French Montana has reached a settlement to resolve an unusual lawsuit claiming the star rapper stole a Swiss watch worth more than $1 million.
The “Unforgettable” star was sued last year by Justo Obiang and Samir Gato, two Swiss men who claimed French (Karim Kharbouch) had borrowed their Richard Mille RM-59-01 and refused to return it. Though he’d given them a different Mille as collateral, they claimed it turned out to be a fake.
But in a court filing Monday (July 27), attorneys for Obiang, Gato and Montana said they had “resolved the issues” that led to the case. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in filings, and neither side immediately returned requests for comment. The filing stressed that the settlement was not an “admission of liability, fault, or wrongdoing by any party.”
In their October lawsuit, Obiang and Gato claimed they’d first met the star in 2015 after he performed in Geneva, Switzerland and had remained friends after. While filming a promotional video in Egypt in 2024, they said French had repeatedly asked to swap his Mille for one they jointly owned — requests they refused.
Montana then allegedly asked to instead borrow the watch, saying he wanted to wear it to Paris Fashion Week in January 2025. Obiang and Gato said he promised to return it in 30 days, and offered his own “diamond-encrusted” Mille as collateral. “Although hesitant, they agreed, relying on defendant’s reputation as a well-known public figure.”
When the time came to return the watch, Obiang and Gato claimed he never did so. “Are you trying to keep my [watch]?” Obiang allegedly texted him, according to the lawsuit. French allegedly replied “never my bro” and said he would go to Paris to retrieve it, but failed to ever do so. Adding alleged insult to alleged injury, the accusers said Montana’s collateral later turned out to be a counterfeit Mille.
“Defendant obtained the watch under false pretenses,” attorneys for the pair wrote in their October complaint. “Defendant continues to wrongfully withhold plaintiffs’ authentic Richard Mille RM-59-01, now valued at over $1,000,000 USD.”
In technical legal terms, the lawsuit accused Montana of conversion (the civil-law version of the crime theft) as well as fraudulent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and replevin — a type of legal action that demands the return of physical property.
