Star wine dealer Rudy Kurniawan faces up to 40 years in jail after he was found guilty today in a US federal court of fraud for manufacturing and selling fake vintage wine.
A jury took less than two hours to return a guilty verdict on two counts of wire and postal fraud against the 37-year-old, once considered one of the top five wine collectors in the world.
The Indonesian-born Kurniawan, who lived a jet-set lifestyle with all the trappings of a millionaire, sat impassive in the Manhattan courtroom as the verdict was read out.
Prosecutors described him as "a prolific wine counterfeiter" and an arch liar motivated by greed, a man who made millions of dollars selling bogus vintages blended in his kitchen laboratory.
The defence portrayed a young man who desperately wanted to fit into the richer, older world of rare wine collectors, and who tried to cover up the forgeries of others. He was a scapegoat, his lawyers argued.
Already in custody since his arrest in March 2012, he will be sentenced at a later date.
The court heard how he rose rapidly to the top of his profession thanks to his exceptional palate, capable of identifying and memorising the world's finest wines so popular with tycoons.
But prosecutors say his penchant for fast cars, designer watches and contemporary art collections was built on a lie.
They say he sold at auction and direct to collectors more than 1,000 fake bottles blended in his kitchen or "magic cellar" to masquerade as vintage wines worth thousands of dollars.
"It is an enormous amount. This was an operation on a massive scale," said prosecutor Joseph Facciponti.
"He sold wine to victims all over the world. For a while the magic worked, and he sold his fake wines for millions of dollars, but there was no magic, only the defendant's lies," he said.
"Why did he tell all his lies? Because of greed, that's what this case is about, the defendant's lies and his greed."
Thousands of labels for the finest Burgundy and Bordeaux wines were found in the home that Kurniawan shared with his Chinese mother in Arcadia, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
