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Wine fraud Kurniawan’s Burgundy land sold
Prime vineyard land in Burgundy owned by the multi million-dollar wine counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan has quietly been sold off, with proceeds of the sale going to his victims.
Rudy Kurniawan
The land was made up of vineyards on Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, including parcels of Beaune premiers crus and the Vosne-Romanée cru Malconsorts.
Kurniawan owned a 22.73% share in the land as part of a group he set-up with five others called Etienne & Partners.
The plan for the company was to split the proceeds of wine made from their land, which would be managed Etienne de Montille, Wine Spectator reports.
However, in July 2014, seven months after his conviction for wine fraud, Kurniawan was forced to forfeit his share of the land to the US government.
The Justice Department sold the share to the de Montille family for around £520,000 two months ago, the report claims.
Kurniawan was sentenced in August 2014 to 10 years in prison and was ordered to pay $28.4 million in restitution to his victims, plus another $20 million as part of a forfeiture agreement.