United Kingdom Citizen Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for $97 Million Wine Fraud Scheme

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, James Wellesley, also known as "Andrew Fuller" and "Andrew Templar," was sentenced by United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen to 10 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy in connection with a scheme to defraud over 140 victims around the world of over $97 million. As part of the sentence, Judge Chen ordered Wellesley to pay $1 million in forfeiture and postponed the imposition of restitution until a later date.

Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and James C. Barnacle, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the sentence.

"Unlike a fine vintage that improves over time, the defendant will spend years in prison to reflect on his fraudulent wine scheme. James Wellesley preyed on investors around the globe to induce them to invest tens of millions of dollars on lies," stated United States Attorney Nocella. "Today's sentence sends a message to fraudsters that that our Office will prosecute you to the full extent of the law."

"James Wellesley swindled nearly $100 million from investors by pretending to be an executive broker for fine wine collections. Wellesley spoiled the reputation of a prestigious industry as well as his clients' trust. The FBI continues to stem fraudulent schemes that steal from the wallets of victims," stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Barnacle.

From at least June 2017 and continuing through February of 2019, Wellesley posed as the Chief Financial Officer and Operations Manager of Bordeaux Cellars. Wellesley, along with his co-conspirator Stephen Burton, solicited investors at, among other places, investor conferences held in the United States and overseas. Wellesley and Burton claimed to investors that Bordeaux Cellars brokered loans between investors and high-net-worth wine collectors that would be fully collateralized by high-value collections of wine. They promised that investors would receive regular interest payments from the borrowers, and that Bordeaux Cellars would keep custody of the wine, securing the loans while the loans were outstanding. These representations were lies: the "high-net-worth wine collectors" did not actually exist, and Bordeaux Cellars did not maintain custody of the wine purportedly securing the loans. Instead, Wellesley and Burton used incoming loan proceeds to make fraudulent interest payments to investors and for their own personal expenses.

From June 2017 to December 2018, victims who had invested in Bordeaux Cellars received supposed interest payments and many victims rolled over their principal investments to new loans at the end of the loan terms. However, the supposed interest payments that victims received were not sourced from lenders paying interest on the loans, but rather were sourced from new investment funds fraudulently obtained by Bordeaux Cellars, in a classic Ponzi-like scheme. Of the over $97 million solicited from victims, Bordeaux Cellars paid back only approximately $14 million before their Ponzi scheme unraveled, leaving victims with losses of over $83 million.

Burton pleaded guilty in July 2025 to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy and is currently awaiting sentencing.

The government's case is being handled by the Office's Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Weintraub is in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire S. Kedeshian of the Office's Asset Forfeiture Section, Paralegal Specialists Liam McNett and Erika Ellis, and Anne Pings and Amanda J. Chadwick of the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs.

The Defendant:

JAMES WELLESLEY
Age: 59
London, United Kingdom

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 22-CR-79 (PKC)