Stephen Burton, a citizen of the United Kingdom, was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn before United States Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl on an indictment charging him with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy in connection with a scheme perpetrated through Bordeaux Cellars, a company that he operated. Burton was extradited yesterday to the Eastern District of New York from Morocco where he was arrested in 2022 after entering the country using a false Zimbabwean passport. Burton’s co-defendant, James Wellesley, remains in extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and James Smith, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the extradition and arraignment.
“With the successful extradition of Burton to the Eastern District of New York, he will now taste justice for the fine wines scheme alleged in the indictment,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “This prosecution sends a message to all perpetrators of global fraud that you can run from law enforcement, but not forever.”
Mr. Peace thanked Moroccan authorities for their assistance. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and extradition from Morocco of the defendant.
The indictment alleges that from at least June 2017 and continuing through February 2019, the investors posed as executives at a company called Bordeaux Cellars. The defendants solicited investors, including residents of the Eastern District of New York, at, among other places, investor conferences held in the United States and overseas. The defendants claimed to investors that Bordeaux Cellars brokered loans between investors and high-net-worth wine collectors that would be fully collateralized by high-value collections of wine. The defendants promised that investors would receive regular interest payments from the borrowers, and that Bordeaux Cellars would keep custody of the wine securing the loans while the loans were outstanding. As alleged, these representations were lies, the “high-net-worth wine collectors” did not actually exist and Bordeaux Cellars did not maintain custody of the wine purportedly securing the loans. Instead, the defendants used incoming loan proceeds to make fraudulent interest payments to investors and for their own personal expenses.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, the defendants each face up to 20 years in prison.
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