Six people have been arrested for selling fake vintage wine at fifteen euros a bottle. The French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri Corps and the Swiss Federal Police worked together with the support of Europol and Eurojust to dismantle the criminal network. The gang faked French red wine ((which was produced in Italy) and then taken to an Italian airport where it was exported and distributed at market value to unaware wine traders worldwide.
Russian national the suspected ringleader
The six arrested, including the suspected ringleader, were picked up in Paris, Turin and Milan. The ringleader is a 40-year-old Russian national and a French national has already been charged with organised fraud and money laundering. Fourteen locations were searched during the raids.
Fake labels used on the wine bottles
The fraudsters made fake labels identical to those used by famous French vineyards and filled the bottles with cheaply made red wine using inferior grapes. In a press release, Europol said items recovered during the raids included “large amounts of wine bottles from different counterfeited Grand Cru domains, wine stickers and wax products, ingredients to refill wine, technical machines to recap bottles, luxurious goods” as well as “electronic equipment valued at 1.4m euros and over 100,000 euros in cash.” It is estimated that this counterfeit operation netted around two million euros.
Combating wine fraud is difficult
France, Italy and Switzerland have been trying to combat wine fraud for many years, but Italy faces the biggest problem. This could be because Italy has many wine artisans who understand labelling, old bottles and corks, along with a criminal network that is prepared to finance the initial set-up fees such an organised underground operation would require. Sometimes wine fraud can go undetected for many years as it’s not unusual for wine collectors to store wine for a few years and they do not find out the wine they have purchased is fake until they open the bottle.
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