Fraus omnia corrupts. According to this Latin adage, fraud corrupts everything. Everything, but especially the world of fine watchmaking, plagued by the multiplication of violent thefts of luxury watches as well as by the scourge of counterfeiting. Indeed, according to a recent report by pre-owned watch specialist Watchfinder, counterfeit models accounted for up to 10% of those received by retailers last year, 50% of which were Rolex, with the crown brand being the most copied in the world. This practice weighs heavily on the watch industry as highlighted by the latest survey “Counterfeiting, Piracy and the Swiss Economy” by the OECD. According to this document, the value of the international and illicit trade in fake watches represents more than 3 billion euros per year.
This figure was fueled by the dubious activities of a young Frenchman, who in a few years became the king of watch counterfeiting for brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, Audemars Piguet and Omega. As Le Parisien reports and according to the deceived brands, the forger would have generated nearly 360 million euros in damage.
Operating from Thailand where he had settled with his wife and children and then imprisoned there, the individual asked to return to France. When he got off the plane and once he arrived in France, he returned to prison where he admitted to the investigating judge 12,000 sales for an amount of around 3 million euros. He is now being prosecuted on various counts and indicted for counterfeiting, fraud and money laundering.
But for a Corsican expert referent for the Club Rolex France who embarked on the trail of the deceiver and very intrigued by a wave of fake Rolex signed references arriving in France, the equation was not good. The brand with the crown, which produces several hundred thousand watches a year, believes, in fact and for its part, to have been deceived for more than 170 million euros. In other words, nearly 80% of the counterfeiter’s turnover would come from fake watches from the Geneva house.
His journey begins in China where he links up with various accomplices with technical resources in order to produce almost undetectable copies of watches, reports Le Parisien. It was thanks to the arrest of one of his acolytes, another Frenchman responsible for reselling counterfeit products, that the young counterfeiter caught the eye of the authorities. The fall of a short-lived empire also caused by the lavish life that the entrepreneur unveiled on social networks. Thus photos of his three homes or his Lamborghini EVO Huracan worth nearly 600,000 euros, published on Snapchat. Finally, and according to information from Le Parisien, the main accused would have made a request for release. After his detention, he says he intends to settle in France and leave behind his criminal past.