A Pennsylvania man was convicted of selling counterfeit Rolex watches and financial fraud crimes.
Dimitre Hadjiev, 41, of Upper Darby, was found guilty of counts linked to selling of fake luxury wristwatches, including trafficking in counterfeit goods and financial fraud offenses, according to a Dec. 1 U.S. Department of Justice news release. Hadjiev had been running a jewelry shop on Philadelphia's 300 block of South Street at least since 2014, where he sold and made watches and other pieces of jewelry.
“The defendant trafficked in counterfeit merchandise and structured his deposits to conceal the cash flowing into his jewelry business,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said in the release. “This office and its law enforcement partners are committed to protecting consumers from unknowingly purchasing phony merchandise and to holding defendants accountable for their greed.”
According to the release, the defendant was indicted in September 2019 on a variety of counts related to his plot to sell fake Rolex watches and watches with fake Rolex parts. According to an IRS and FBI investigation, Hadjiev was deliberately purchasing, reselling and modifying Rolex watches using fake Rolex components.
Additionally, a check of the defendant's bank records revealed he failed to file mandatory reports for cash sales of more than $10,000 and that he structured deposits from his store sales to avoid activating his banks' reporting requirements, the release reported. More than $750,000 was involved in the defendant's illicit plot overall.
“Dimitre Hadjiev’s store wasn’t a legitimate business – it was a front for fraud," Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division Jacqueline Maguire said in the release. "The FBI and our partners are working hard to crack down on crooked businesses of all stripes, whether they're cheating the public, the government or, as in this case, both.”
