关于[罗曼尼康帝DRC假酒门]的最新进展,两则纽约时报NYTimes报道。

      关于[罗曼尼康帝DRC假酒门]的最新进展,两则纽约时报NYTimes报道。

陆江(Maxime LU)/万欧兰葡萄酒俱乐部

今年2月在Spectrum&Vanquish拍卖前,争议假酒罗曼尼康帝Romanee Conti-DRC被撤拍,对假酒案的后续发展还在继续:

首先第一则:

2012年3月8日纽约时报NYTimes报道,关于[罗曼尼康帝DRC假酒门]嫌犯Rudy Kurniawan于3月8日在洛杉矶被美国FBI以多项造假指控逮捕。

 NYtimes纽约时报英文原文:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/nyregion/wine-dealer-accused-of-trying-to-sell-counterfeits.html

相关NYtimes纽约时报的全文翻译: 

【纽约时报】著名葡萄酒商被控出售假酒(译者: 孙萌    2012年03月10日 04:17 原作者: 威廉 K. 哈食博姆 马特弗莱根海姆.

Rudy Kurniawan曾触及葡萄酒两个领域的高端,以其味蕾和专注于金字塔顶端葡萄酒的眼光受到人们的关注。

他经常出现在拍卖会,比佛利山的宴会中,并且给纽约的苏富比提供拍品。兴趣本身就足以把价格推到市场顶端。

由于其藏品价值上百万,Kurniawan为显示其权威性,给主要买家提供无条件退货的政策。在这行中这种行为极其罕见,却吸引了包括 William I.Koch在内的亿万富翁。

但在星期二,Kurniawan在洛杉矶被联邦调查局逮捕,罪名是企图销售伪名酒。与此同时,他还在滔滔不绝地强调其产品的真实性。如果是真品,那估价近130万美元。

Kurniawan被送进洛杉矶拘留所,2006年他卖出价值3500万美元的酒。根据法庭文件,他被指控涉嫌邮件和电报欺诈。此案已提交到纽约的联邦法庭。来自曼哈顿美国律师事务所的检察官说他们等待其在接下来的几天被转移到纽约。

本案原告提到2008年Kurniawan至少把84瓶假酒委托给拍卖行,声称酒是来自法国勃艮第Domaine Ponsot。这批酒的估价将近60万美元。检方说,酒是假的,尽管他表现得这批酒像是真的。

同时,他还被指控试图销售一瓶所谓的1929年Domaine Ponsot。原告说这是不可能的。因为Domaine Ponsot直到1934年才开始自行装瓶。

35岁的Kurniawan住在加州阿卡狄亚,还被控以欺诈手段筹措上百万美元资金为其“高端生活”,检方称,进行“融资”。

Kurniawan被来自纽约精英小队的探员所逮捕,他们针对涉及艺术品,古董和其他收藏品的犯罪。参与诉讼的人说,星期四在洛杉矶美国地区法院的听证会上,检方提到在Kurniawan家发现用来制作伪劣酒瓶的材料。

原告还指控,Kurniawan提供据说是1945到1971年间DomainePonsot产自Clos St.-Denis的酒。实际上这个酒庄直到1982年才使用这个葡萄园产酒。据Domaine Ponsot管理者的要求,这批酒稍后就被撤出拍卖会。

当管理者质询Kurniawan假酒的来源,他继续说这是从一位亚洲人手上得来的,并且给予管理者两个电话号码。

原告说,没有一个号码能指向卖酒的人。号码分别属于印度尼西亚地区航空公司和雅加达一家商场。

Kurniawan的律师,来自洛杉矶Munger,Tolles & Olson LLP的Luis Li说正在评估这些控告并拒绝进一步发表评论。曼哈顿的美国律师事务所发布新闻,说Kurniawan面临三项电报和三项邮件欺诈指控。“明知是伪劣,虚假或仿造商品仍进行销售是一项重罪,”F.B.I.纽约办公室助理主任Janice K. Fedarcyk在新闻中说。“无论你叫卖的是毕加索还是Petrus,波提切利亦或是一瓶勃艮第,要么是真品,要么就是欺诈。”

