A Spanish decide could determine whether or not a rich American vacationer will get charged with submitting a false report over the theft of his watch — which cops declare is just value a fraction of the $800,000 -plus he advised them, a police spokeswoman stated Wednesday.
“We’ve merely recorded this man’s assertion and filed a report back to an obligation court docket and haven’t executed the rest by way of, as an example, accusing him of constructing a false assertion,” the spokeswoman for the Mossos d’Esquadra in Catalonia stated.
“And so, it will be as much as an investigating decide to find out whether or not any additional motion ought to be taken alongside these strains.”
Former charter-jet operator Seth Bernstein advised cops that the timepiece ripped from his wrist in a dramatic, caught-on-camera theft in Barcelona was value 800,000 euros, or about $830,000, the spokeswoman stated.
Bernstein, 46, of Longwood, Florida, has denied offering the police with any false data.
His declare led Spanish media to report that the June 8 incident within the metropolis’s Gothic Quarter, a preferred vacationer vacation spot, marked essentially the most profitable watch heist in Barcelona historical past.
No arrests have been made.
However after being given the watch’s serial quantity, Swiss watchmaker Hublot advised investigators that the watch “is definitely value 43,000 euros,” or about $44,700, the police spokeswoman stated.
“The fact is that there's data on this gentleman’s assertion concerning the worth of the watch that's out of step with actuality,” she added.
The police spokesman couldn’t verify which mannequin watch Bernstein stated was stolen, however stated Hublot advised cops it was No. 3 in a limited-edition sequence of 5.
Emails in search of remark from Hublot weren’t instantly returned.
However an worker on the Hublot boutique on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue advised The Publish, “It's attainable somebody has a Hublot watch value $800,000.”
“In New York, we might promote not less than one, perhaps two watches value $800,000 yearly,” gross sales affiliate Leo Wang stated.
Wang stated Hublot’s “males’s watches begin at about $8,000 however go as much as tens of millions,” including: “I feel you’ll discover Beyoncé purchased a $5 million look ahead to Jay-Z’s birthday.”
That dear buy was reportedly made in 2012 and concerned a white gold Hublot encrusted with 1,282 diamonds.
Cops are satisfied that the theft of Bernstein wasn’t staged, with the police spokeswoman saying, “So far as we’re involved we’re coping with a violent mugging and we’re nonetheless in search of the individual or folks accountable.”
A police supply additionally stated, “Whether or not or not a court docket decides to cost the theft sufferer will probably rely on whether or not he's requested to ratify his police assertion and repeats his declare the watch was value 800,000 euros.”
“What this gentleman tells his insurance coverage firm, if he makes an insurance coverage declare utilizing his police assertion, is a matter between him and his insurers,” the supply added.
In textual content messages to The Publish on Tuesday, Bernstein accused Spanish authorities of mendacity concerning the worth of his stolen property, saying they have been “embarrassed” by the brazen rip-off in Barcelona, which he described as “ridden with thieves.”
However Bernstein — who was along with his household in Italy on the time, with plans to go to Sweden — declined to offer any particulars concerning the watch or the dispute over its worth, saying solely that “insurance coverage will cowl it.”
He didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the most recent improvement.
Inquiries to the Spanish court docket system additionally weren’t instantly returned.
Post a Comment