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A Spanish choose might 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 simply price a fraction of the $800,000 -plus he advised them, a police spokeswoman mentioned Wednesday.
“We’ve merely recorded this man’s assertion and filed a report back to an obligation court docket and haven’t accomplished anything when it comes to, as an illustration, accusing him of creating a false assertion,” the spokeswoman for the Mossos d’Esquadra in Catalonia mentioned.
“And so, it might be as much as an investigating choose to find out whether or not any additional motion must be taken alongside these traces.”
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 price 800,000 euros, or about $830,000, the spokeswoman mentioned.
Bernstein, 46, of Longwood, Florida, has denied offering the police with any false info.
His declare led Spanish media to report that the June 8 incident within the metropolis’s Gothic Quarter, a preferred vacationer vacation spot, marked probably the most profitable watch heist in Barcelona historical past.
No arrests have been made.
But after being given the watch’s serial quantity, Swiss watchmaker Hublot advised investigators that the watch “is definitely price 43,000 euros,” or about $44,700, the police spokeswoman mentioned.
“The actuality is that there’s info 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 affirm which mannequin watch Bernstein mentioned was stolen, however mentioned 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.
But an worker on the Hublot boutique on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue advised The Post, “It is feasible somebody has a Hublot watch price $800,000.”
“In New York, we’d promote at the very least one, possibly two watches price $800,000 yearly,” gross sales affiliate Leo Wang mentioned.
Wang mentioned Hublot’s “males’s watches begin at about $8,000 however go as much as tens of millions,” including: “I believe you’ll discover Beyoncé purchased a $5 million look ahead to Jay-Z’s birthday.”
That expensive 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, “As far as we’re involved we’re coping with a violent mugging and we’re nonetheless searching for the individual or folks accountable.”
A police supply additionally mentioned, “Whether or not a court docket decides to cost the theft sufferer will presumably depend upon whether or not he’s requested to ratify his police assertion and repeats his declare the watch was price 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 Post 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.”
But Bernstein — who was along with his household in Italy on the time, with plans to go to Sweden — declined to supply 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.
