A British man accused of allegedly defrauding buyers of almost $100m (£79m) by way of a Ponzi-like scheme involving non-existent luxurious wines has pleaded not responsible in a US court docket.
Stephen Burton, 58, was extradited to New York from Morocco on Friday to face the fees after he was arrested in 2022 after getting into that nation utilizing a faux Zimbabwean passport.
Federal prosecutors stated Burton, together with a co-defendant, ran Bordeaux Cellars, an organization they stated brokered loans between buyers and high-net-worth wine collectors.
Burton pleaded not responsible to the indictment which was filed in 2022 and is being held pending trial.
Burton and co-defendant James Wellesley allegedly solicited $99m from buyers from June 2017 to February 2019, approaching them at locations together with conferences within the US and abroad.
The males instructed lenders that the loans could be backed by wine they saved for rich collectors and promised earnings by way of curiosity funds.
However, these collectors “did not actually exist and Bordeaux Cellars did not maintain custody of the wine purportedly securing the loans,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York stated in a press release.
Wellesley, additionally a British citizen, is presently awaiting extradition within the UK.
If convicted, the defendants may every withstand 20 years in jail for fees of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and cash laundering conspiracy.
Source: information.sky.com”