UK fraudster to plead guilty in NY court for massive fine-wine scam

James Wellesley, accused of swindling investors out of nearly $100 million (€85mn) in a fine-wine Ponzi scheme, is expected to enter a guilty plea in Brooklyn federal court on 7 October, according to records from the Eastern District of New York.

This comes after he initially entered a not guilty plea in July.

According to prosecutors, Wellesley and his co-defendant Stephen Burton convinced investors they were backing fancy, high-interest loans intended for rich wine lovers who wanted to expand their collections. Their firm, "Bordeaux Cellars", pledged vast cellars of rare vintages as collateral.

The catch? The collectors were imaginary and the loans were non-existent. The two are being charged with wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Wellesley, who also went by the name Andrew Fuller and Andrew Templar, was arrested in the UK in 2022 and fought extradition to the US for three years until this July.

His co-defendant, Burton, was extradited from Morocco in 2023 after using a bogus Zimbabwean passport to enter that country.

Burton, a 60-year-old British national, has also been detained in New York City and pleaded not guilty to similar charges in the same Brooklyn court.

According to the case files, Bordeaux Cellars promised investors vaults of rare vintages but, when pressed, the company could only point to a measly 217 bottles in March 2018, a far cry from the tens of thousands they bragged about.

From 2017 to 2019, the pair solicited tens of millions in investments from residents of New York and other areas, promising their clients that they would profit from interest on the loans.

Prosecutors said the defendants spent the loan money on personal expenses or to pay interest to certain investors. They claimed that the scheme fell apart when victims stopped receiving interest payments.

Charges brought against the two men carry potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison.