This is the technology you refer to - it doesn’t damage the wine.
The concept looked good and seemed promising - given a large testing set I think it would work
But Dr Cecilia Muldoon has found another use for this technology - testing for cancer in urine samples -
So the verivin project has been mothballed/discontinued
There are a lot of detection technologies (Raman spectroscopy, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and others) that people have looked at using for characterizing wine that are non destructive. I think they have the issues Don mentioned, ie that they may help identify varieties that shouldn’t be present but may not be an unambiguous fingerprint for specific wines. I think another is that there isn’t really a large market compared to applications in medicine or scanning material in airports or at borders, etc.
-Al
This is the technology you refer to - it doesn’t damage the wine.
The concept looked good and seemed promising - given a large testing set I think it would work
But Dr Cecilia Muldoon has found another use for this technology - testing for cancer in urine samples -
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Thanks Jamie. Your article explains the technology really well. I’m glad that Dr. Muldoon found a viable option for the technology – and the cancer screening sounds considerably more lucrative. Did Dr. Muldoon provide any estimate for how expensive her spectroscopy machine might be?
This non-destructive method of performing the spectroscopy would clearly be preferred by everyone in the wine industry – assuming that you could get the same level and quality of data described in the Wine Spectator article. It sounds as though the people doing the testing in the Wine Spectator article may have been looking at a lot more data points on the spectrograph in order to identify the unique characteristics of the vineyard by virtue of their AI analysis. (Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part based on the author’s language.) If this is correct, combining the non-destructive Raman spectroscopy method with the AI data analysis described in the Wine Spectator article might make this technology more viable for use in the wine industry as a tool to avoid counterfeiting.
But I am still highly skeptical as to whether this is a viable product for the wine industry. First and foremost, this would only work for monopole vineyards, which really limits the market. In burgundy there only five significant monopoles on the potential counterfeit list (i.e., DRC Romanee Conti and La Tache, Liger-Belair La Romanee, and potentially Clos de Tart and La Grand Rue.) In Bordeaux, the potential market is limited on the producer side is limited to the first growths, a handful of other classified growths and a similar number of right bank cult wines. This likely means that the potential wine producer customers number less than 40 producers today.
Another problem is that you have to get virtually all of the producers of the most frequently counterfeited wines to participate in order for this to be viable. If, for example, DRC says no to participating (and from my perspective, I think they would say no), then the company has nothing to sell.
This is going to be a very hard sell to a lot of wine producers, for several reasons. First, many of the producers do not like the adverse publicity associated with counterfeiting of their wines. From the perspective of some of the producers, they only have a “problem” with counterfeits if they acknowledge that a problem exists. If they remain silent, then either there is no counterfeiting problem, or they have plausible deniability. If they do acknowledge an ongoing counterfeiting problem, then they create a potential problem for their own future wine marketing. Second, generally speaking, wine producers do not want to have to pay for their staff to devote time to regular and ongoing inquiries about whether bottles being sold in the after-market are authentic or not. Some producers deliberately avoid responding to communications from auctioneers and merchants about whether bottles in the latter’s possession might be counterfeit. Third, I have heard more than once that the producer would rather spend money on making the bottles difficult to counterfeit than on trying to detect the counterfeits once they are out there in the market.
On the auction house/large retailer side, most of them would love to have access to a machine where they could scan bottles to determine whether they are counterfeit – if the machine and the database access aren’t exorbitantly expensive. The number of wine auction companies and their various sites where they warehouse and screen the bottles is limited (less than 30 sites among the larger US, UK, European and Asian auction houses plus maybe 40 other smaller or regional wine auction companies.)
From the perspective of the owner of the technology, even if all of the players described above elected to participate, the “market” would probably be less than 100 of the machines. It is hard to see how this is a large enough market to be lucrative.
Hi Don, I am a reporter with Bloomberg Businessweek. Would love to chat more about your involvement in this case. Can you email me at bcamcrane@gmail.com? Best, Brent Crane
BORDEAUX WINE CELLARS – the saga continues …
In March of 2022, I wrote a lengthy post about the criminal charges filed by the US government in the Eastern District of New York against two UK citizens, Stephen Burton and Andrew James Fuller, who owned and operated Bordeaux Wine Cellars from 2009 to 2019. https://www.wineberserkers.com/t/rudy-kurniawan-global-wine-auction-fraud-thread-merged/56614/9207?u=don_cornwell The indictment charges Burton and Fuller with multiple counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering which allegedly resulted in $99 million in losses to investors in the United States and multiple other countries.