实际上,这些年纽约和洛杉矶的餐馆和顶级酒窖都在等待Kurniawan的倒台,因为他和客人一直糟蹋着酒单上最贵的酒。

“我们听过他,”TimKopec说,他是Veritas上任葡萄酒主管,“在他进门之前。”

2006年,Kurniawan因给买家提供保证以抵制假货而在业界引起轩然大波。曼哈顿一位匿名的前任侍酒师,因为他也参与诉讼,称之为“极冒险的一步”。

“太不寻常了,我第一次见到这种状况,”他说。但随着其产品增加,问题就上升到其收藏品的内容。他是如此年轻,一些收藏家开始好奇,他能积累这么多罕见的酒?

2009年累积的抱怨到达了顶峰。根据报道,Koch对Kurniawan提出诉讼,称其在纽约Acker, Merrall & Condit 拍卖行卖出五瓶假酒。由于最近行内有许多关于假酒的诉讼,Kopec说这个逮捕并不会给葡萄酒行业带来巨大冲击。“这个行业充斥的假酒,超出你的想象,”他说。“这对寡廉鲜耻的商人极具诱惑。”

Kurniawan是印度尼西亚人。原告之一,负责重要偷窃小组的F.B.I高级探员JamesP. Wynne说,2001年其收容申请被驳回,那时他就被要求离开美国,

Kurniawan,也被原告称为Dr. Conti提出过上诉但被驳回。他再一次被要求离开美国。从2003年四月至今,他一直居住在加州。

美国地方法官Stephen J.Hillman 一审判决Kurniawan 缴纳17万5千美元保释。尽管检方表示其逃逸的可能性,法官仍维持其判决,检方将提出上诉。

“如果诉讼成立,Kurniawan的时代将成为过去,”美国律师Preet Bharara在新闻中说。“如同诉讼中提到的,Rudy Kurniawan自诩为葡萄酒狂热爱好者,却有一个能容忍假酒的鼻子。但他才是真正的假货,对着深信不疑的拍卖行和收藏家,以如此大数量的假酒发誓。”

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第二则:  2012年3月9日纽约时报NYTimes报道,【“鉴酒专家”制假】特别披露了,制假酒嫌犯Rudy Kurniawan, 一度被认为是鉴别假酒的权威,哪知这是“专家”制假。

NYtimes纽约时报原文出处: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/nyregion/doubts-grew-slowly-about-wine-collector-charged-with-fraud.html

相关NYtimes纽约时报的全文翻译: 

【纽约观点】曾经无可置疑的味蕾 日渐面临更多的怀疑(译者:  孙萌    2012年03月10日 15:43   原作者: 艾瑞克 阿斯莫.)

Rudy Kurniawan 曾是一名假酒“权威”。

金融危机到来使其削减了收藏的欲望。在那些风平浪静的日子里,他高调地花费和夸张的消费。Kurniawan曾在拍卖会购买并卖出值上百万美元的酒。他曾站在最顶级酒会的中心地带。

他与五六名收藏家一起,曾去纽约葡萄酒界的地标,比如Veritas和Cru,一掷千金。这两家的酒单就跟圣经一样厚。有时他们会带自己的酒去,比如1930s勃艮第的Domaine de la Romanée-Conti,或者是1920s Château Pétrus的Pomerols。这些都是葡萄酒狂人梦寐以求的酒。

然而,当时这些酒的价格直线飙升,单瓶售价上千甚至上万。收藏家们却面临着假酒或者说赝品的威胁。

“他们开瓶然后讨论真伪,Rudy总是高调宣称某瓶酒是伪造的,”曼哈顿Ciano的葡萄酒主管JohnSlover说,他目睹了2004到2007年间许多顶级晚宴,那时他在Cru当侍酒师。“他以权威的身份出现,指出哪瓶是真哪瓶是假,使其自身无可置疑。”

