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I found a rather interesting story for you.
Further from the author's words:
In 2001, an Indonesian student, Zhen Wang Huang, expired on a student visa to the United States.
Auditor from Jakarta
Little is known about Rudy Kurniawan's early life.
In the early noughties, Kurniawan realized that he wanted to connect his life with the wine business.
In 2006, the Los Angeles Times published an article about Rudy, where he was called the most interesting "hipster" of the wine world. "No one has ever spent money so quickly." Energetic at auctions, hungry for wine in restaurants, Kurniawan usually quieted down when questioned about the sources of his fortune. There was another oddity for Rudy: often, when he was in establishments or at tasting parties, he asked not to throw out bottles from under expensive wine, but asked the deliveryman to bring them to his home.
Kurniawan in 2005. Photo: AP
I'm not a collector. I'm a drunk
—
Rudy Kurniawan
Rudy met Hollywood producers, IT company owners, big developers, and other rich people from the East Coast. He hosted food parties where they could drink several hundred thousand dollars ' worth of wine a night. Rudy's tastes were being listened to. Finally Burgundy became fashionable.
Dr. Conti
In the wake of his success, Rudy was nicknamed Dr. Conti, after his favorite estate in Burgundy, the Domaine de la Romanée — Conti, where wine has been made since the 12th century. Critics, sommeliers, and collectors celebrated the young Indonesian, praised him in the press, and sought to establish contacts. Kurniavan seemed to have a premonition — the elite wine market began to grow sharply. The demand for rare vintages from Burgundy has increased especially. The bottle, which in 2001 was bought for $ 400, ten years later was already worth 13 thousand. It's time to sell.
Rudy became friends with John Capon, a former hip-hop producer and later the head of one of the wine auction houses. In the winter of 2006, the first collection of wines from Rudy was put up for auction. In her abstract, it was stated that Kurniawan is a real wine researcher, who has been selecting the best vintages for years. The collection from a young Indonesian by wine standards was sold out in two days. 1,742 bottles for $ 10 million.
The success was so overwhelming that the new partners decided to repeat the sale and held a new auction 9 months later. On it, they earned almost $ 25 million, setting a record.
By 2010, Dr. Conti had become a real playboy. While the rich and collectors competed for his bottles at auctions, Rudy drove a Lamborghini Aventador, wore a half-million-dollar watch, and lay on a chaise longue in his mansion. One day, Rudy organized a party dedicated to his mother. Jackie Chan was the guest of honor. At one point, the actor stood on a chair and started applauding Rudy — it was the best night of Kurniawan's life.
However, Rudy's reputation was already damaged by that time.
One day, Laurent Ponceau, the owner of the famous Burgundian house, the heir to the famous dynasty of winemakers, flew to the auction of old Burgundy wines, where bottles from the Courniavan collection were sold. A collector of his acquaintance wrote to him, who had doubts about some of the items from Rudy in the catalog. Ponceau had no doubt that his house did not produce such wines.
At that auction, the 1929 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche grand cru (the highest level of classification of Burgundy) was put up, and Poncot's grandfather began to bottle wines from this vineyard only in 1934. Thirty-eight bottles of other wine were presented in a range of vintages from 1945 to 1971, although these wines began to be produced only in 1984.
Millionaire Bill Koch is one of the people who bought wine from Rudy.
At the same time, Kurniawan was sued by millionaire Bill Koch. The fact is that after an audit of Koch's huge collection (about 44 thousand bottles), experts found five fake bottles with a total value of 75 thousand dollars. Kurniawan sold all these bottles to Koh.
Mr. Huang's Dark Kitchen
Rumors about Kurniawan's dishonesty spread widely among the narrow circles of rich wine connoisseurs. The Indonesian himself was cold-blooded. In an interview, he responded to accusations of wine counterfeiting: "Mistakes happen with Burgundy wines." But the noose around Rudy was getting tighter. Although initially he was able to "fight off" the accusations of Ponceau and Koch, Kurniawan became interested in the FBI. They started their own investigation.
Rudy's great career finally ended on a cold spring morning in 2012. On March 8, Kurniawan, dressed in pajamas, opened the door and saw six FBI officers who were going to search his apartment. What they found a few minutes later illustrated Rudy's career much better than Jackie Chan's applause.
In the house found more than two hundred old bottles of elite wine, about 19 thousand fake labels and equipment to age and glue them. In addition, there are special formulas that Kurniawan used to mix cheaper wine and adjust its taste so that it was similar to rare vintages. In this case, he really had no equal. Rudy ordered labels from abroad, artificially aged them and pasted them on fake wine. He used a special corkscrew that does not destroy the cork, and the upper part with a hole was sealed with a special solution of wax.
Rudy's kitchen.
