French Montana Settles $1 Million Watch Theft Lawsuit With Swiss Businessmen

Rapper French Montana has put an end to a lawsuit accusing him of pocketing a Richard Mille watch worth more than $1 million and never giving it back, according to a court filing submitted Monday.

The case, filed last October by Swiss businessmen Justo Obiang and Samir Gato, centered on a Richard Mille RM-59-01 the pair say they lent Montana, born Karim Kharbouch, only to have him vanish with it.

In Monday's filing, attorneys representing all three men told the court they had "resolved the issues" underlying the dispute, though the specific terms of that resolution were kept out of the public record. The filing was careful to note that the settlement did not constitute an "admission of liability, fault, or wrongdoing by any party," a standard disclaimer in cases resolved before trial.

According to the original complaint, Obiang and Gato's relationship with Montana dated back roughly a decade, to a 2015 concert the rapper performed in Geneva. The two men said they stayed in touch with him afterward and considered him a friend.

That relationship became central to the dispute in 2024, when the three were together filming a promotional video in Egypt. Obiang and Gato claimed Montana repeatedly pressed them to trade his own Richard Mille for one they owned jointly, offers the pair say they turned down each time.

Unable to convince them to swap watches outright, Montana allegedly shifted his approach and asked instead to simply borrow their timepiece, explaining he wanted to wear it during Paris Fashion Week in January 2025. Obiang and Gato said he assured them the watch would be back in their hands within 30 days and, as a show of good faith, handed over his own "diamond-encrusted" Richard Mille to hold in the meantime.

The lawsuit describes the pair as reluctant but ultimately persuaded by Montana's celebrity status, noting they agreed to the arrangement "relying on defendant's reputation as a well-known public figure."

Photo Source: Still via Richard Mille

The 30-day window came and went without the watch being returned, according to the complaint. Frustrated, Obiang allegedly confronted Montana directly over text message, asking "Are you trying to keep my [watch]?" Montana's reply, according to the filing, was "never my bro," accompanied by a promise that he would travel to Paris himself to track down the watch and send it back. That trip, the lawsuit claims, never happened.

The men said the situation only grew worse when they discovered the collateral watch Montana had left with them was not an authentic Richard Mille at all, but a counterfeit.

Attorneys for Obiang and Gato leaned hard on that alleged deception in their October filing, writing that Montana "obtained the watch under false pretenses" and arguing he "continues to wrongfully withhold plaintiffs' authentic Richard Mille RM-59-01, now valued at over $1,000,000 USD."

The legal complaint went beyond a simple breach-of-promise claim, accusing Montana of conversion, the civil counterpart to criminal theft, along with fraudulent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and replevin, a legal mechanism specifically aimed at forcing the return of a physical item rather than seeking monetary damages alone.

Taken together, the claims painted a picture of a transaction that started as a favor between acquaintances and ended in a federal-style luxury goods dispute, the kind increasingly common as high-end watches from brands like Richard Mille have become both status symbols and appreciating assets among celebrities and collectors.

With the settlement now filed, the case appears headed toward a quiet close, leaving unanswered questions about whether the original watch was ever returned or what compensation, if any, changed hands between the parties.