The consolation for those who invest in fine wine is that even if the bottom falls out of the market they can still drink the booze.
So it was doubly enticing for investors when they were approached by a pair of British men with the offer of handsome returns backed by cellars that included the prized Californian wine Screaming Eagle.
According to court papers filed in New York, investors were duped out of £76 million by the sales patter of Andrew Fuller, 55, and his business partner Stephen Burton, 57.
Breon Peace, the district attorney bringing the case, alleged that Fuller had even renamed himself James Wellesley, the surname of the dukes of Wellington, for their Bordeaux Cellars scheme.
“Unlike the fine wine they purported
