James Wellesley has been extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to a $99 million Ponzi-like fraud involving fake investments in wine collections. He pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in Brooklyn federal court. Alongside him, co-defendant Stephen Burton has also been extradited and pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege the duo led a company called Bordeaux Cellars, encouraging investments through bogus loans backed by nonexistent wine collections, using funds for personal gain and paying off earlier investors instead of securing legitimate loans.
Prosecutors say the two men ran a company called Bordeaux Cellars that brokered loans between investors and wealthy wine collectors that were secured by their wine collections.
From 2017 to 2019, they solicited $99 million in investments from residents of New York and other areas, promising their clients that they would profit from interest on the loans.
Instead, Burton and Wellesley used loan money provided by investors for themselves and to make fraudulent interest payments to other investors, prosecutors alleged.
If convicted, the two face up to 20 years in prison each.
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