Hanna Agostini, Robert Parker’s former translator, has been found guilty of complicity in a fraud.

The judgements were given yesterday by the Bordeaux Tribunal, where Agostini received a one-year suspended sentence.

Her co-accused Isabel Pinto received three years, and a third woman, Monique Caro, received three months, both also suspended, ‘due to the time that has passed since the events took place’.

The main case rested on Isabel Pinto, who was accused of false accounting practices – specifically sending invoices to clients for work that was not done, and using the money to buy items for herself and her family – while she was administrative director of the Dutch-Belgian Geens wine group,

Agostini, who consulted for Geens between 1999 and 2001, and Caro were accused of complicity in her fraud.

The 12 wine companies who brought the action have been awarded €780,000 from Pinto, and €25,000 from the three women together.

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Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux

Jane Anson
Jane Anson

Jane Anson was Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent until 2021 and has lived in the region since 2003. She writes a monthly wine column for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, and is the author of Bordeaux Legends: The 1855 First Growth Wines (also published in French as Elixirs). In addition, she has contributed to the Michelin guide to the Wine Regions of France and was the Bordeaux and Southwest France author of The Wine Opus and 1000 Great Wines That Won’t Cost a Fortune. An accredited wine teacher at the Bordeaux École du Vin, Anson holds a masters in publishing from University College London, and a tasting diploma from the Bordeaux faculty of oenology.

Roederer awards 2016: International Feature Writer of the Year