Trump’s “Swiss” Watches Traced to Derelict Wyoming Strip Mall

2 years ago by MicroWave to c/politics

CNN tracked Trump’s watch to a building in Sheridan, Wyoming—and found strange ties to a “male enhancement honey” company with a similar name.

Last month, Donald Trump announced that he was selling limited-edition, gaudy watches ranging from $499 to the bargain price of $100,000, bragging about their Swiss-made precision.

But a CNN investigation traced the watches’ origin to a shopping center in remote Sheridan, Wyoming, where TheBestWatchesOnEarth LLC, the company behind the timepieces, is based. There’s no indication that a watch company is located at the building listed at the address, only a daycare. Its neighbors include an H&R Block, a Wendy’s, and a “vape and hemp smoke shop.”

CNN couldn’t find the people behind the company either, because the business’s location allows it to legally hide those details from the public. The news network found that knocking on the door of the business’s supposed address didn’t answer those questions. Interestingly, the limited liability corporation behind Trump’s infamous gold sneakers is also based at the address, along with other random businesses. The watch company was registered on July 29, only two months before Trump announced the watch line.

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snausagesinablanket 152 points 2 years ago

Its a money laundering front, plain and simple.

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kautau 74 points 2 years ago

It’s weird how this is surprising. His shoes, his NFTs, all traces through Wyoming corporations set up to launder money.

Basically. If you want to start a number of Shell companies that all report to each other so money can disappear, do it in Wyoming, they don’t give a fuck, and that’s what Trump did.

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Captainvaqina 13 points 2 years ago

I wonder how that will change with the upcoming January deadline for companies filed under a registered agent having to file a BOI report to disclose their controlling interests.

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Maggoty 18 points 2 years ago

If he's president by then it won't matter.

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CyberDine 14 points 2 years ago

Which is why rich people really want Trump to win.

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kautau 4 points 2 years ago

Is this a state or federal law? I’m super interested it, and would love a link to where it’s being described

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three20three 5 points 2 years ago

https://www.bhfs.com/...

https://www.moodys.com/web/en/us/kyc/resources/insights/7-things-to-know-about-us-beneficial-ownership-information-boi-reporting.html#:~:text=Under%20the%20Act%2C%20authorized%20entities,intelligence%2C%20and%20law%20enforcement%20purposes

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b3an 5 points 2 years ago

If it’s so plain and simple why can’t they stop this kind of advantage taking? Why isn’t it investigated deeper and exposed?

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auzy 5 points 2 years ago

Criminal investigations take years and often aren't announced publicly (otherwise evidence gets destroyed). Sometimes they target investigations too to make justice move faster (and at first only pursue the strongest case)

Don't be surprised if it is.

His biggest issue at the moment is that he no longer has as many friends in powerful places (similar to the mafia), and he keeps abusing people . If you're going to be a criminal, you can't abuse 50% of the population and threaten a dictatorship or they'll be more likely to pursue

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DogWater 1 point 2 years ago

Or just grifting. He needs to raise money

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ultranaut 121 points 2 years ago

This Trump character sounds like he might be involved in shady business dealings!

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SpaceNoodle 29 points 2 years ago

The more I learn about that guy, the more I don't care for him.

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Rhaedas 14 points 2 years ago

Some were saying that decades ago. Some still haven't crossed that line, for some reason.

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Kalkaline 3 points 2 years ago

My grandma had that dude sniffed out in the 1900s

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otter 1 point 2 years ago

Some are breathing borrowed air.

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Sanctus 57 points 2 years ago

It should come as no surprise that nothing was legitimate about that entire scheme.

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kautau 17 points 2 years ago

It’s all legitimate. That’s the issue. Wyoming doesn’t give a fuck. You can set up hundreds of llc’s in Wyoming that only just connect back to each other or shady law firms. The law firms take their money. Wyoming takes their money. And the rest of the money disappears

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Sanctus 2 points 2 years ago

I meant legitimate in the colloquial sense, not in the apparently legal sense in this case. These watches were most definitely not Swiss in origin.

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kautau 2 points 2 years ago

Ah right. I just assumed they were not Swiss watches lol. Trump could sell an enlarged pyrite plated statue of his cock, lube made from his sweat, and his followers would line up to buy and ride it

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Sanctus 2 points 2 years ago

Its mass hysteria. These people have been told immigrants are coming to kill/rape/disenfranchise them for over 40 years and they still believe it.

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ThePowerOfGeek 35 points 2 years ago

The words "derelict", "strip" and "mall" really sum him up perfectly. So it sounds like he found the perfect match for his needs.

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superkret 12 points 2 years ago

Please don't connect the words "Trump" and "strip" like that.

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ThePowerOfGeek 4 points 2 years ago

Haha, yeah it does create some horrible mental images, doesn't it!

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andrew_bidlaw 3 points 2 years ago

I imagine him falling from a pole and breaking his neck on a first try. Makes it bearable.

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iltoroargento 2 points 2 years ago

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GroundedGator 26 points 2 years ago

I did some digging into the shoe company when they came out and found out Wyoming is probably the LLC Capitol of the country. Apparently they have very lax registration laws and Andrew Pierce seems to do a lot of them. His company handled the shoe business and likely the watches.

I also happened upon a list of registered businesses 23Q3 file is 3258 pages. I believe this list only contains new businesses registered that quarter but am not certain.

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pineapplelover 18 points 2 years ago

Nah these shits are probably cheap chinese watches the wyoming company mass ordered.

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PapaStevesy 13 points 2 years ago

Yeah, read the summary, there is no watch company in Wyoming, it's just a front.

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Mobiledecay 14 points 2 years ago

They don't even look like real gold. It looks like a fake Rolex from the streets of Manhattan. 🤣

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superkret 13 points 2 years ago

A man whose presidential bid is simply a grift for money having a decent chance at winning is very fitting for the US.

