A flashy Spanish jeweller whose pieces adorned the likes of Cheryl Ann Tweedy created a ‘facade’ of success to fool investors into propping up his doomed empire, according to a new BBC Panorama report.
Vashi Dominguez vanished after his chain of Vashi stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester collapsed in 2023 with £170 million of debts.
Questions remain over the whereabouts of his stock of diamonds and jewellery, once assessed at £157 million and later only valued at around £100,000, but he has not been investigated by police.
High-profile investors have been left in the lurch including billionaire Phones4u founder John Caudwell, who put in £1 million after Vashi appeared to beat the high street pandemic slump with the launch of a flagship ‘concept store’ in Covent Garden in 2021.
Former Vashi staff and investors told Panorama cracks started to show soon after the store was launched.
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Charlotte Paul, a former data analyst for the retailer, said: ‘After the shininess had worn off, we were getting, like, two, three, four people in it a day, and that was the reality in one of the busiest squares in London.’
Dominguez allegedly told staff to pretend to be customers so the store would look busy when investors carried out ‘surprise store visits’.
Will Hayward, a former store manager, added: ‘It was a whole elaborate show that Vashi would do with the clients, to show that they’ve got so many orders and this is how busy we are – this is why you should really be investing in Vashi.
‘Total facade.’
Panorama also reported customers were being duped, with a former Vashi gemologist claiming pieces were fitted with smaller or lower-quality diamonds than what they were paying for.
Newly-unearthed documents reportedly showed 2021 sales totalled just £5 million – far below the £100 million submitted to investors and the government registry Companies House.
In the aftermath of Vashi’s April 2023 collapse, investors initially believed their losses could be recouped.
This is because they were sent valuations signed off by an independent accountant stating the firm’s gem stock had been worth £157 million two months earlier.
But consultants brought in to value the gems again in April found a much smaller amount.
Meanwhile, the accountant who signed off the valuations, Rajnikant Patel, told Panorama he did not know where the missing money was and distanced himself from the controversy.
He told the BBC: ‘Obviously it’s not good. The shareholders, the investors have lost their money.
‘I certainly am very sorry that’s happened, but nothing to do with us.’
Neither liquidators brought in to recover the money nor the BBC were able to question Dominguez due to his disappearance.
The Metropolitan Police says it has not had any referrals from the liquidators or the Insolvency Service.
The Serious Fraud Office said it only takes on a ‘small number of high-level economic crime cases’ at a time.
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