{"id":5927,"date":"2014-09-07T05:51:56","date_gmt":"2014-09-07T12:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5927"},"modified":"2014-09-07T19:25:22","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T02:25:22","slug":"rare-wine-dealer-sent-prison-duping-vino-connoisseurs-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5927","title":{"rendered":"Rare Wine Dealer Sent to Prison for Duping Vino Connoisseurs Out of Millions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rudy<\/a>
Rudy Kurniawan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rudy Kurniawan made millions pouring new wine into old bottles until the FBI caught up to him.<\/p>\n

The con man ran a long-running, wine counterfeiting scam. Now, Kurniawan is in prison serving a 10-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, a New York federal judge sentenced Kurniawan for his elaborate counterfeiting scheme in which he mixed newer, cheaper wines together and poured them into old bottles with forged labels.<\/p>\n

When FBI agents executed a search warrant at Kurniawan\u2019s California home in 2012, they found wine-making materials everywhere in plain sight, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, the entire house was a fake wine-making laboratory,\u201d said Special Agent Adam Roeser, who helped investigate the case out of our New York Division, according to officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were old bottles soaking in the sink. There was fresh wax dripping off bottles in another room,\u201d Roeser said. \u201cThere were piles and piles of corks, and on the kitchen counter there were 30 to 50 open bottles with a funnel and re-corker next to them. We found fake labels going back to 1899. He could make any label going back to the end of the 1800s.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Investigators are not certain how long Kurniawan\u2014an Indonesian citizen who was in the U.S. illegally\u2014was engaged in his scheme, but he appeared on the wine scene a decade ago, buying rare wines and later selling them, officials said. \u00a0With access to a seemingly endless cache of rare and expensive Burgundies and Bordeaux varieties, among others, he was the toast of the town among a small group of high-end dealers and collectors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWine is a collectible just like art,\u201d said now-retired Special Agent Jim Wynne, a long-time member of the FBI\u2019s Art Crime Team who investigated the Kurniawan case. \u201cPeople want this stuff. Kurniawan was able to establish a persona as a rare wine connoisseur, and everyone believed his story.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

FBI officials said Kurniawan befriended auctioneers and private collectors. He picked up the tab at expensive wine dinners with big-name chefs in Los Angeles and New York. And through those connections, he sold approximately $30 million worth of counterfeit wine.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were seduced by him,\u201d Wynne said, \u201cand many suspended their good sense. And these were not stupid people,\u201d he added. \u201cThe people who can pay tens of thousands of dollars for a bottle of wine are often extraordinarily successful and wealthy. They just took it on faith that Rudy was telling the truth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ultimately, French wine makers who became suspicious of Kurniawan\u2019s claims cooperated with investigators to help to stop the fraud. With their help and the \u201ctypical gumshoe work\u201d of investigators interviewing people and reviewing countless records, Roeser said, Kurniawan was arrested in 2012 and found guilty by a jury at trial in December 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence against Kurniawan was overwhelming,\u201d Wynne said. \u201cHe was the forger, consignor, and marketer, all in one.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Besides counterfeiting, authorities said Kurniawan was also found guilty of bank fraud relating to a $3 million loan he obtained by providing false information, including omitting more than $7 million in outstanding loans, misrepresenting his annual expenses, and claiming he was a permanent U.S. resident when he had no legal immigration status in the country.<\/p>\n

In addition to the prison sentence, Kurniawan was ordered to forfeit $20 million and to pay more than $28 million in restitution to his victims, officials said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rudy Kurniawan made millions pouring new wine into old bottles until the FBI caught up to him. The con man ran a long-running, wine counterfeiting scam. Now, Kurniawan is in prison serving…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,648],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-other-voices"],"yoast_head":"\nRare Wine Dealer Sent to Prison for Vino Scam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rudy Kurniawan made millions pouring new wine into old bottles until the FBI caught up to him. 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