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Nightwingdragon 12 points 2 years ago

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dion_starfire 5 points 2 years ago

My money is on it being a way to get around political donation limits - if you're buying a product, you aren't donating. Elon can buy a handful of these to give out to his buddies, and it doesn't count as donating a million dollars to Trump's campaign.

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ThomasLadder_69 5 points 2 years ago

Seriously. $100,000 watches? Who the fuck is the target audience for this?

Trump fanatics with a lot of money. Which if even one person buys one (And Im sure someone has) The entire charade becomes worth it.

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ChickenLadyLovesLife 3 points 2 years ago

I just don’t understand how the place isn’t shut down already.

Cops have better things to do than shutting down obvious money laundering enterprises - like, shaking down obvious money laundering enterprises for a cut of the action.

I lived in Daytona Beach a few years ago, and one day I noticed that a small store had opened up that sold nothing but Super-Whisks, plastic whisks that cost $1 each. They were never open (a hand-written sign said the nail salon next door had a couple of whisks if you wanted one) and they were a quarter of a mile from a Publix and three dollar stores, all of which also sold $1 plastic whisks, so they weren't exactly satisfying an unmet demand. The most ridiculously obvious money laundry I've ever seen and yet they were never investigated by anyone.

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Nightwingdragon 5 points 2 years ago

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ayyy 3 points 2 years ago

If the business were actually about selling watches (which like you said, it isn’t) it would still make sense to have an extremely expensive model as a sales tactic so that the affordable ones seem more valuable. Another example of this is the $10,000 solid gold Apple Watch. Obviously they don’t expect to sell many watches at that price when the battery is sealed into the device and it’s guaranteed to fail after a few years, but it exists just to make the normal models seem fancy by proxy.

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Nightwingdragon 2 points 2 years ago

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driving_crooner 1 point 2 years ago

Appliance stores uses that tactic all the time, the 2000 fridge doesn't look at expensive when is side to side with a 10000 one.

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MehBlah 12 points 2 years ago

No surprise. Dude is nothing but a con man and if you see anything but a con man then you are stupid.

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acosmichippo 12 points 2 years ago

so what is the point of "registering" a business if the address it obviously bogus?

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AbidanYre 15 points 2 years ago

If the goal is, let's say money laundering, it's harder to track you down.

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acosmichippo 6 points 2 years ago

oh I get the point in lying about your location of course. in other words what I'm asking is why have business registration at all if it's so easy to lie?

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AbidanYre 3 points 2 years ago

Oh, the why was directed at the other side. My bad.

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kautau 3 points 2 years ago

Mainly because at the moment, he’s still under the whim of the FBI who he basically wants to disband. Once he’s in power he can dismantle any government agency that would fight his corruption, and then there’s no need for Shell companies

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Reyali 1 point 2 years ago

Probably because most people don’t lie, it’s useful to have records of legit businesses, and (hopefully, but IANAL) it’s one more thing that someone could be charged on for fraud.

It also probably has a panopticon effect. If people didn’t need to register, then there’s low monitoring of what people do and so those with more grey ethics are more likely to cheat the system. But because there’s a process, one assumes someone is watching, and therefore most people will stay in line; only the most scummy people will actually lie.

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Davel23 1 point 2 years ago

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YurkshireLad 9 points 2 years ago

Worth a read, no idea how legit this info is - https://calibercorner.com/....

I don't know if it's my cynical eyes, but the side by side image comparison is... striking. The parts in Trump's watch look much cheaper, and there seem to be fewer mechanical pieces. I know nothing about watches so I have no idea if I'm making sense or taking out of where the sun don't shine.

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Confused_Emus 5 points 2 years ago

There are a few reviews of the watch on YouTube, and they seem to agree with your assessment.

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NaibofTabr 8 points 2 years ago

Hey buddy... wanna buy a watch?

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dual_sport_dork 7 points 2 years ago

Those watches, if any of them even actually ship, are guaranteed to be straight from Aliexpress.

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Zier 1 point 2 years ago

Or... a very remote, rundown factory in rural India.

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LifeInMultipleChoice 1 point 2 years ago

The bibles were from China, they'll likely come from the same

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nemonic187 7 points 2 years ago

Literally laundering money to his campaign. Nothing will happen.

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FlyingSquid 7 points 2 years ago

A lobbying firm that represents Montenegro’s government is also based at the Wyoming address

...okay, now you've lost me.

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KingGordon 7 points 2 years ago

Con man gonna con.

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bluewing 6 points 2 years ago

I have no idea what movement these watches have nor do I care - I ain't buying one. But you can easily buy all the cheap, less than $20, Swiss made movements you want all day every day.

Just because it say Made in Switzerland doesn't mean it's the expensive best or even the equal to a well made Chinese movement.

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Imgonnatrythis 4 points 2 years ago

So am I still ok to use this male enhancement honey? So far my male seems about the same.

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DoctorWhookah 2 points 2 years ago

So not “mail” enhancement? Dammit! I could use a check from Publisher’s Clearing House about now.

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Rozz 4 points 2 years ago

Gee I sure hope trump finds out that he's been ripped off.

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SturgiesYrFase 2 points 2 years ago

Boy-o is his face gonna be a slightly weirder shade of orange!

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DogPeePoo 3 points 2 years ago

Wyoming strip mall’s owner is listed as Skyler White. Attorney is Saul Goodman.

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synae 2 points 2 years ago

Shouldn't be be touting the American-ness of them? What kind of self-respecting Trump supporter (lol) wants a garbage foreign watch?

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Freefall 1 point 2 years ago

It doesn't HAVE to be American, they have to THINK it is American. There is a huge difference.

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