct. So it doesn't work. And not everybody knows about it. Trust me. There's not a single stolen registry for every single watch because every law enforcement hasn't gotten with it.

We filed leads. It has not come back stolen yet. It's still on hold. So he went to look at the watch and won't give us the watch back. But if it in fact is stolen, it has to now go through the police and the courts. Did you make a police report? I did because I was already out of town. Where was it stolen from? Do you have the paperwork for it when you bought that? It's right there. It's a watch only.

Did it come with a card or anything? I don't know if they come with cards. They do, but if people lose them. When I bought this watch, it came watch only. I actually bought this watch a year... Where's your mail? Just the watch? I'm a dealer. Yeah, no, it's here.

Oh, yeah. I bought this watch in L.A. about a year and a half ago. I sold it to my client a year and a half ago. Do you have anything with the serial number on it? I can show wire transfers. I can show everything. Show me your post from three months ago with the serial number and a picture of the watch. Anthony Farrar looks through his phone to try to show the officer proof that the watch in the jewelry store is actually stolen. So this is a screenshot. This is an actual post on April 11th at 1.22, showing that watch, showing the scratches that they tried to remove from right here.

Case number 3510. That's the serial? Case 3510, right there. Dude, the scratches are the exact same. There's videos talking about this. There's videos talking about that I was at a Grant Cardone event and I went out and that night my Richard Mille got stolen. If I go into my WhatsApp chats, which is where all of our business is done, and I type in... You say you didn't report it. I didn't report it because I was out of town and I hadn't had a chance to get back in town. I've been doing this six years. I've never had a watch stolen.

It is part of the business. It doesn't make sense. Trust me, it doesn't make sense that somebody got a watch and it gets stolen like this and I wouldn't fly back here and report it. But by the time I come back and report it, I've seen so many stolen watches and none of my clients have ever recovered.

Now get this. Farrer tells the officer that the watch is worth $250,000. Can you imagine? Who did you guys buy it from? Do you have that? We can pull all the paperwork. Yeah, it's submitted in leads.

Oh my God. Okay. Check. Hold on. You just can't come in here and take it. You know what I'm saying? I was holding it. I'm explaining. I want to get my whole point across. I want to know in here and take it. You know what I'm saying? I was holding it. I'm explaining.

I want to get my whole point across. I want to know where you guys bought it. This is no doubt my watch. Whoever you guys bought it from, I'm surprised y'all bought a Richard Mill from someone that was in the box of papers. But you got one with no box of papers. And it wasn't stolen. But how would you know that? Come on.

Okay, stop. Everybody stop. Are you kidding me? You just came in here and said you'd buy a watch from somebody with no box of papers in his wallet. If you Google the case number, if you Google the Richard Mill model of that case number, there's plenty of articles showing that it's stolen. That's not. There's videos on YouTube.

Do you know Kevin Rivers? Kevin Rivers? Yeah. I mean, this is a picture of him. I think here's the biggest tell. So Tyler sent me a picture yesterday. We're not denying that it's his watch. There's no denying it.

You can't just come in and take it. You can't walk in and take it. Listen, I didn't grab the watch and run. I held it, and I just want to explain my case. My fear was that I told him not to tell anybody else. I didn't want to come in in the beginning because I'm too recognizable. If someone here knows about that watch or let's say you guys bought that watch for a hundred thousand dollars under the way under the table and there's a perception that it was stolen. I didn't want someone disappearing in the watch,

not being here before I got it. I had no intention of grabbing this watch, but it is my watch. It is stolen. I reported this watch stolen. The officer goes outside and makes a call. A few minutes later, he returns and tells Anthony Farrer he's not leaving the store with the watch. What's your name? Anthony. Anthony. So since it happened in Phoenix, you're going to have to report that in Phoenix. Okay.

And then come back here for the recovery. Okay. So you're going to have to do some research and figure out where you were. I can find that out. I'll go back to Phoenix right now. I'll go back to Phoenix. It was across from some... It was next to the arena.

You can Google where the Grand Cardona thing was. Yeah, that's going to be your first step. Now remember, the feds say that Anthony Farrer is a con man, and the jewelry store owner, she is not buying what Farrer is claiming, and she lays out why. I'm talking, please. So this is also something that happens when they look up a watch on the internet or text and then all of a sudden it's their watch and it was stolen because now they

have the serial number. Now they're going to go file a police report, which is BS. And why do you lose a $200,000 watch and not report it? I have guys who are pulling $1,000 watches. So how does that work? Because now he'll go file a report because he came in and got the serial number, and now he's going to say, that's my watch. Yeah, so it's mostly going to be a civil matter, regardless of anything, between you guys and how far he wants to take it. You guys did nothing wrong.

No, and then he filmed me. I was threatening to put it on his famous TikTok. It's like we didn't do anything wrong. You know and then he filmed me. I was threatening to put it on his famous TikTok. Like, that's... It's like we didn't do anything wrong. You know what I mean? We voted up. We just filed a lawsuit against him for defamation of character. Yeah, that's not how you guys are videoing too.

Yeah, like we did nothing wrong. They're great people. Yeah. Yeah, I know, you guys. The guy in the green never walks into the store again. Absolutely. Yeah. Farrar keeps up this act outside the store with the officer.

