Fraud Friday: Stolen wine and damaged pasta sauce


A Northern California man who opened a wine storage facility was charged with stealing wine from customers (wineries) who stored their product there. He sold the stolen wine using aliases and kept the proceeds. After he was charged with stealing 8,000 bottles, he burned down the facility, destroying 4.5 million bottles valued at over $100 million. The fire also damaged pasta sauce stored in the facility by the Francis Ford Coppola brand and sugar stored by C&H Sugar. Sentenced to 27 years in prison and $73 million in restitution, he sought release to home confinement due to COVID-19. He was denied due to risk of harm to the community and the fact that he had already contracted the virus once and recovered. (U.S. v. Anderson (January 6, 2021) United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Case No. 2:07-cr-00096-KJM)

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