UPDATE 1-Former wine collector gets 10 years in prison for counterfeiting

An Indonesian man, once considered one of the world’s top wine collectors but who U.S. prosecutors later called a “kingpin of counterfeit” for selling millions of dollars of fake French wine to the wealthy, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in Manhattan federal court on Thursday. Rudy Kurniawan used his refined palate and luxurious lifestyle to hoodwink some of the world’s most discriminating oenophiles with his “bold, grandiose, unscrupulous, but destined-to-fail con,” U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said in imposing the sentence, along with $28.4 million in restitution to compensate seven unsuspecting buyers. The sentence would serve as a deterrent to other counterfeiters, the judge said. “The public at large needs to know that our food and drink are safe and can trust what’s on the label,” Berman said, “and not some potentially unsafe, homemade witch’s brew.”

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/usa-crime-wine-idINL2N0QD1WJ20140807