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Premier Cru Wines in Berkeley, California Guilty of Ponzi Scheme


DonRocks

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This is shocking, and makes me wonder if I have any wines on hold with them. 

Man, this is *every bit* as shocking as what happened with Carolina Wine Company.

"Berkeley's Premier Cru Wine Schemer Pleads Guilty to Wine Fraud" by Malaika Fraley and Matthias Gaffni on eastbaytimes.com

"Premier Cru Boss Cops Plea in Wine Fraud Case" by W. Blake Gray on wine-searcher.com

Apr 3, 2016 - "Claims of a Ponzi Scheme in the Collapse of a Rare-Wine Seller" by Robert Frank on nytimes.com

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2 hours ago, Keithstg said:

Hey Don, if you had wines on hold with them you likely would have received a notice from their bankruptcy trustee. Hopefully you are in the clear.

Wineberserkers has an exhaustive thread on this mess.

I'm pretty sure I took possession of all my purchases, but I'm sure glad I stopped ordering from them (for no specific reason, I will add).

This makes me wonder which other retailers and auction houses that have a lag time are involved in the same sort of thing.

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I stopped ordering from PC in 2012 or 2013, based pretty much solely off of scuttlebutt on Wineberserkers. They filled most of my orders, though took a LONG time to credit me back for cancelled ones.

Grey market sites like PC are high risk, high reward. I don't know of many who were so aggressive with pre arrivals though. My guess is that more schemes like PC are out there though - caveat emptor.

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14 minutes ago, pdmarquardt said:

Carolina Wine was more a guy who got in over his head and started kiting checks.  The PC guy was stealing money from the get-go.  There's a reason he's going to jail.

That's correct - the Crish Peel I knew was a good human being, and I believe him when he says that what happened with Carolina Wine Company ruined his life (at least for awhile).

Don't forget, Crish gave Ashley Christensen (my *God* she has struck gold) her first Chef de Cuisine position - I'm proud to say I was the one who sort-of "discovered" her, and even made a special trip just to have one of her dinners.

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