Watch dealer sues Uber, Tropicana over $1M robbery

A watch dealer is suing Tropicana Las Vegas and Uber over a 2021 robbery of $1 million of merchandise from a car and acts of violence that left him with a disabling injury.

Lawyers for Raimond Irimescu filed the suit Monday in District Court alleging negligence, failure to provide security and other claims against the Las Vegas Strip hotel, San Francisco-based Uber, its subsidiary Raiser LLC, Uber driver Rubin Spahn and some unnamed defendants.

Irimescu is the owner of Paul’s Watch Repair in Sacramento, Calif., which buys and sells used high-end watches, according to its website.

His suit centers on an alleged attack on Oct. 19, 2021 by a group of robbers as he sat inside a vehicle he hired via Uber to pick him up at the Tropicana, where he had just attended the International Watch & Jewelry Guild expo, according to court records.

The assailants drove onto Tropicana property in a white minivan and a gray SUV, blocking the Uber car from the front and back, while Irimescu was restrained by a safety belt, according to the suit.

Then “approximately 4 individuals … wearing all black and black and white masks jumped out the white minivan and gray SUV and broke the windows of the vehicle in which Plaintiff Irimescu was a passenger,” the suit reads.

The assailants stole two luggage bags and a backpack owned by the plaintiff containing items valued at more than $1 million, according to the suit.

Before taking his property, they “viciously” attacked and inflicted disabling injuries on Irimescu that still plague him and have limited his activities and his occupation, causing a loss of wages and incurring medical expenses, according to suit.

The suit claims that Uber and Raiser had a duty to provide a safe environment for the plaintiff and was negligent for failing to realize the potential risks at the time. Uber also is accused of not training its agents or employees in how to keep its passengers safe or making sure to run background checks on its employees.

The Tropicana, out of “recklessness and/or carelessness,” failed to ensure a safe place for the plaintiff, failed to enforce security measures and failed to staff security adequately during the watch and jewelry expo, according to the suit filed by Irimescu’s Las Vegas lawyers, Joshua Berrett and David Finegold.

Spokespersons from Bally’s Corp., owner of the Tropicana, and Uber could not be reached.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow @JeffBurbank2 on X.