这个手段最终还是被拆穿。星期四,Kurniawan在洛杉矶被联邦调查局逮捕,罪名是企图销售伪名酒。如果是真品,估价近130万美元。伪造酒包括至少78瓶他声称的Romanée-Conti和另一勃艮第名庄的84瓶Domaine Ponsot。

起诉书提到35岁的Kurniawan还亲自参与伪造酒瓶。在纽约餐厅用上万美元给罕见酒买单后,Kurniawan会要求把空瓶寄送回位于加州阿卡狄亚,洛杉矶郊区其住宅中。原告称Kerniawan买了13包“暖白安格尔素描纸,”和印泥。这些都可用来伪造瓶标。“因为其古典的外表,图书行业经常使用安格尔纸。”

原告还说,生于印度尼西亚的Kurniawan,从2003年起就属于非法滞留在美国。其绰号“Dr. Conti”也是源自他对Romanée-Conti的喜爱。

星期五下午,曼哈顿联邦地区法庭法官Denise Cote判决Kerniawan扣押于加州不允许保释,并等待移送纽约。如果罪名成立他将面临十年左右的监禁并且有“强烈的逃逸动机。”45分钟的听证会是通过视频会议进行的,法官位于下曼哈顿的法庭,被告则在加州一台宽屏监视器前。整个过程中,Kurniawan盯着地面坐着,手被拷在身前。

代表加州的联邦检察官Jason P.Hernandez,说这起案件性质越来越严重。探员在被告家搜索时,发现车库中停了一辆兰博基尼,一台奔驰和路虎。

检方说其加州住宅的性质就是伪造酒的“实验室”,充斥着“工具,设备,材料和物资,”包括伪造需要软木塞,箔纸,和伪酒标。

Kurniawan的律师Luis Li催促Cote法官允许其当事人回家,只使用电子监控。Li说Kurniawan有一位65岁患痴呆症的母亲,而他是唯一赡养人。

“这是关于酒的案件,”他在庭上说。“Kurniawan并没有对社会造成威胁。”

即使在他最高调的时候,也没人了解他私人状况。有人说他在1990s中期来到洛杉矶,就读于加州州立大学Northridge分校。还有传闻说他的家族在中国积累大量财富,他保密是为了维持其自主权。

然而,原告却描绘了一个不顾一切去敛财的男人,他借钱来花钱,先是酒然后是现代艺术。原告说他2007年就借了1150万美元,用酒和艺术品担保,其中包括罗伯特印第安纳,艾德拉斯查,安迪沃霍和托德艾伯乐的作品。在欺诈的控诉中提到他用同样的酒和艺术品给多个贷款担保。

回到2005年,Kurniawan和伙伴定期出现在Cru的奢华宴会上。他佩戴厚框黑色眼镜,身穿值1500美元的丝质衬衫和劳力士总统表。如果他和朋友们发现一位熟人走过餐厅,就会给其餐桌送上他们喝的酒,比如85年的Sassicaia,那是来自托斯卡沿岸被大量收藏的酒,或者是Rhône谷传奇的61年JabouletHermitage La Chapelle。

这种聚会持续到2008年金融危机。不久之后Cru就停止营业,老酒和罕见酒的市场也转移到香港。那时,收藏家才听到大量的传闻说Kurniawan涉嫌伪造名酒。

尽管Kurniawan越来越难说服拍卖行接受其藏酒,他却一直在尝试。原告说,今年Kurniawan企图通过代理人委托在伦敦拍卖伪造的Romanée-Conti。这些酒已经被拍卖行撤下。

