British national James Wellesley, 59, pleaded guilty in New York to a $99.4 million wine investment scam.
According to U.S. prosecutors, James Wellesley, also known as Andrew Fuller, admitted to wire fraud conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn.
The 59-year-old Briton was extradited from the U.K. earlier this year after being accused of running a massive fake wine investment scheme through Bordeaux Cellars, a company registered in London and Hong Kong.
Together with his partner, Stephen Burton, 61, Wellesley convinced investors to finance loans supposedly secured by fine wines owned by wealthy collectors.
But prosecutors revealed that most of the wine never existed. Instead of 25,000 luxury bottles, Bordeaux Cellars controlled perhaps as few as 217, falsely claiming to hold prestigious labels such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Château Lafleur.
Prosecutors said the duo used investor funds to cover personal expenses and to pay earlier investors, a tactic typical of Ponzi schemes.
The operation, which ran between June 2017 and February 2019, eventually collapsed when interest payments stopped, exposing the fraud.
Under federal guidelines, Wellesley faces 10 to 12½ years in prison and has agreed to forfeit $1 million along with funds held in over two dozen bank accounts.
His co-defendant, Stephen Burton, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies and agreed to forfeit $26 million.
Burton will be sentenced on January 6, 2026, while Wellesley’s sentencing is set for February 3, 2026. Both remain in custody at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre.
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“The defendants tricked investors into believing their money was backed by high-value wines that didn’t exist,” prosecutors said in a statement, calling the scheme one of the most elaborate wine-related investment frauds ever uncovered.
The case, filed as U.S. v. Burton et al, underscores the growing sophistication of financial scams targeting luxury assets and the heavy penalties awaiting those who try to profit from deception.
