Nice to see WB getting some love (thanks to Don) on CBS this morning
Here`s some more:
Accused Wine Counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan Goes on Trial
Prosecutors accuse “Dr. Conti” of making and selling millions of dollars worth of fakes; defense calls him a scapegoat
Twenty months after his arrest by the FBI, accused wine counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan will finally go on trial Monday, Dec. 9, in a Lower Manhattan federal courtroom. For federal prosecutors, the case marks a first: Never before has the U.S. government tried a defendant for counterfeiting wine. Kurniawan, 37, an Indonesian citizen of Chinese ethnicity, is also charged with defrauding a finance company. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on each count, as well as potential fines.
In just a few years, beginning around 2002, Kurniawan vaulted to the upper reaches of the rare wine world as a collector, dealer and aficionado, despite having no job or identifiable source of funds. His vague claims of family wealth have never been substantiated. Kurniawan generously shared rare and expensive bottles with collectors and venerated winemakers. He sold a plenitude of old Bordeaux, but his favorite region was Burgundy. His wine of choice was Domaine de la Romanée-Conti-gaining him the nickname “Dr. Conti.”
Scouring domestic and European cellars at the peak of his activity, Kurniawan reportedly purchased up to $1 million worth of wine per month. Some of his inventory was sold in a pair of single-seller auctions held by Acker Merrall & Condit in January and October 2006. The first of those auctions, called simply “The Cellar,” brought in $10.6 million. The second, known as “The Cellar II,” grossed $24.7 million-still a record for a wine auction by a single individual. At a final pretrial hearing Dec. 5 in the courtroom of Judge Richard Berman, lead prosecutor Jason Hernandez handed a bottle purchased at the Cellar II auction to the defense’s prospective expert witness, C. Robert Collins. The bottle was labeled Domaine G. Roumier Bonnes Mares 1923. Collins, who claimed familiarity with old Roumier vintages from his days as a wine merchant in San Francisco, was asked if he recognized the label. “I would say this label is inconsistent with any label I have ever seen,” Collins said. The bottle was one of 10 Roumier Bonnes Mares 1923 sold by Kurniawan at that auction. Roumier did not begin bottling wine until 1924.
Hernandez and his team will attempt to prove that Kurniawan made millions of dollars selling counterfeit wines during at least four New York auctions from 2005 to 2008, and tried to sell counterfeits through a straw man at a London auction in early 2012. Kurniawan also allegedly sold counterfeits directly to collectors, many of them people he had shared wines with at auctions and lavish dinners. Auction house Acker Merrall & Condit and some of those same collectors also lent Kurniawan money. Three of Burgundy’s most famous names-Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Christophe Roumier of Domaine Georges Roumier and Laurent Ponsot of Domaine Ponsot-will testify on the inauthenticity of the wines and also on the damage Kurniawan’s work has inflicted.
Prosecutors will also attempt to prove that Kurniawan wasn’t merely a dealer of counterfeits, but the source. During a protective sweep of Kurniawan’s house in a Los Angeles suburb, moments after his arrest early on the morning of March 8, 2012, FBI agents opened a locked room to discover what they allege was a well-equipped wine counterfeiting workshop. Among their finds were hundreds of labels for iconic wines and notes for creating counterfeits.
How will Kurniawan’s lawyers, the second group he has hired, attempt to rebut these charges? On the day before the Dec. 5 pretrial hearing, their expert witness Collins inspected 50 bottles from among Kurniawan’s wines that the prosecution will submit as evidence at trial. Asked by lead defense lawyer Jerome Mooney how many of the bottles were probably counterfeit, Collins responded, “80 percent were fake.”
In an interview with Wine Spectator, Mooney suggested the defense would try to show that their client is a scapegoat for widespread counterfeits in wine collecting. “There were a lot of counterfeits in the market, and these rich collectors kept selling them from person to person. At some point in time, somebody says, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got a counterfeit in my collection!’ And our guy is the one they point to when the music stops.”
It’s true that revelations at the trial could reveal ugly truths about counterfeits being sold at auction. Collectors are far more vigilant today, but experts say counterfeits remain a problem. Whether Rudy Kurniawan is guilty of being a major source of fakes will be up to a jury of 12 people, to be chosen on the morning of Dec. 9. Opening arguments are scheduled for the following day.
During his long incarceration, Kurniawan, dressed in baggy prisoner’s khakis at court appearances, has clearly lost weight. The court approved a defense request for a new wardrobe, and late last week Mooney and co-counsel Vincent S. Verdiramo shopped at Men’s Wearhouse for dress shirts, ties, a belt, shoes, socks, underwear and two suits. “We need the customer to come in for a fitting,” the salesperson said.