Bordeaux Wine Cellars was operated as a Ponzi scheme. Bordeaux Cellars claimed that it made loans to wine collectors at high interest rates (15%). The loans were allegedly collateralized by high value wines from a designated eligible wine list (mostly first growth Bordeaux and high end burgundies). The loans made allegedly represented a maximum 35% of the appraised value of the collateral (later changed to up to 45%). The wines accepted as collateral were allegedly placed in storage in London-area storage facilities under Bordeaux Cellars’ control.
Bordeaux Cellars funded their “loans” by selling them to investors at very high interest rates (12%). The investors received loan paperwork prepared by a UK attorney and a schedule of the wines supposedly collateralizing the loans that they were purchasing. Investors were promised quarterly interest payments. For a number of years, interest payments were made utilizing funds obtained from other investors as part of the Ponzi scheme. The investment scheme was heavily promoted by the principals – with multiple appearances by Stephen Burton on CNBC and at investment seminars sponsored by Sovereign Man. See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_jZUXDJ9as&t=156s ](https://)
As you may remember from the prior post, the Bordeaux Cellars Ponzi scheme began unraveling in late 2018. James Fuller, who had previously been convicted of committing fraud on a UK bank, and had fled from the UK to Singapore in an attempt to avoid prosecution, once again fled the UK for Asia in 2018. Stephen Burton also attempted to flee, but did not act quickly enough. On February 14, 2019, the police went to a hotel in Kent England on a tip that Stephen Burton was there – for whom they apparently had arrest warrants. When they got there they found him – along with two fake passports, and almost a million Pounds worth of currency, gold bars, Kruggerands and some high end collector watches. Burton was charged with counts for money laundering and the fake passports, plead guilty to both, and was sentenced to four years in prison for those crimes on September 6, 2019.
In late 2019 or early 2020 the Department of Justice opened an active criminal investigation as to Burton and Fuller. The UK Serious Frauds department was alerted. By virtue of the covid pandemic, Burton was released from prison (without notice to the FBI) during the summer of 2020. He immediately fled the country. As reported in a later post https://www.wineberserkers.com/t/rudy-kurniawan-global-wine-auction-fraud-thread-merged/56614/9403?u=don_cornwell, Burton was later caught illegally crossing the border into Morocco and was eventually extradited to the Unites States. On December 16, 2023 he was arraigned in Brooklyn and plead not guilty to all counts.
Andrew James Fuller was captured and arrested in the UK on February 4, 2022. In March of 2022 the US government filed a formal request for extradition of Andrew Fuller. Fuller who was being held in UK’s Wandsworth prison, resisted extradition. Fuller made three arguments to as to why he should not be extradited: (1) the conditions in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn were very bad according to at least one published court decision and the amount of space per prisoner allegedly did not satisfy the applicable treaty provisions; (2) there was a high risk that if Fuller was extradited to the US that either Fuller’s wife, or Fuller himself, would commit suicide; and (3) that the majority of the victims of the scam and the harm had occurred in the UK, so that was the appropriate place for Fuller to be tried under the UK extradition statutes.
In response, the US government presented evidence that: (1) the conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn had been considerably improved (since the date of the decision cited by Fuller) and that Fuller’s information about the amount of space provided to each prisoner was incorrect (i.e… that the MDC Brooklyn fully met the minimum space requirements in the treaty; (2) that the prison officials could prevent Andrew Fuller from committing suicide while in custody and Fuller previously had no problem in abandoning his wife and living apart from her from 2009 to 2012 and for most of the time from 2018 until he was arrested in February of 2022; (3) that 71 of 141 of the victims of the scheme were from the US, and that that approximately 30% of the total losses (more than $24 million) were suffered by people in the US, far more than in the UK (the only other viable place for a trial) and that the Kent police had already declined to prosecute Burton for the Bordeaux Cellars scam; and (4) that the US had Burton in custody, had charged both Burton and Fuller on the scheme, and that “the case” was far more advanced in the US than in the UK.
On March 23, 2023, a year after the extradition request was made, UK District Court Judge Zani overruled Fuller’s objections and referred to matter to the UK Secretary of State for a final decision on whether the extradition should proceed. On May 10, 2023, the Secretary of State approved the extradition.
At that point Mr. Fuller filed a motion seeking permission to appeal the extradition to the UK High Court. On July 3, 2024, one year ago today, that permission was granted. The same arguments were presented. On May 20, 2025 the UK High Court handed down an extensive written opinion which affirmed the original decision of the UK District Court.
