Rudy Kurniawan orchestrated the largest wine fraud in history, selling roughly $30 million worth of counterfeit rare wines to elite collectors before FBI agents arrested him in 2012. He was convicted in a Manhattan federal court of mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud, sentenced to ten years in prison, ordered to forfeit $20 million, and told to pay more than $28 million in restitution. After serving about seven years, he was deported to Indonesia in 2021. Reports since 2023 place him in Singapore and Hong Kong, where he is said to be blending imitation wines again for private clients.
Who Rudy Kurniawan Is
Born Zhen Wang Huang in Jakarta in 1976, Kurniawan came to the United States in the mid-1990s on a student visa to study accounting at California State University, Northridge.1The Hustle. The Man Who Sold Millions in Counterfeit Wine to Rich Collectors By 2001 he was living in Arcadia, California. His asylum request was denied, and in 2003 the Board of Immigration Appeals ordered him to depart voluntarily.2U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Removes Indonesian Man Convicted of Fraud Tied to International Counterfeit Wine Scam He never left. For the next decade he lived in the country illegally while building a reputation as one of the world’s most prolific buyers and sellers of rare wine.
How the Counterfeiting Worked
Working from his home in Arcadia, Kurniawan blended cheaper Napa and Burgundy wines to approximate the flavor profiles of legendary vintages, then poured the blends into old bottles fitted with replacement corks and counterfeit labels he designed himself.3FBI. Rare Wine Dealer Sentenced in Counterfeiting Scheme The fake labels dated as far back as 1899. Among his frequent targets were Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Ponsot, and Château Pétrus, wines that can sell for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars a bottle.
The scale was extraordinary. A wine expert later identified roughly 19,000 counterfeit labels covering 27 different elite wines at his home.4NBC Los Angeles. Sour Grapes: Wine Fraud Con Man Deported to Indonesia Investigators also found 122 bottles of an inexpensive 2002 Liberty Bay Merlot that he used to adulterate older wines during blending.5Wine Spectator. Want to Buy Wine From Master Counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan? Kurniawan may have sold as many as 12,000 counterfeit bottles between 2004 and 2012.
He moved most of the wine through the auction house Acker, Merrall & Condit. In 2006 a single Acker sale of his consignments raised $24.7 million, a record for one consignor.6Wine Spectator. Accused Wine Counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan Guilty in Landmark Case The proceeds paid for a Lamborghini, designer clothing, and a lifestyle that ran through Manhattan’s most expensive restaurants.
How He Was Caught
The first sign of trouble came in 2007, when Christie’s pulled a consignment of 1982 Château Le Pin magnums after determining the bottles were fake.4NBC Los Angeles. Sour Grapes: Wine Fraud Con Man Deported to Indonesia The turning point came in early 2008. A New York collector alerted Laurent Ponsot, proprietor of Domaine Ponsot in Burgundy, that roughly 90 bottles of his wine were about to be sold at an Acker auction consigned by Kurniawan. Some of the lots were labeled as Clos St.-Denis with vintages dating to 1945. Ponsot knew they were impossible: his domaine did not begin bottling that grand cru until 1982.7Wine Spectator. A Wine Sleuth and Would-Be Novelist
Ponsot flew to New York and forced the withdrawal of 22 lots estimated at $600,000 to $1.3 million. The next day he met Kurniawan at Jean-Georges in Manhattan. Kurniawan blamed a mysterious Indonesian supplier named “Pak Hendra,” but the two contact numbers he provided turned out to belong to a fax machine and a shopping mall. Ponsot concluded Kurniawan was the counterfeiter and, beginning in February 2010, worked with the FBI, providing evidence he had gathered on three continents over five years.8Decanter. Ponsot Instrumental in Arrest of Kurniawan
On March 8, 2012, FBI agents arrested Kurniawan in Los Angeles. A raid on his Arcadia home uncovered what investigators called a “fake wine-making laboratory” in plain view: old bottles soaking in the kitchen sink, wax dripping off freshly sealed bottles, corks and re-corking equipment, funnels, and 30 to 50 open bottles on the counter alongside blending materials.3FBI. Rare Wine Dealer Sentenced in Counterfeiting Scheme
The Federal Case
The complaint, unsealed in Manhattan federal court, charged Kurniawan with three counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud.9U.S. Department of Justice. Prominent Wine Dealer Rudy Kurniawan Charged Trial began in December 2013 and ran seven and a half days at the Daniel P. Moynihan Federal Courthouse.10World of Fine Wine. After Rudy: What Can the Fine Wine World Learn From the Kurniawan Case?
Prosecutors called Burgundy producers Laurent Ponsot, Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, and Christophe Roumier of Domaine G. Roumier. Billionaire collector William Koch told the court he had spent $2.1 million on 219 bottles of Burgundy consigned by Kurniawan and estimated that his overall collection contained as many as 500 fake bottles.11Decanter. Kurniawan Trial: Rudy Wanted Source of Auction Wines Kept Secret, Witness Says Restaurant owner Antonio Castanos Beltran testified that Kurniawan had repeatedly asked him to consign wines anonymously, suggesting the use of straw consignors.
