AWC founder replies to critics following liquidation

The founder of Antique Wine Company has dismissed potentially damaging public scrutiny of his finances as “exaggerated” following the termination of the business’s franchising arm.

The liquidation of Antique Wine Company Franchising (AWCF), which was set in motion last month, has prompted strong criticism of its director Stephen Williams’ handling of the company’s finances by wine business consultant Siobhan Turner.

Turner published an article on winefraud.com earlier this month following the liquidation of AWCF in January, (which had been renamed WC1 Realisations Limited).

The article noted Williams’ directorship of numerous other companies under the AWC name of which he has been a director and which had previously been dissolved, such as the liquidation of The Antique Wine Company in 1999 – which Turner said was “consistently loss-making” – and the 2004 dissolution of the Antique Wine Company of Great Britain, which was registered in Hong Kong.

Speaking to the drinks business, Williams said the article – entitled ‘The demise of Antique Wine Company (Franchising)’ – had “chosen to exaggerate the reality of what’s going on,” with regards the liquidation of AWCF.

Each of the companies that the article refers to names Williams as the “sole shareholder and sole director”.

However, Williams pointed out that only company to been declared insolvent was The Antique Wine Company in 1999, and he was not the sole director for the majority of its existence but rather one of four.

He added that while the various other companies had been dissolved, they had not been wrapped up with outstanding creditors.

In March of 2013 AWCF was sold to AWC Global. Not too long afterwards serious fraud accusations from Atlanta-based property developer Julian LeCraw Jr began to emerge.

LeCraw claimed that AWC had sold him numerous fake wines on several occasions, most notably a bottle of Château Yquem.

Stephen Williams is director of The Antique Wine Co.

Wine authenticator Maureen Downey, who set up winefraud.com, advised LeCraw on the wines’ authenticity and deemed they were indeed fake. This claim was refuted by AWC.

A lawsuit was brought in April 2014 but was thrown out by a US judge in March of 2015 and the matter resolved out of court in May of that year “to the satisfaction of all parties”, according to Williams.

Turner’s article then tells how in March 2013 “the majority of stock (i.e. wine) was moved from AWCF to AWC Global”, when there was £1 million apparently owed by AWC Global to “participating interests”, which was secured against “stocks to that value”.

Along with a number of questions, not least one regarding an apparent debtor owed £384,000, Turner concludes: “If I were the bank, the tax authorities, or one of the out-of-money creditors, I would be taking a keen interest in some of the transactions of the company in the three years before its demise.”

In response, Williams repeated his claim to db that the article has “exaggerated the reality” of the current liquidation of AWCF.

He said it was liquidated having not traded for three years since its sale to AWC Global in 2013 and was simply of no further use to AWC Global.

The ‘Resolutions for Winding-up’ listed at the Official Public Record, ‘The Gazette’, show that the general meeting on 13 January 2016 passed the ‘Special’ and ‘Ordinary’ resolutions to the effect that the “company be wound up voluntarily”.

The date for creditors to present the particulars of their debts or claims to the approved joint liquidators, Kreston Reeves LLP, was today (19 February 2016).

The liquidators have been contacted for comment.