Rosania has been in the real estate (and bad behavior) news recently…
I am shocked to hear that. Utterly shocked.
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How delightfully shameless.
NEWS ON THE BORDEAUX CELLARS CASE
For those of you who were wondering if there would ever be a conclusion of the Bordeaux Cellars criminal case, there is news. Today, Judge Pamela Chen of the Eastern District of New York sentenced James Wellesley (a/k/a Andrew Fuller and Andrew Templar) to 10 years in prison following his belated guilty plea to count one of the indictment on October 7, 2025.
The Sentencing Memorandum submitted by the government summarized the relevant facts as follows:
From approximately June 2017 to February 2019, Wellesley and his co-defendant,
Stephen Burton (together, “the defendants”), operated a brazen Ponzi scheme in which they
fraudulently obtained over $97 million from over 140 victim investors. See Apr. 14, 2026 Second
Addendum to the Presentence Investigation Report. When the defendants’ Ponzi scheme
ultimately unraveled, victims had incurred losses of over $83 million. See Jan. 29, 2026
Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”) ¶ 15.
Through their companies Bordeaux Cellars, Limited and Bordeaux Cellars London
Ltd. (collectively, “Bordeaux Cellars”), the defendants solicited investors to provide loans to cashneedy
lenders in exchange for quarterly interest payments on the loaned funds. Id. ¶ 8. The 2
defendants falsely told investors that their loans were secured by bottles of luxury wine in
Bordeaux Cellars’s possession. Id. Wellesley, who served as the CFO and Operations Manager
of Bordeaux Cellars, directly solicited investors at investor conferences. Id. ¶ 19. Contrary to the
defendants’ representations to their investors, Bordeaux Cellars did not possess the vast majority
of the wine that was supposedly serving as security for the victims’ loans and the money “invested”
by the victims was not being loaned to cash-needy lenders, but rather was misappropriated by the
defendants. Id. ¶¶ 13-14.
From June 2017 to December 2018, victims who had invested in Bordeaux Cellars’s Term Loans received
supposed interest payments and many victims rolled over their principal investments to new loans at the end of the loan terms. Id. ¶ 15. However, the supposed interest payments that victims received were not sourced from lenders paying interest on the loans, but rather were sourced from new investment funds fraudulently
obtained by Bordeaux Cellars, in classic Ponzi scheme fashion. Id. ¶ 14. Of the over $97 million solicited
from victims, the defendants only paid back approximately $14 million before their Ponzi scheme unraveled. Id. ¶ 15.
The government requested, and the judge imposed, a sentence near the maximum permitted by the sentencing guidelines.
The sentencing of the other defendant, Stephen Burton, also known as Andrew Pittman, Robert Allison and
Derek Campbell, has been postponed to May 19, 2026.
Kudos to the FBI and AUSA Benjamin Weintraub for their lengthy efforts to track down the two fleeing defendants and getting them extradited to the US.
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Merci…on behalf of my friends i- who are wine lovers- in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,
Peter
Interested to hear the thoughts of Don and friends on the Times piece
Pretty lazy summary piece; 3 incidents = rampant lol
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Agreed. Very loose connections, wine crimes that are a decade old, etc…
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Agreed. I was just interested that someone thought it merited a NYT article.
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IMHO one of the biggest wine crooks (an American) is still out there and doing fine,
Any guesses?
Do tell
The local taxing authorities?
I mean, why is wine not exempted, as an “essential” food stuff?
Minor Update on Bordeaux Cellars Case…
The sentencing of defendant, Stephen Burton, also known as Andrew Pittman, Robert Allison and Derek Campbell, was postponed today to July 1, 2026 due to the government’s inability to complete its sentencing memorandum.
I don’t think there will be any Romanee Conti or Petrus served at his new residence.
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I just purchased a bottle of 1961 Palmer. Apparently it was authenticated by Michael Egan, a new name on my radar. Pretty impressive resume.
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Yes, Michael Egan does have an impressive resume. He testified on behalf of the government at Rudy Kurniawan’s trial in 2013.
He will just tell them that it is. 
Maybe he could make a barrel fermented pruno.