Man jailed over $2.7m wine theft

A man in California has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to stealing US$2.7 million worth of wine from a storage facility.

George Osumi, 64, pled guilty to more than 75 charges relating to the wine theft as well as under reporting more than $3.5m worth of payroll costs at this building company.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Osumi broke into wine storage lockers the he operated in Irvine, California and replaced expensive bottles of wine with cheaper ones.

Osumi did this on three separate occasions and then persuaded an unknowing friend to auction off some of the stolen wine, in return for some of the profit.

He netted nearly $600,000 from the auction, some of which was ploughed into his business, and some he kept for himself.

Some reports in the US indicate that Osumi could have faced up to 80 years in prison if he had not pleaded guilty to the charges and reached a deal with the local District Attorney.