Criminal Justice
Fake Wines Get FBI’s Attention, Draw Lawsuits
Posted Dec 21, 2007, 10:51 am CST
By Molly McDonough
The FBI in Chicago is hot on the trail of those producing and allegedly selling counterfeit wine, some of which has sold to collectors for more than $100,000 per bottle.
The Chicago Tribune reports the wine is being sold primarily at auctions. Investigators have expanded their probe nationally, focusing in part on a 1921 Bordeaux from France's Chateau Petrus vineyard that can attract a $75,000 price.
During the last 18 months, well-known wine collectors have been suing dealers and auction houses, complaining that they are peddling fakes, the Tribune notes.
One of the suits involves allegations that wine that sold for $100,000 per bottle—supposedly rescued from Thomas Jefferson's stocks in 1780s Paris—was fake.