By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A British man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in New York to involvement in a nearly $100 million fraud whose victims invested in loans meant for fictitious wealthy wine collectors whose wine also did not exist.
James Wellesley, 59, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn, court records show.
Wellesley, also known as Andrew Fuller, had pleaded not guilty to three charges including conspiracy in July. He remains jailed at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, after unsuccessfully fighting extradition from Britain.
A lawyer for Wellesley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to his plea agreement, Wellesley could face 10 to 12-1/2 years in prison under recommended federal guidelines.
He also agreed to forfeit $1 million plus funds in more than two dozen bank accounts.
Co-defendant Stephen Burton, 61, who is also British, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, and accepted a $26 million forfeiture order. He is also jailed in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors said Wellesley and Burton, posing as executives at London- and Hong Kong-registered Bordeaux Cellars, raised $99.4 million by promising loan investors they would receive regular interest payments from “high net worth” wine collectors.
The defendants allegedly claimed the loans were backed by an inventory of more than 25,000 bottles of wine, including from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti in Burgundy and Chateau Lafleur in Bordeaux.
Prosecutors said Bordeaux Cellars controlled far fewer bottles, and as few as 217, while the defendants used loan proceeds for personal expenses and to pay interest to some investors.
The scheme ran from June 2017 to February 2019, and collapsed when interest payments stopped, prosecutors said.
Burton’s sentencing is scheduled for January 6, 2026, and Wellesley’s sentencing is on February 3, court records show.
The case is US v Burton et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 22-cr-00079.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
