Premier Cru scam to be turned into TV show

A TV show with a plotline suspiciously similar to the Premier Cru wine scandal is in the pipeline, with Star Trek actor John Cho set to play the lead.

As reported by Variety, USA Network is developing an hour-long TV drama called Connoisseur based on a script by Donnie Darko actor Gary Lundy.

Cho will play Clay Park, a con artist who dupes wealthy wine collectors into paying millions of dollars for fake wine. His antics get him involved in an organised crime syndicate and put him on the FBI’s radar.

The show will be produced by Ben Watkins through Blue Monday Productions, with Cho also in a co-producing role. In addition to Star Trek Beyond, Cho has starred in American Beauty and American Pie.

Earlier this month John Fox, founder of California wine merchant Premier Cru, admitted to scamming wine collectors out of $45m in a wine Ponzi scheme. Between 2010 to 2015, Fox sold around $20 million worth of phantom fine wine en primeur to some 5,000 clients who ordered the wine and never received it.

A high number of complaints led to an FBI investigation and Premier Cru going bankrupt in January with over $70m of debts. Fox faces up to twenty years in prison and a $250,000 fine, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for 14 December.