A Celebrity Photographer Built—and Lost—a $29 Million Luxury Watch Empire. Now His Investors Are Calling It Fraud

Dominic Khoo cultivated an air of exclusivity, royal connections, and a glittering client list. Now he’s bankrupt and facing contempt of court charges.

BY AMAYA NICHOLE, NEWS WRITER

A celebrity photographer who amassed $29 million in assets and built his fortune dealing in luxury watches recently filed for bankruptcy amid allegations of fraud.

Singapore native Dominic Khoo built a name for himself as a celebrity photographer capturing portraits of notable figures such as Cate Blanchett and the Dalai Lama.

Throughout this career he cycled through luxury cars and hobnobbed with celebrities, including Dennis Rodman. But in 2013, at 35, he walked away from photography to launch The WatchFund.

The move wasn’t entirely surprising. According to The Times, Khoo had long had a passion for watches, having worked as a watch journalist and as a valuation expert for two auction houses, Antiquorum and Spink & Son.

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His company’s process was simple: He would buy the timepieces like Audemars Piguet and Girard-Perregaux well below retail prices, sell them to clients, and eventually buy them back at a higher price—profiting for himself in the process. “I may buy a watch for 70 percent off and sell it for 40 percent off,” he told The Times in 2015.

“We don’t have payout deadlines because we actually return money for each watch sold, piecemeal,” less a 5 percent management fee, he added.

Some of Khoo’s earliest clients were friends from school and soon after he started his business he expanded to Hong Kong.

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