Under UK law Fuller may file a motion seeking leave to file an appeal to the UK Supreme Court. At this point, there is no indication that has happened.
Meanwhile, back in the United States …
According to the court docket, Stephen Burton, who is represented by a federal public defender, has been engaged in plea negotiations with the government since at least April of 2024. At some point, a motion to change the plea was apparently discussed with the court and calendared, but there is no motion to change the “not guilty” plea on file. The motion has been continued nine times since April of 2024 and is currently calendared to be heard on July 24, 2025.
It certainly appears that the government is contemplating entering into a plea agreement with Stephen Burton in return for testimony against Andrew Fuller – but the government obviously cannot reach such an agreement unless it knows that it will have Andrew Fuller available to prosecute.
I know nothing of the practices in the Eastern District of New York, but in my district that same procedural history likely would indicate those motions all were related to an anticipated change of plea to “guilty” pursuant to a plea agreement, and that cooperation has been ongoing and any deal worked out between Burton and the federal prosecutors is contingent on ongoing successful/truthful cooperation against Fuller and any others involved. That likely would include testifying as needed. So, I suspect your conclusions are correct.
There are apparently legitimate ways to collateralize wines.
what does this have to do with Rudy ?
Nick
It’s the global wine fraud part of the the thread. 
isn’t this the article describing a lending biz ? Sorry it’s behind a paywall.
Yes, you’re mentioned.
An article from 2015.
Nick
I’m sure you must have seen a copy of this New York Times article. The first three paragraphs read as follows:
As a restaurateur and wine collector, Nick Gangas knows the special pleasures of pairing a fine Burgundy with a roast chicken or a leg of lamb. Yet recently, he discovered another use for his Burgundy — as loan collateral.
Like a growing number of collectors, Mr. Gangas has pledged some of his finest French wines for large cash loans with generous terms. Using $300,000 worth of his Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Chambertin and other wines, he’s about to receive a loan of about $150,000, which he plans to use to open a new restaurant in the Chicago suburbs.
The bottles “would be just sitting in the cellar aging,” said Mr. Gangas. “Why not use them to raise capital? By the time they’re ready to drink, I’ll have paid back the loan.”
Masterful response. Nicely done.
yes. I remember the article. I agreed to be interviewed. I will say again I see no connection between this and fake wine from Rudy or anyone else. Posting the article here is a cheap attempt at relevance I guess because of the picture ?
Nick:
I’m not sure quite sure about what your argument is. Several years ago Todd consolidated two other wine-fraud related threads with this one. There have been several posts about Ponzi schemes involving wine sales or wine investment discussed in the thread (e.g., Premier Cru, Bordeaux Cellars, Charles-Winn, LLC). The discussion about Bordeaux Cellars started in 2020.
Or was your issue with Mark Golodetz’s post with the link to the New York Times article about the wine-collateralized loans that were available from Marc Lazar’s former company (Domaine)? Mr. Golodetz’s comment that “There are apparently legitimate ways to collateralize wines,” and the link to the article was directly relevant to the wine loans made by Bordeaux Cellars (apparently not very many of them).
But personally, I had to chuckle at Mark’s post. I immediately recognized the photo from the article as Marc Lazar. I found the irony in Mark’s comment was exquisite to see Mr. Lazar described as an “apparently legitimate” way to obtain a collateralized wine loan. But, to his credit, at least Marc Lazar didn’t try to sell the wine loans he made as “investments.”
Don,
I feel like sometimes these threads devolve into repetitive back and forth. For the record I was not aware it was Lazar’s company. The wine was being held in storage at domaine and as far as I knew that was the extent of their involvement. So once again I do not see how this possibly was related to wine fraud.
Nothing I have read from the comments after Mark’s post indicated it to me also.
I think it’s Patrick Stella who runs it.
Mark, Can you explain what your post has to do with wine fraud ?
ah my once a year “come out of retirement to show how fucking stupid don and his sycophants are” post
but yes don, a surgeon who leverages his wine collection to build an outpatient surgery center where he can yield far more than the cost of capital is def a bad dude as are his lenders. thanks for keeping us safe.
there are many people who tell me not to feed the trolls, and im sure they are right, but at some point its fun. EDITED BY ADMIN Nick Gangas is among the most upstanding collectors ive ever met. why is he drawn into this? Stella is Stella, but seems also to be a stand up dude by and large as well. do you hate him bc he brushes his teeth with better wine than don has ever drank? whats the point?
maybe don, you can lay down your sword and enjoy your elder years. im sure enjoying mine and ill be around far longer than you. godspeed.
Can anyone pass the popcorn?