A British businessmen has been given 10 years in jail for conning more than 190 people in a £71million ($97million) wine scam.
James Wellesley, 59, worked alongside Stephen Burton, 61, to ‘prey on investors’ and dupe wealthy clients into spending tens of millions on fine wine that never existed.
During their two year Ponzi-style scheme – which saw them using fake names, amassing fake passports and hoarding bars of gold – the swindlers schmoozed in classy circles across the world.
They then tricked investors into giving the con-men loans that were secured against what was advertised as a stockpile of expensive wine.
The pair said this included the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, in Burgundy, which goes for as much as £12,500 ($17,000) a bottle and the Château Lafleur in Bordeaux, that can be sold for £3,700 ($5,000).
On Monday, Wellesley was sentenced to a decade behind bars by a New York court for wire fraud conspiracy and was told to pay £740,000 ($1million) in forfeiture.
He had been extradited from Tunbridge Wells by US authorities last year after he was arrested by Scotland Yard five months earlier.
Between June 2017 and February 2019, Wellesley and Burton – who called themselves Bordeaux Cellars – pretended to represent a group of fine wine collectors who brokered loans on their behalf.
James Wellesley (pictured) – who also went by Andrew Fuller and Andrew Templar – has been given 10 years in jail for conning more than 190 people in a £71million wine scam
He worked alongside Stephen Burton (pictured) to ‘prey on investors’ and dupe wealthy clients into spending tens of millions on fine wine that never existed
Burton (pictured) is still awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty last July to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy
Burton was already a well-known name in wine circles and Wellesley said he was the company’s chief financial officer and operations manager, telling would-be investors at conferences that they had offices in Hong Kong and London.
Wellesley had also changed his surname to sound more like the Duke of Wellington in the hope it would add an air of legitimacy, but would also sometimes go by Andrew Fuller and Andrew Templar.
Investors loaned them money and were then told they would receive regular interest payments from Bordeaux Cellars, who supposedly kept custody of the expensive wine.
But the money the con-men received was then used to make fraudulent interest payments to investors as well as for the pair’s own personal expenses.
Police arrested Burton in relation to the scam in 2019, where officers found two fake passports, bars of precious metals, £1million in cash and expensive watches.
He was arrested again in 2022 while trying to enter Morocco on a fake Zimbabwean passport and then extradited to the US in December 2023.
Burton is still awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty last July to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
Joseph Nocella Jr, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said: ‘Unlike a fine vintage that improves over time, the defendant will spend years in prison to reflect on his fraudulent wine scheme.
‘James Wellesley preyed on investors around the globe to induce them to invest tens of millions of dollars on lies.
‘Today’s sentence sends a message to fraudsters that our office will prosecute you to the full extent of the law.’
James C Barnacle Jr, the head of the FBI’s operations in New York, said: ‘James Wellesley swindled nearly $100m from investors by pretending to be an executive broker for fine wine collections.
‘Wellesley spoiled the reputation of a prestigious industry as well as his clients’ trust. The FBI continues to stem fraudulent schemes that steal from the wallets of victims.’