DRC假酒门后续报道,始作俑者被FBI在美国逮捕

Sylvia CHEN 陈微然

Rudy Kurniawan于3月8日在洛杉矶被美国FBI以多项造假指控逮捕。Rudy Kurniawan一直活跃于商贾巨富和葡萄酒收藏家的社交圈中。这位30出头的新富在2000年中在葡萄酒圈中横空出世,不断在各大拍卖上频频有大手笔行动,每月有近1百万美元的花销。作为葡萄酒收藏家,他对他的客户提供无条件退货的承诺,以此建立良好的声誉并吸引了很多重要的客户。在晚宴上,他也经常豪爽的为同桌的参与者买单。

他的藏品第一次出事是在2007年的旧金山佳士得拍卖,他准备拍卖的6瓶1982年Magnum Chateau Le Pin被印在拍卖目录的封面。不幸的是,酒庄的负责人一眼就认出是假货,经过佳士得重新查看之后确定是假酒,撤拍。最著名事件的应属2008年,他准备通过Acker Merrall拍卖行卖出一系列极其珍贵的,前所未见的Ponsot’s Clos St-Denis 1945, 1949, 1959, 1962, 1966, 1971以及产自酒庄的1929年份的葡萄酒。但问题是酒庄1934年才建立,1982年以后Ponsot才开始出产Clos St-Denis。这种低级的造假很快被识破,酒庄立即叫停了拍卖。今年2月,由于酒标明显与原品不符,DRC英国代理商向Spectrum&Vanquish提出撤销此次对DRC几个稀少年份的拍卖。加州律师和葡萄酒收藏家Don Cornwell在网站上也提出15项差异表示对这批拍品的质疑。这批酒也是源自这位Rudy Kurniawan。

层出不穷的假酒事件让人们对他的背景充满了好奇,很多客户也在质疑者巨额的财富和令人生畏的藏酒是如何同时被一位30出头的小伙子同时纳入囊中的。当被问及葡萄酒的来源时,他坚持说藏品均来自亚洲的联系人,还给了调查员两个电话号码。只不过一个是印度尼西亚航空的电话,一个是某超市的电话。不少报道中说他是长居美国的印度尼西亚人,不过因为假酒事件他惹火了著名收藏家William Koch, 2009年William Koch对他提起诉讼并且进行深入调查。无论怎样,这位 Rudy Kurniawan纸醉金迷的奢华生活怕是要告以段落了。

 

 NYtimes纽约时报原文:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/nyregion/wine-dealer-accused-of-trying-to-sell-counterfeits.html

Renowned Wine Dealer Accused of Trying to Sell Counterfeits

By  and MATT FLEGENHEIMER
Rudy Kurniawan had ascended to the upper reaches of the wine world on both coasts, renowned as much for his palate as for his eye, fixed often on the highest of high-end bottles.

His presence at auctions was constant, at events in Beverly Hills, and offerings at Sotheby’s in New York. His interest by itself was enough to drive prices at the top of the market.

And as his collection brought in millions, Mr. Kurniawan made a show of his own authenticity, offering major buyers an unconditional return policy — exceedingly rare in the industry — while attracting a clientele that included the billionaire William I. Koch.

But on Thursday, in the culmination of persistent rumblings about the veracity of his products, Mr. Kurniawan was arrested in Los Angeles by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges that he had tried to sell counterfeit wine that, if genuine, would have been worth $1.3 million.

Mr. Kurniawan, who sold $35 million worth of wine in 2006 alone, was taken into custody in Los Angeles on mail and wire fraud charges filed in federal court in New York, according to court papers. Prosecutors from the office of the United States attorney in Manhattan said they expected him to be transferred to New York in the coming days.

The criminal complaint in the case said that in 2008, Mr. Kurniawan consigned for auction at least 84 bottles of counterfeit wine purporting to be from Domaine Ponsot in Burgundy, France, which were expected to sell for approximately $600,000. Although he represented the wine as authentic, it was not, prosecutors said.

He was also charged with trying to sell a single bottle that he claimed was a 1929 Domaine Ponsot. That was not possible, according to the complaint, because Domaine Ponsot did not begin estate bottling until 1934.

Mr. Kurniawan, 35, of Arcadia, Calif., was also charged with fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans to finance what prosecutors called his “high-end lifestyle.”

