CNN –
Six people have been arrested as part of an investigation into a wine fraud ring that allegedly sold counterfeit French wine for up to 15,000 euros ($16,300) per bottle.
Italian police searched 14 properties and seized large quantities of fake wine, wine bottles and labels from top French vineyards and machines used to refill bottles, according to a statement from European law enforcement agency Europol, published on Tuesday.
Police also seized electronic equipment worth 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million) and more than 100,000 euros ($109,000) in cash.
“The counterfeit wine was manufactured in Italy, then delivered to an Italian airport and exported for sale at market value around the world by honest wine merchants,” Europol said in the statement.
Europol said the techniques used by the counterfeiters revealed a link to a previous investigation into a Russian fraudster, which was closed in 2015.
A 40-year-old Russian man, already convicted for his role in a similar wine scam under a different identity, is involved in the latest investigation, according to a statement from French prosecutors published on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said the network was able to sell a “large quantity of major French goods” worth more than 2 million euros ($2.18 million).
A judge in the French city of Dijon indicted a French citizen on charges of fraud and money laundering, and the Russian citizen will appear before the same judge with the aim of indicting him, according to the statement.
The French Gendarmerie led this investigation, and the Italian Gendarmerie and the Swiss Federal Police also participated.
“It is difficult to find accurate figures on fine wine fraud because it is a very challenging activity in itself,” said Stuart George, founder and managing director of Arden Fine Wines, a London-based wine merchant specializing in fine and rare vintage wines. Nature is secret and deceptive.”
However, market forces have increased interest in wine fraud.
“The surge in demand for fine wines in the 21st century… has incentivized fraudsters,” George told CNN. “Anything of value, whether it is a painting or a bottle of wine, is at risk of being counterfeited.”
He added that scammers are able to exploit a lack of specialized knowledge.
“Basically, most people can’t tell the difference between real and unreal,” George said. “If no one has ever seen an authentic bottle of 1990 Petrus, for example, it is impossible to know when a fake bottle was introduced.”
He added that improving skills in the industry is one way to combat wine fraud.
“It would be helpful to have better training and better knowledge of what fine wine bottles look like – especially old fine wine bottles,” George said. “At the end of the day, it’s about integrity and competence.”
In October 2020, the Italian police dismantled a network producing counterfeit Sassicaia wine, a variety considered one of the best in the world, and a bottle is sold for hundreds of euros, Reuters reported.
Bolgheri Sassicaia red wine comes from a region on the coast of Tuscany and has become one of the most popular Italian fine wines since appearing on the market in the 1970s.
Officials from the Guardia di Finanza said the complex counterfeiting involved bottles of inferior wine from Sicily in a warehouse near Milan, with precisely reproduced labels and cans that came from Bulgaria.