Fake labels Photo: AFP
In December 2013, the court found the Indonesian guilty of manufacturing and selling forgeries, as well as financial fraud. The lawyer came up with a version that Kurniawan used labels and other wine tinsel as interior items, but the jury did not believe it.
Rudy was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Kurniawan became the first person to be convicted in the United States for counterfeiting collectible wines. Experts estimate that a third of all fake vintages on the market were made in Rudy's kitchen. Bloomberg estimated the damage from his scam at $ 30 million, although the victims are likely to have been more — not all the rich people deceived by Dr. Conti, went to court. According to estimates by Wine Fraud magazine, by 2018, the value of all the wine that Kurniawan sold was at the level of half a billion dollars.
Sketch from the court.
The conman's Legacy
How did it happen that one Indonesian deceived dozens, if not hundreds of rich" connoisseurs " of wine? It's all about show-offs.
Three fake bottles from Rudy.
There are very few people who could really appreciate the expensive vintages from Burgundy. There are many more people who talk about it and buy it. Most often, such vintages are purchased to show off to friends or as an investment. There are very few people in the world who have actually tasted these rare wines. Dear customers of Kurniawan couldn't tell the difference between a $ 500 wine and a $ 10,000 vintage. Rudy knew that very well.
The wine world was favored by Kurniawan — he sent expensive bottles as gifts to wine journalists and specialists, arranged generous tastings, and made friends with serious people. His deception was in the hands of all participants in the sales chain. Rudy's activities made him rich not only in himself, but also in the auction houses. Experts say that if Rudy was only engaged in direct sales, it is unlikely that anyone would have found out about his scam.
Interestingly, despite his huge earnings, Kurniawan was heavily in debt at the time of his arrest. After the verdict, many did not believe that he could have pulled off his scam alone. They also remembered his relatives — Rudy turned out to be the nephew of two major Indonesian fraudsters, Hendra Rahaji and Andy Tansil.
Rudy was released early from prison in 2020. After his release, he was deported. It is funny that after the liberation of Kurniavan, the Bohmans auction house suddenly withdrew from sale a collection of 600 elite bottles-experts could not confirm the authenticity of about a hundred copies, and the entire batch was sent for an additional audit. The wine world is quiet and waiting for the hero to return.
Kurniawan before deportation.
Rumor has it that after Rudy's story, some luxury restaurants have introduced an unusual rule: waiters now break bottles from old vintages so that customers can't take them with them.
Further from the author's words:
In 2001, an Indonesian student, Zhen Wang Huang, expired on a student visa to the United States.
Auditor from Jakarta
Little is known about Rudy Kurniawan's early life.
In the early noughties, Kurniawan realized that he wanted to connect his life with the wine business.
In 2006, the Los Angeles Times published an article about Rudy, where he was called the most interesting "hipster" of the wine world. "No one has ever spent money so quickly." Energetic at auctions, hungry for wine in restaurants, Kurniawan usually quieted down when questioned about the sources of his fortune. There was another oddity for Rudy: often, when he was in establishments or at tasting parties, he asked not to throw out bottles from under expensive wine, but asked the deliveryman to bring them to his home.
Kurniawan in 2005. Photo: AP
I'm not a collector. I'm a drunk
—
Rudy Kurniawan
Rudy met Hollywood producers, IT company owners, big developers, and other rich people from the East Coast. He hosted food parties where they could drink several hundred thousand dollars ' worth of wine a night. Rudy's tastes were being listened to. Finally Burgundy became fashionable.
Dr. Conti
In the wake of his success, Rudy was nicknamed Dr. Conti, after his favorite estate in Burgundy, the Domaine de la Romanée — Conti, where wine has been made since the 12th century. Critics, sommeliers, and collectors celebrated the young Indonesian, praised him in the press, and sought to establish contacts. Kurniavan seemed to have a premonition — the elite wine market began to grow sharply. The demand for rare vintages from Burgundy has increased especially. The bottle, which in 2001 was bought for $ 400, ten years later was already worth 13 thousand. It's time to sell.
Rudy became friends with John Capon, a former hip-hop producer and later the head of one of the wine auction houses. In the winter of 2006, the first collection of wines from Rudy was put up for auction. In her abstract, it was stated that Kurniawan is a real wine researcher, who has been selecting the best vintages for years. The collection from a young Indonesian by wine standards was sold out in two days. 1,742 bottles for $ 10 million.
The success was so overwhelming that the new partners decided to repeat the sale and held a new auction 9 months later. On it, they earned almost $ 25 million, setting a record.
By 2010, Dr. Conti had become a real playboy. While the rich and collectors competed for his bottles at auctions, Rudy drove a Lamborghini Aventador, wore a half-million-dollar watch, and lay on a chaise longue in his mansion. One day, Rudy organized a party dedicated to his mother. Jackie Chan was the guest of honor. At one point, the actor stood on a chair and started applauding Rudy — it was the best night of Kurniawan's life.