On December 18, 2013, the jury convicted Kurniawan of mail fraud and wire fraud for the counterfeit wine scheme, and of bank fraud for obtaining a $3 million loan by concealing more than $7 million in existing debt, misrepresenting his annual expenses, and lying about his immigration status.12U.S. Department of Justice. Prominent Wine Dealer Rudy Kurniawan Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 10 Years in Prison He was the first person in the United States ever convicted and imprisoned specifically for wine fraud.
On August 7, 2014, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman sentenced him to ten years in federal prison, ordered $20 million in forfeiture, and imposed $28,405,502.50 in restitution to seven victims.12U.S. Department of Justice. Prominent Wine Dealer Rudy Kurniawan Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 10 Years in Prison Defense attorney Jerome Mooney argued that the victims were wealthy, that “no one died,” and that “no one lost their life savings.” Berman called the crimes “bold, grandiose, unscrupulous but destined to fail” and said, “Fraud is fraud.”13Artnet News. Wine Forger Rudy Kurniawan Gets 10 Years in Prison
The Seized Wine and the Auction House Fallout
Federal authorities seized 5,300 bottles from a warehouse near Kurniawan’s Los Angeles home. Bordeaux-based authenticator Michael Egan reviewed 770 of the most valuable, rejecting 199 as counterfeit and another 175 for compromised corks or missing capsules. The fakes were stamped “Counterfeit” in orange, crushed, and recycled.5Wine Spectator. Want to Buy Wine From Master Counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan? The 4,711 authenticated bottles went to Gaston & Sheehan, a Texas auctioneer, for two online sales in late 2015 that generated more than $1.5 million across 905 lots. No commission was charged, and the net proceeds went to victims.14Wine Spectator. Rudy Kurniawan’s Last Wine Auction
Acker, Merrall & Condit faced years of litigation. In May 2015, after six years of legal action by William Koch, Acker settled, agreeing to pay an undisclosed lump sum, accept returns of suspect or counterfeit wines regardless of prior “caveat emptor” policies, and submit all pre-1970 vintage wines to expert authentication before sale.15Decanter. Acker Merrall Auction House Pays Out to Settle Koch Fake Wines Case The house denied wrongdoing. CEO John Kapon later described his firm as “one of his biggest” victims, saying Kurniawan left the company “in the hole for massive sums.”16Wine Enthusiast. John Kapon Has Lived and Learned, and Has His Eyes on the Future
Deportation to Indonesia
Kurniawan served about seven years of the ten-year sentence. On November 6, 2020, the U.S. Marshals Service released him to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which had lodged an immigration detainer as early as February 2013.2U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Removes Indonesian Man Convicted of Fraud Tied to International Counterfeit Wine Scam Prosecutors described him as a “public safety threat because of his aggravated felony conviction.”17Los Angeles Times. Sour Grapes: Wine Fraudster Rudy Kurniawan Deported On April 8, 2021, ICE officers escorted him onto a commercial flight at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and he arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang City, Banten, the following day. He is barred from re-entering the United States.
The case reached a broader audience through Sour Grapes, the 2016 documentary directed by Jerry Rothwell and Reuben Atlas that was released on Netflix. Kurniawan declined to participate.18The New Yorker. A True Crime Documentary About the Con That Shook the World of Wine
What He Is Reportedly Doing Now
Within two years of his return to Indonesia, reports placed Kurniawan back in the wine world. Wine fraud expert Maureen Downey, founder of Chai Consulting, described private dinners at the Pines Club in Singapore where Kurniawan created blended imitations of wines including 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti and 1990 Pétrus, tasted blind alongside authentic bottles.19The Drinks Business. Convicted Wine Fraudster Rudy Kurniawan Parties in 2023 At a November 2023 talk at 67 Pall Mall in Singapore, Downey said Kurniawan was “back in business” and spending significant time in Singapore and Hong Kong.20The Drinks Business. Until We Can Talk About Supply Chain Oversight, Wine Counterfeits Will Continue to Be a Problem, Says Maureen Downey
His attorney Jerry Mooney has confirmed that Kurniawan is being paid to create “fake versions” of high-end vintages for wealthy collectors, duplicating bottles that sell for $10,000 or more for what Mooney described as “perhaps as little as a hundred bucks.”21Los Angeles Magazine. Wine Forger Sour Grapes Rudy Kurniawan Strikes Back Observers have noted that making blended wines for private tastings, where the bottles are not sold as authentic, is not currently illegal.22Wine-Searcher. Rudy Back in the Fake Wine Game
Kurniawan still owes more than $28 million in court-ordered restitution to his victims, and federal investigators continue to track previously concealed bottles in an effort to satisfy that debt.21Los Angeles Magazine. Wine Forger Sour Grapes Rudy Kurniawan Strikes Back