Boss of £200,000 wine scam faces jail

The boss of a fraudulent wine company who laundered £200,000 of money from conned investors faces a jail sentence after being found guilty of possessing criminal property.

Michael Wilson, 44, of Leyton, East London, ran Global Wine Investments, a wine company that tricked clients into parting with tens of thousands of pounds by telling them they were investing in fine wine.

Instead, the company only used a tenth of the money handed over by unknowing members of the public to purchase often inferior wine.

Wilson spent the rest of the ill-gotten cash on staff bonuses and luxuries. All the while, his staff dissuaded clients from trying to sell their non-existent purchases by getting them to invest even more money.

Bank records showed GWI accumulated £631,261 between July 2011 and September 2012, but only £64,016 was spent on wine. Meanwhile, £100,000 was spent on business costs.

During his trial at the Old Bailey, Wilson told the jury that he had been negligent rather than fraudulent, blaming his employees who he said were acting out of his control.

Wilson told jurors: “It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t dishonest”, Local London reports.

“I accept I was negligent. I accept I should have had more control over what the team was doing”.

Wilson was found guilty of possession of stolen property, and a fraud charge remains on file after jurors failed to reach a verdict. He will be sentenced on 27 May.