On Monday, June 27, the gendarmerie cracked down on a counterfeiting chain that sold low-quality wine to Bordeaux, whose loss was estimated at “hundreds of thousands of bottles“, the Bordeaux parquet floor announced to AFP on Friday.
On Monday, a hundred gendarmes arrested in Medoc, Gironde and seven departments about twenty people suspected of participating in this circulation of fake Bordeaux wines, the scale of which could be “estimated at several hundred thousand bottles– emphasized the public prosecutor Frederic Porter.
Fraud organized by a vineyard owner in the Médoc
Three of these suspects, inclchief provocateurThey were brought before an investigator on Wednesday and charged with “fraud and money laundering in an organized group”, “deception of goods” and “adulteration of food”. They were released under judicial supervision with the obligation to pay a bail of 20,000 to 50,000 euros.
While investigating drug trafficking, gendarmes stumbled upon fake equipment, such as “false labels“, the prosecution elaborates in the press release. Then, in October, fake Bordeaux wines were spotted in Sarte, prompting gendarmes to make contact with a fake that had been reported months earlier in the Médoc. The prosecution launched an investigation in November entrusted to the research department with the support of the Gironde gendarmerie and the group.wines“A specialized cell of the Gendarmerie of New Aquitaine.
Investigations have revealeda large-scale fraud orchestrated by a vineyard owner in the Médoc“, also a merchant. The latter procured wine thanks toSpanish contacts” and printed “a large number of labelsat full discretion, while bottling operations could take place at night. The fake Bordeaux wines were then sold.”with whole pallets“thanks to several departments”network of formal and informal distributors composed of companies, retirees, self-employed“, according to the prosecution. that “important orders“that is, several thousand bottles, there were also.”intended for mass distribution or foreign countries“.
A fake that targeted mid-range Médoc wines
Customers thought they were going to Bordeaux châteaux.”whose name and label inspired confidence with prices that sometimes defied all competition“while the bottles contained”low quality wines or wines from fairly remote regions“, the prosecutor emphasized.
During searches:ten cars“and”a large number of wineswere confiscated. According to a source close to the case, the counterfeiting targeted mid-range Médoc wines, which are easier to fake than the great wines.
“If the facts are proven, we hope that the culprits will be severely punished, because this practice damages the image of Bordeaux wines and all those who work well and respect the rules.“, responded the Bordeaux Interprofessional Wine Council, joined by AFP.
Source: Le Figaro
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