“That will be a little difficult,” the lawyers replied.
And here is the link to the CBS story about Rudy, the trial, and a brief (but unexplained) screen shot of Wine Berserkers:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/wine-dealer-accused-of-selling-counterfeits-in-bogus-bottles/
Bruce
A someone who will probably never see, let alone taste some of the wines that were the subject of Rudy’s activities I salute Don and all the other people ivolved including the guys at the DOJ for turning over the rocks that exposed this fraud. Thanks to Don as well for stellar reporting on the trial. I’ve read a lot of mystery fiction in my old age but nothing I’ve ever read tops this thread for twists and turns. It’s a story that impacts wine drinkers everywhere (even if they don’t know it) and I hope somebody writes a bestselling novel that gets made into a blockbuster movie. Thanks to all the posters here as well. It’s the most entertaining, well written, informative forum thread I have ever read. And I hope the story doesn’t end with Rudy’s trial whatever the outcome. Clearly from the volume of evidence others were involved and they need to be exposed.
+1
Thanks for the reporting
Love the Steinberger piece with the mention of the 1985 Jayer on cross examination. “I slumped for him.”
There was some discussion of this issue upthread. It is rather amazing that anyone would try to counterfeit old DRC with 2006 Marcassin, for a number of reasons. First, why use a wine that expensive for the endeavor? Second, a young CA Pinot (by any producer) is hardly going to pass for a 60 to 70-year-old DRC. Third, I can’t think of anyone with familiarity with both Marcassin Pinots and DRC’s who would think that they are stylistically similar. The second and third points would also apply to substituting 2007 Duckhorn Merlot for extremely old Pomerols or Graves.
Possible explanations would include the assumption that the buyer won’t drink the wine anytime soon to detect the obvious stylistic discrepancies, and/or that the trophy buyer will be so overcome with label bias that he/she will be unable/unwilling to objectively discern the discrepancy.
Fascinating stuff.
Bruce
Another explanation is that he was using those wines as a blend with older wines - I doubt it was simply pouring an entire bottle of Marcassin in a DRC bottle and labeling it
Bruce, you are correct.
That’s another possibility as well–use the Marcassin to “freshen up” some other Pinots…
Bruce
Sorry if I missed it, above, but here’s a link to the Steinberger piece:
Another dramatic email (Exhibit 13-30) was from Rudy to John Kapon asking “Can u get Dar [Rudy’s brother Darmawan Saputra] 100 to 200 cases of cheap 80s bord? Like 81 to 88? $400 - $700 a case.”
That sure is an interesting line. I’m sure John just figured someone wants to drink a bunch of cheap 80’s bdx, right?
And from this Wine-Searcher News article:
http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2013/12/rudy-kurniawan-house-described-as-wine-factory
“The 12 jurors were shown half a dozen large notebooks in which Kurniawan wrote comments on wines and blending formulae.”
So it seems likely that some relatively precise blending formulas were written down to provide a roadmap for specific wines to be copied.
Bruce
An astounding tale. Kurniawan has made fools of us all in many ways, for which, possibly, some leniency is due; we ignore the essential absurdity of a rare wine habit at our peril, and it is , after all, as crimes go one in which the victims haven’t suffered too much. I love the idea of Laboure-Roi Gevrey 1990 being suitable as a 40s-50s DRC, maybe Matt Kramer was right about this hitherto unregarded negociant.
I do wonder what will happen to the major auctioneers of these wines, though. It would surely be outrageous were any complicity to be overlooked, and they could yet become the main story.Congratulations, Don.
Did Kurniawan arrange for the ‘85 Jayer Richebourg’ to be authentically TCA-ridden?
Don,
I am speculating, but I think the government would love to fry some bigger fish than Dr. C. Rudy was unable to engage in all this activity without the involvement of several others. Maybe a shorter sentence for cooperation in bringing down some of the other players?
Very interesting! Where was “Dar” located? United States? Indonesia? Hard not to speculate this was just one of many requests for cheap, older Bordeaux/Burgundy from many sources. If that were the case, was the counterfeiting done by more than one person and at more than one place? If just one person, how could he have found the time to even drink wine at various dinners!!
It seems that Haut Brion “stamped” bottle is working well against faking.
That would be my take. Hey, some of those old burgs that supposedly had some syrah added are damn good. I would think adding Marcassin would have a similar effect.
An article summarizing some of today’s testimony from Laurent Ponsot (the basic story has been published before, of course):
Bruce
Umpteen pages ago in this thread – more than a year ago – Don Cornwell posted about the New York auction laws, which are quite strict vis-a-vis the auctioneers’ liability in the event something isn’t what it’s represented to be.