(Reuters) — A British man accused of allegedly defrauding investors of nearly $100 million through a Ponzi-like scheme involving nonexistent luxury wines pleaded not guilty in a U.S. court on Saturday.
Stephen Burton, 58, was extradited to New York from Morocco on Friday to face the charges after he was arrested in 2022 after entering that country using a fake Zimbabwean passport, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors said that Burton, along with a co-defender, ran Bordeaux Cellars, a company they said brokered loans between investors and high-net-worth wine collectors.
Burton pleaded not guilty to the indictment which was filed in 2022 and was ordered detained pending trial, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Burton and co-defendant James Wellesley allegedly solicited $99 million from investors from June 2017 to February 2019, approaching them at places including conferences in the United States and overseas.
