Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘High End: The Watch Theft Ring’ (or ‘Alta Gama: El Caso Relojes’) revisiting one of the most prominent Chilean cases in recent history, we get a deep insight into what transpired. It underscores the people allegedly involved in an international ring responsible for stealing luxury items, high-end watches, and similar items before smuggling, modifying, and reselling them. Among those named as potential leaders is the antique dealer, renowned businessman, and public personality Tonka Tomicic’s former partner, Marco Antonio López Spagui, also known as Parived.
Marco Antonio López Was Once Dedicated to a Holistic and Spiritual Life
Born in November 1961 in the coastal port city of Arica, Chile, Marco Antonio López Spagui reportedly grew up in a loving family helmed by a mother who was a fortune teller and tarot reader. He was thus just a young man when he first developed an interest in non-traditional lifestyles, leading him to attend a meditation institute in the early 1980s to learn the art of calming one’s mind. He subsequently became a lifestyle figure/spiritual guide, determined to form connections with like-minded people while also helping them evolve into the best possible versions of themselves.
Marco reportedly even found his way to India at one point during this holistic journey, where he became a disciple of the founder of the Rajneesh New Religious Movement — Osho — who gave him the moniker Parived, upon being impressed by his aura, charm, and alleged talent for hearing key things from the veil of life. However, by the early 1990s, the self-proclaimed guru/shaman had returned to his homeland and settled in the Santiago area for good, becoming a businessman.
Marco Antonio López Became a Publicly Recognizable Figure Owing to His Personal Life
It was in 2004 that Marco’s whole life turned upside down as he got romantically involved with beauty queen, fashion commentator, renowned model, and television host Tonka Tomicic. According to the documentary, since the public didn’t know much about Marco, a media frenzy ensued as questions about who he was and what he did grew, especially because he’d made the conscious decision not to speak to any journalist or reporter.
It gradually came to light that Marco was a successful entrepreneur and self-styled antique dealer, not someone living off his girlfriend’s money, as the media had allegedly suggested. Around this same time, he first encountered jeweler Estrella Dinamarca through one of his fellow businessmen, Domingo Jalil, after which they began working together. While authorities believe he was one of the primary buyers in Estrella’s alleged international smuggling ring for luxury jewelry and high-end watches, he has always maintained his innocence.
“I had no buying or selling relationship with Ms. Estrella Dinamarca,” Marco once said. “… I spoke with her and connected with her on a human rather than a commercial level.” He later added, “It wasn’t a business relationship. She was offering an item, and since I have connections, she may have tried to offer it to me again,” but he claimed he didn’t purchase anything. However, according to the film, investigations revealed an extensive history of large-sum transactions between them, with several checks allegedly even being under Tonka’s name.
Marco Antonio López’s Current Legal Issues Revolve Around a Divorce
When news of the formal inquiries into the underground ring broke, it was after officials had simultaneously executed 36 search warrants across different properties in January 2023. Among them was the home Tonka and Marco shared after happily tying the knot in accordance with Jewish customs on April 16, 2014, in a beautifully cozy ceremony in Jerusalem, Israel. Yet the self-proclaimed antique dealer was nowhere to be found, and his neighbors soon revealed that he had left home just an hour earlier in search of one of their cats that’d gone missing.
While investigators believed Marco had fled home to avoid arrest, he maintained that he’d left because of his cat, then turned himself in to the local police station a couple of days later. Around a month later, on February 2, 2023, he was formally charged with customs-related offenses, illicit association, and tax evasion. He was subsequently released under the order that he was not to leave the country or be in contact with any of his fellow co-defendants. Since then, Estrella has also accused him of not only lying about the nature of their relationship but also of issuing her several bad checks in his and Tonka’s names over the years. From what we can tell, there appears to be no legal backing to Estrella’s allegations, but he faced the court in March 2025 on the formal charges against him.
Marco eventually signed a plea deal, as a result of which one count was dropped, and he was convicted of customs-related offenses and illicit trade/receiving stolen goods. He was then sentenced to 341 days of supervised release in Santiago, along with an order to pay a fine of over 11 million Chilean pesos ($10,000) — he was handed no jail time. However, it’s imperative to note that after the details of his then-alleged criminal actions came to light in February 2023, he and Tonka separated for good. She eventually filed for divorce, too, and it appears the proceedings for it commenced around the summer of 2026. Therefore, today, at age 65, he appears to be leading a quiet life while still residing in the Santiago Province, focused on the legalities revolving around his divorce.
Read More: Where Are Antonio Pacheco and Rui Couto Now?
