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Lugano Diamonds CEO Resigns Amid Internal Investigation
Moti Ferder stepped down Wednesday and will not receive any severance pay, parent company Compass Diversified said.
The Lugano Diamonds store in Greenwich, Connecticut, opened in 2023. The CEO of the jewelry manufacturer and retailer, Moti Ferder, resigned this week amid a probe into the company’s accounting and inventory practices.
Westport, Conn.—Moti Ferder, the co-founder and CEO of Lugano Diamonds, a jewelry manufacturer and retailer with stores in well-heeled cities like Aspen, Colorado, and Greenwich, Connecticut, resigned this week.
His resignation was announced Wednesday by parent company Compass Diversified (NYSE: CODI) and follows a preliminary investigation that uncovered “irregularities” in the retailer’s non-CODI financing, accounting, and inventory practices.
Ferder will not receive any severance compensation, Compass said.
Lugano President Josh Gaynor, who joined the company a little over a year ago after seven years with Bulgari, has been appointed interim CEO, running the business alongside Lugano Chief Financial Officer Christoph Pachler.
Pachler is listed on the company’s website as interim executive vice president of operations in addition to CFO.
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His resignation was announced Wednesday by parent company Compass Diversified (NYSE: CODI) and follows a preliminary investigation that uncovered “irregularities” in the retailer’s non-CODI financing, accounting, and inventory practices.
Ferder will not receive any severance compensation, Compass said.
Lugano President Josh Gaynor, who joined the company a little over a year ago after seven years with Bulgari, has been appointed interim CEO, running the business alongside Lugano Chief Financial Officer Christoph Pachler.
Pachler is listed on the company’s website as interim executive vice president of operations in addition to CFO.
Ferder founded Lugano in Newport Beach, California, with his wife, Idit Ferder, in 2005. She held the title of chief operating officer but is no longer with the company.
Her profile has been removed from the “Our Team” section of the Lugano website; Moti’s profile is gone as well.
Lugano has eight stores: Aspen, Greenwich, Houston, London, Newport Beach, Washington, D.C., and Ocala and Palm Beach, Florida. It also has a traveling equestrian boutique.
It describes itself as “an international luxury jewelry brand that creates exquisite, one-of-a-kind wearable works of art.”
Compass Diversified acquired a majority stake in the jeweler in 2021 for an enterprise value of $256 million.
The private equity firm said Wednesday that the probe into Lugano’s operations started after members of its senior leadership team were made aware of “concerns” about how the jeweler potentially was financing inventory.
The audit committee of the company’s board of directors launched an investigation led by outside counsel and a forensic accounting firm.
The investigation is ongoing but what has been uncovered so far, “does not reflect who we are as a business and the values we uphold,” Compass CEO Elias Sabo said in a statement.
“Our priority is to support the audit committee’s investigation and to fully understand what happened.”
The company also noted that its board and senior leadership team are committed to seeing the investigation into Lugano through and are “actively evaluating all available options” to protect itself and its shareholders who hold stakes in multiple Compass subsidiaries.
Lugano interim CEO Gaynor echoed Sabo’s statement about the uncovered “irregularities” not reflecting the company’s standards and values, adding, “The Lugano leadership team and I are focused on engaging with our clients and partners, and on providing the highest caliber of quality, service, and experience.”
Because of the investigation’s initial findings, Compass said Wednesday that the financial statements it issued for 2024 will need to be restated.
It also is delaying the filing of its Form 10-Q report for the first quarter 2025.
Based in Westport, Connecticut, Compass Diversified has a total of nine subsidiaries, including feminine care company The Honey Pot and Sterno, which sells portable food warmers, candles, and outdoor lighting.
It said the issues are isolated to Lugano and the investigation is not focused on any of its other subsidiaries.
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