British man to plead guilty in $100 million US wine fraud case

James Wellesley is set to admit to charges in New York over a fake fine wine investment scheme that duped investors out of nearly $100 million.

A British man accused of orchestrating a vast fake wine investment scam is expected to plead guilty in the US, Bloomberg has reported.

$100 million fine wine scam

James Wellesley, 59, will change his plea to guilty at a hearing on 7 October in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, according to court filings seen by Bloomberg. He had previously pleaded not guilty after being charged in 2022 and had fought extradition to the US for several years before being transferred from the UK in July.

Prosecutors allege that between 2017 and 2019, Wellesley and his co-defendant, Stephen Burton, defrauded investors through their company, Bordeaux Cellars. The pair claimed the business brokered high-interest loans to wealthy wine collectors, with rare vintages supposedly used as collateral.

Bloomberg found that investors were told the wines were worth thousands of dollars per bottle and that they would receive regular interest payments funded by the collectors. However, prosecutors said neither the collectors nor the wine existed.

Instead, the men allegedly used investor funds to pay false returns and cover personal expenses.

Co-defendant already convicted

Burton pleaded guilty in July to one count of wire fraud conspiracy and another of money-laundering conspiracy. He is due to be sentenced in January.

A spokesperson for Brooklyn US Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment. Wellesley’s lawyer, Michael Weil, declined to comment.