However, Rudy's reputation was already damaged by that time.
One day, Laurent Ponceau, the owner of the famous Burgundian house, the heir to the famous dynasty of winemakers, flew to the auction of old Burgundy wines, where bottles from the Courniavan collection were sold. A collector of his acquaintance wrote to him, who had doubts about some of the items from Rudy in the catalog. Ponceau had no doubt that his house did not produce such wines.
At that auction, the 1929 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche grand cru (the highest level of classification of Burgundy) was put up, and Poncot's grandfather began to bottle wines from this vineyard only in 1934. Thirty-eight bottles of other wine were presented in a range of vintages from 1945 to 1971, although these wines began to be produced only in 1984.
Millionaire Bill Koch is one of the people who bought wine from Rudy.
At the same time, Kurniawan was sued by millionaire Bill Koch. The fact is that after an audit of Koch's huge collection (about 44 thousand bottles), experts found five fake bottles with a total value of 75 thousand dollars. Kurniawan sold all these bottles to Koh.
Mr. Huang's Dark Kitchen
Rumors about Kurniawan's dishonesty spread widely among the narrow circles of rich wine connoisseurs. The Indonesian himself was cold-blooded. In an interview, he responded to accusations of wine counterfeiting: "Mistakes happen with Burgundy wines." But the noose around Rudy was getting tighter. Although initially he was able to "fight off" the accusations of Ponceau and Koch, Kurniawan became interested in the FBI. They started their own investigation.
Rudy's great career finally ended on a cold spring morning in 2012. On March 8, Kurniawan, dressed in pajamas, opened the door and saw six FBI officers who were going to search his apartment. What they found a few minutes later illustrated Rudy's career much better than Jackie Chan's applause.
In the house found more than two hundred old bottles of elite wine, about 19 thousand fake labels and equipment to age and glue them. In addition, there are special formulas that Kurniawan used to mix cheaper wine and adjust its taste so that it was similar to rare vintages. In this case, he really had no equal. Rudy ordered labels from abroad, artificially aged them and pasted them on fake wine. He used a special corkscrew that does not destroy the cork, and the upper part with a hole was sealed with a special solution of wax.
Rudy's kitchen.
Fake labels Photo: AFP
In December 2013, the court found the Indonesian guilty of manufacturing and selling forgeries, as well as financial fraud. The lawyer came up with a version that Kurniawan used labels and other wine tinsel as interior items, but the jury did not believe it.
Rudy was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Kurniawan became the first person to be convicted in the United States for counterfeiting collectible wines. Experts estimate that a third of all fake vintages on the market were made in Rudy's kitchen. Bloomberg estimated the damage from his scam at $ 30 million, although the victims are likely to have been more — not all the rich people deceived by Dr. Conti, went to court. According to estimates by Wine Fraud magazine, by 2018, the value of all the wine that Kurniawan sold was at the level of half a billion dollars.
Sketch from the court.
The conman's Legacy
How did it happen that one Indonesian deceived dozens, if not hundreds of rich" connoisseurs " of wine? It's all about show-offs.
Three fake bottles from Rudy.
There are very few people who could really appreciate the expensive vintages from Burgundy. There are many more people who talk about it and buy it. Most often, such vintages are purchased to show off to friends or as an investment. There are very few people in the world who have actually tasted these rare wines. Dear customers of Kurniawan couldn't tell the difference between a $ 500 wine and a $ 10,000 vintage. Rudy knew that very well.
The wine world was favored by Kurniawan — he sent expensive bottles as gifts to wine journalists and specialists, arranged generous tastings, and made friends with serious people. His deception was in the hands of all participants in the sales chain. Rudy's activities made him rich not only in himself, but also in the auction houses. Experts say that if Rudy was only engaged in direct sales, it is unlikely that anyone would have found out about his scam.
Interestingly, despite his huge earnings, Kurniawan was heavily in debt at the time of his arrest. After the verdict, many did not believe that he could have pulled off his scam alone. They also remembered his relatives — Rudy turned out to be the nephew of two major Indonesian fraudsters, Hendra Rahaji and Andy Tansil.
Rudy was released early from prison in 2020. After his release, he was deported. It is funny that after the liberation of Kurniavan, the Bohmans auction house suddenly withdrew from sale a collection of 600 elite bottles-experts could not confirm the authenticity of about a hundred copies, and the entire batch was sent for an additional audit. The wine world is quiet and waiting for the hero to return.
Kurniawan before deportation.
Rumor has it that after Rudy's story, some luxury restaurants have introduced an unusual rule: waiters now break bottles from old vintages so that customers can't take them with them.