Mr. Kurniawan was arrested by agents from an elite squad based in New York that focuses on crimes involving art, antiques and other collectibles. At a hearing in United States District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, prosecutors said a search of Mr. Kurniawan’s home had turned up materials used in the counterfeiting of wine bottles, according to a person briefed on the proceeding.

Mr. Kurniawan, according to the complaint, also consigned wine that had purportedly been bottled between 1945 and 1971 from the Clos St.-Denis vineyard by Domaine Ponsot, even though the domaine did not make wine from that vineyard until 1982. The wines were later withdrawn from the auction at the request of Domaine Ponsot’s administrator.

When the administrator questioned Mr. Kurniawan about the source of the counterfeit wines, he maintained that he had obtained the bottles from a person in Asia and had given the administrator two telephone numbers for that person, according to the complaint.

But neither number led to that person or anyone else who sold wine, the complaint said; one number was for a regional Indonesian airline and the other was for a shopping mall in Jakarta.

Mr. Kurniawan’s lawyer, Luis Li of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in Los Angeles, said he was evaluating the charges but declined to comment further. The arrest of Mr. Kurniawan, who is charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud, was announced in a news release issued by the office of the United States attorney in Manhattan. “The bad-faith sale of any commodity you know to be a counterfeit, fake or forgery is a felony,” Janice K. Fedarcyk, the F.B.I.’s assistant director in charge of the New York office, said in the news release. “Whether you are peddling a Picasso or a Petrus, a Botticelli or a Burgundy, unless it is what you say it is, the sale is a fraud.”

Indeed, for years, restaurants and top cellars in New York and Los Angeles awaited the inevitable windfall that accompanied Mr. Kurniawan’s arrival, as he and guests laid waste to the most expensive bottles on the wine list.

“We knew of him,” said Tim Kopec, the former wine director at Veritas, “prior to him walking through the doors.”

In 2006, Mr. Kurniawan jarred industry observers by offering buyers a guarantee intended to protect against fraud. One former sommelier in Manhattan, who requested anonymity because he is named in the complaint, recalled the ploy as “a real move of bravado.”

“It was very unusual, the first time I’d ever seen it,” he said. But as Mr. Kurniawan’s profile grew, the sommelier added, questions were raised about his collection’s contents. How did a man so young, some fellow collectors began to wonder, amass bottles so rare?

The grumblings crested in 2009, when Mr. Koch filed suit against Mr. Kurniawan, claiming he had been sold five counterfeit bottles at the New York auction house Acker, Merrall, & Condit, according to news reports. Because of this recent history, arriving amid a spate of other industry allegations concerning counterfeit sales, Mr. Kopec said the arrest was unlikely to ruffle the wine world significantly. “The industry is rife with bogus wine, usually at the very, very highest level,” he said. “That would be the most attractive segment if you were going to be unscrupulous.”

Mr. Kurniawan is an Indonesian citizen whose asylum application was denied in 2001, when he was ordered to leave the United States, according to the criminal complaint, which was sworn out by F.B.I. Special Agent James P. Wynne, head of the Major Theft Squad.

Mr. Kurniawan, whom the complaint says is also known as Dr. Conti, appealed, but his appeal was denied and he was again ordered to leave the country. He did not comply, and since April 2003 has been living in California, the complaint said.

United States Magistrate Judge Stephen J. Hillman initially ordered Mr. Kurniawan released on a $175,000 bond, secured by property. But after prosecutors expressed their concern that he would flee, the judge stayed his decision, and prosecutors have said they will appeal.

“Mr. Kurniawan’s days of wine and wealth are over, if the allegations in this case are proven,” the United States attorney, Preet Bharara said in the news release. “As alleged, Rudy Kurniawan held himself out to be a wine aficionado with a nose for a counterfeit bottle, but he was the counterfeit, pawning off prodigious quantities of fraudulent wine himself to unsuspecting auction houses and collectors.”