Rare-wine scam targets 150
Scheme involved cold calls, British accents, officials allege
Windsor Jones’ website promises “the acquisition and sale of the world’s most illustrious and pleasurable Bordeaux investment-grade fine wine.” But a new court case alleges the investment opportunity was all part of a ploy.
According to an arrest affidavit, representatives for Windsor Jones, along with two other companies, Charles Winn and Vintage Whisky Casks, are accused of running an international scheme that involved cold-calling, fake names and British accents. The companies swindled more than $13 million from at least 150 people, federal investigators allege.
The five-year, two-continent saga resulted in last week’s arrest of Casey Alexander on a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Alexander is accused of working for the three companies that allegedly defrauded investors by dangling promises of high returns on their investments in rare wines and whiskeys.
According to investigators, Windsor Jones, Charles Winn and Vintage Whisky Casks used “aggressive and deceptive tactics” on the elderly people whose numbers they obtained. The scheme involved a complicated web of limited liability companies, investigators said, that were supposedly headquartered in the U.K. but that had been registered in Delaware back in 2017, online records show.
Victims reported being cold-called by representatives with Delaware phone numbers wielding British accents and fake names. After paying a hefty price, some individuals would later consider pulling out of the investment — only to be ghosted or handed excuses by the supposed brokerage programs, according to the affidavit.
The FBI became involved in the case after an 89-yearold Ohioan reported it to police. Then, the agency began connecting his case to several others.
The complaints against the companies were so widespread that they received a slew of cease-and-desist letters from securities agencies across different states, but the companies ignored them, an informant told the FBI. That informant, who worked for Charles Winn and Vintage Whisky Casks, helped investigators connect with several people who had sent checks to the company.
The agency’s warning allowed investors to void their checks and save more than $466,000, according to the affidavit. However, the companies responded by persuading other individuals to send money through wire transfers, investigators said.
Starting March 28, federal agents tapped an unidentified man from Ohio’s Cuyahoga County who had been charged in an unrelated securities fraud case to pretend to be a potential investor. In exchange for a lesser sentence, the man agreed to contact and meet with company employees, including one who was arrested by the FBI.
After connecting the FBI with the employee, the Cuyahoga County informant tipped off investigators that Alexander would be traveling from England to Ohio.
The two met, and Alexander did a sales pitch for whiskey investments — telling him the company’s employees “would only get paid 10% of the profit after the whiskey matured and was sold to third parties.” But an FBI record review showed that all of the money in Vintage Whisky Casks’ U.K. bank account could be traced back to American investors.
Alexander was arrested by the FBI on June 14. His attorney, John Spellacy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post late Sunday.
Court records show Alexander was released after posting a $50,000 bond. Under the conditions of his release, Alexander is prohibited from contacting “any person who is or may be a victim.”