This guy's mother trying to sell another 34 things. It passes two, three, four, five sets of hands, then it finally gets put out on the market. But there's a reason it wasn't on their website. There's a reason that the guy's offering them, offering it to over half of what it's actually worth. And they're selling it for less than what it's actually worth. They were voting for him for $225. I'd gladly buy that watch for $ for 225 next time if it happens again just make it police report because it'll make it a lot easier well so what i was saying is like dude look trust me whatever but i own a watch i've owned watches that are worth a million million five i've worn them out got fucked up never had an issue and and on in my honest opinion in my honest mindset i was like

you know what chalk it up that's a lesson i've never been robbed i've never lost a watch i've done 80 million dollars in sales in five years so that's a it happens it's a lesson i know guys have gotten hit with a lot harder larger stuff so i just don't know what it teaches me but it is in all the forums right so it's in whatsapp chats i'm surprised they they i mean do you if you google it with that stolen richard mill with that case number there's articles that'll pop up there's youtube videos about it because whenever i post it people take my stuff and they repost it on there's several videos talking about i mean i i believe you. Yeah. I was screenshotting this over there.

Just this one guy did four videos on my stolen Richard Mill in a matter of a day. So it's not like it's not out there and the scratches are obvious. The case number matches. All right, so I need to go to downtown Phoenix. File a police report. So who's got the watch? I think they do.

I think it's the guy with the white shirt. Well, the store has the watch. So now they can't sell. Right. They're not going to sell. They're going to hold on to it. It's going to become a civil issue between you versus the store. I don't know how

far you want to push that. It goes way too big to lose a lawsuit. I don't know. It's your too big to lose the lawsuit. I'm going to fight it until I run out of money. I don't know. You're called. It's going to be hard to... Well, they're going to have to prove where he got it. He's going to get up to testify.

He's going to have to prove where he got it. He's not going to. That's going to end it right there. All right, guys. Thank y'all. Good luck. I'm going to go tell those dudes. Less than three months later, after that performance at the jewelry store,

Anthony Farrer had a big confession to make. I know my words don't mean anything right now, but I really am genuinely sorry. Time had run out for the timepiece gentleman. He was deep in debt to his clients. I'm $5 million in debt. You know, about $3 million of that debt is to two big clients of mine. One who acted as an investor and I used his money to fund my lifestyle. The other who I'll just, I'll just leave it at that. I owe two big, two big people, $3 million. I owe a lot of small people a collective $2 million for watches that I've sold.

I've, you know, I've let stuff get the best of me and I've made a lot of bad decisions. I've made a lot of dumb mistakes. I even lied in that message about a robbery, you know, hoping to cover it up even more while I try to fix it. And, you know, it's gotten to where just living this, this fake lifestyle, this look at me, I'm smart, I'm successful, you know, keeping up the appearances. It's, it's eating me alive. You know, I drink every night just to be able to go to sleep. I've lied to my employees. I've lied to my clients. I've lied to my friends.

I've lied to my peers. Farrar spilled his guts, confessing to how he'd blown millions of dollars that didn't belong to him. It's hard for someone like me to admit failure, to admit defeat, to admit that I'm an alcoholic or I have a drug problem or I have a gambling problem or I have a spending problem or I've wasted money on cocaine and hookers and nights out in Vegas and just dumb shit. This fake lifestyle to impress people that don't really care. Farr launched a mission to earn the money back, calling it the road to redemption.

At the end of the day, what a lot of you haters don't realize is the people that I owe money, they just want to get paid. Yeah, they're disappointed. Yeah, I betrayed their trust. It happens. Businesses fail. But a failing business is only as good as the person trying to make it right. And that's what I'm trying to do. Here's a look at this video called Road to Redemption Day One. Hey, Anthony. Hey, how are you, man? The next day, day two, Farr's debt was down eight grand to $4,992,000. Enjoy it, man. Take care. All right, man. Later. Take care. So that was the guy in my video yesterday that I was shipping two watches to. He bought a

John Mayer, a yellow gold green dial John Mayer Daytona and a white gold meteorite dial Daytona on the full bracelet to the tune of $205,000. The last stop on Farrer's Road to Redemption tour was in August of 2023. This was day five. What's up, everyone? All right. So yesterday at the end of my video, I talked about this, another watch dealer in Jewelry that reached out, saw everything that's going on you know they've been fans for a while and they reached out to offer their you know their store as a resource that day far had only earned about 23 000 to pay off his five million dollar debt two days later he posted his last video on youtube haven't a hundred percent made the commitment yet. I'm almost there though,

but I think that it's just time I get out of this industry and move on to the next. So, you know, I've caused a lot of, uh, negative, um, I brought a lot of negative unwanted attention to this industry. And for those that are actually involved in it, I apologize, guys. For those of you that I still owe money, I'm still not, you know, still not running from that. I still plan on paying that debt. But moving forward, as well as my actual clients, you guys that I'm speaking with on a daily basis, you know, I'm not hiding and I'm not running from that debt. I'm still doing everything I can to pay for it. But it's obvious, it's apparent that there's a large community out there that doesn't want that to happen.

They would rather me end my life, end up in prison, do whatever it takes to not be able to pay you guys back. I'm not going that route. I'm not going to succumb to the pressure. Three months later, Farr was taken into custody in November at a storage facility in Venice, California. He was charged with wire fraud and mail fraud. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 70 months in prison. That's about six years. His crimes affected more than 40 victims, causing total losses of nearly $5.6 million. The acting U.S. attorney said in a statement, this defendant stole millions of dollars from customers who trusted him and then used his ill-gotten gains to fund his exorbitant lifestyle. The sentence imposed today sends a message that those who defraud the public will

be held accountable. An IRS criminal investigation spokesperson said, Mr. Farrer exploited his client's trust for personal gain. Instead of making good on his business promises, Mr. Farrer exploited his client's trust for personal gain. Instead of making good on his business promises, Mr. Farrer swindled his clients out of money and property to fund his own extravagant expenditures, and now he'll suffer the consequences. IRS CI is committed to protecting clients and consumers from this sort of dubious behavior, and we are proud to have been a partner in this investigation. Later on, the judge will rule on a restitution order determining how much payment is owed to each of the victims. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me.

I'll see you back here next time.