No, they purchased it from a private party (the counterfeiter, presumably) and sold it to the store.
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That seems to imply the employees didn’t reveal the counterfeiter, either. We can also speculate as to why they weren’t fired. One part being that the pattern of behavior hasn’t ended at Acker, that the employees were basically doing their job. The other part being those employees have dirt to spill if they feel betrayed by Acker.
Anyway, considering their history, lack of cooperation, not making the gesture of firing the employees they are blaming this on, how is merely paying the fine enough to retain their liquor license? Maybe “Oh, I guess we’re going to have to start keeping records now.” is that extra effort.
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Ummm, if it’s against NYS law for an individual to buy alcohol from a private collection, what does that mean for Commerce Corner? At least Commerce Corner purchasers in NY?
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The whole episode is weird because the SLA is incredibly officious about minor things that don’t reflect on honestly. For example, they enforce the rule that distributors have to ship COD if a merchant is behind in its payments even if the distributor would be happy to help a customer by continuing to extend credit. And they shut down Whole Foods’ first wine store in NYC because it didn’t have a “separate entrance,” as required, even though it had its own cashiers and door within the larger WF space and you could walk by the supermarket checkout lines. It was years before WF got another license.
The fact that these guys weren’t fired certainly makes one suspicious that they were doing this with the store’s knowledge/approval. Why would the store buy booze from someone other than the authorized distributor in bottles without the right packaging?
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F’ Acker. I can’t believe anyone still does business with them.
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This story would have been compelling on its own based upon the facts in the Inside Edition story https://www.insideedition.com/is-the-high-priced-and-rare-bourbon-you-are-buying-actually-counterfeit-inside-edition-investigates and the articles that have been published in the New York Times and NewYork Post.
But when you add to that mix the fact that Acker sold at least $40 million worth worth of counterfeit wine for Rudy Kurniawan, sold tens of millions worth of wine for Eric Greenberg, who a Federal jury found had knowingly sold counterfeit wines through auction to Bill Koch, and that Acker has been caught many, many times offering counterfeit bottles of ultra-rare wines at auction, it really makes you think there is virtually nothing Mr. Kapon could do which would get Acker’s license suspended. In the Rudy era he got the nickname Teflon John. It sure seems to fit.
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Sounds like propaganda from the United States’ second oldest wine merchant! 
Who thought CC was legal? It’s legal nowhere in the US to buy alcohol from a private party AFAIK.
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It means that it’s totally illegal.
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I doubt this is true. Don’t be alarmist. NY has tough alcohol laws and even here the NYSLA went after Acker for the sale rather than the individual employee buyers. I would be surprised if every state made it illegal to buy privately. Check Missouri. Selling privately is a different matter. That I would bet is outlawed in all 50.
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I said “buy”, but I’m just talking about private transactions involving alcohol not being legal. As far as who they might go after, that’s a discussion for attorneys and DAs.
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I know of no state where private unlicensed sales are legal. I always wondered about 2 people sharing an allocation.
FYI, the SEC filed suit yesterday in LA against Charles Winn LLC, the firm that was targeted in state enforcement actions in 2021, as Don C detailed above.
The SEC alleges that the firm raised $8.5 million from 121 investors, mostly elderly, allegedly to invest in wine. In fact, Winn spent it mostly on commissions and salaries and refused to let investors sell their holdings.
It looks like a straight-up scam from the start – not a legitimate business that got in trouble and then started misrepresenting things.
The SEC’s press release has a link to the complaint.
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Thanks John. I was surprised to see that the SEC lawsuit is filed here in Los Angeles.
As some people might remember, an individual named Casey Alexander, who was one of the principal sales people involved this fraud was arrested in Ohio in June of 2022. I was also surprised to see in paragraph 18 of the SEC complaint that on March 21, 2023, Alexander waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a criminal complaint charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud arising out of a fraudulent offer and sale of wine and whiskey investments to U.S. investors. He is also named as defendant in the SEC’s lawsuit, which seeks permanent injunctions against the principals, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, criminal penalties and orders barring the principals from being officers of public companies.
However, all of the individual defendants appear to be UK citizens, so I’m unclear how that would work.
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Yes, I’d guess the SEC will end up taking a default judgment. It’s hard to see why the defendants would enter an appearance through a lawyer, let alone show up in court.
It’s only civil penalties, of course, since the SEC has no criminal jurisdiction.
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Yes, sorry for the error. I should know better too.
As the saying goes “any fool can make DRC. Wine using DRC fruit, it takes real talent to make it without. “
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Without straight up copy and pasting specific copyrighted content, anyone have any more info on this reported July tasting in Singapore with counterfeit wine a la Rudy: Maureen Downey on Instagram: "Rudy Strikes back! He’s back making counterfeits- this his version of 1990 Romanee Conti made for a tasting in Singapore in July. Details, tasting notes & images on WineFraud.com: Rudy - The Sequel @winefraud #wine #winefraud #counterfeit"
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No information on this tasting per se, but Rudy has been attending several wine dinners in Hong Kong and Singapore and has been bringing bottles of his counterfeit wines to a number of them. In at least some instances apparently, Rudy tells people that the wine is counterfeit.
Some serious wine collectors in Hong Kong have refused to allow Rudy to attend wine dinners with them – for which I salute them.
In at least one instance in Singapore where Rudy attended a dinner with a well known collector, he was observed taking the empty bottles, corks and capsules when he left. Obviously that was the same conduct that he engaged in previously which was discussed at his trial in New York.
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Once a con, always a con. And, besides, counterfeiting seems to have been the only way he ever managed to make his own money.
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