Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd director banned for 15 years

Kenneth Gundlach, director of collapsed Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd in the UK, has been banned from company boardrooms until 2030, after failing to deliver millions of pounds-worth of wine and spending buyers' money on fast cars, race horses and private jets.

The UK Insolvency Service said that its ban on Kenneth Jean Pierre Gundlach was for the maximum time possible and encompassed managing, directing or promoting any limited company.

It said its reason was that Gundlach failed to purchase at least £9.3m of fine wine that was sold to consumers. At least 1,750 cases of wine were never delivered to buyers.

Instead, Gundlach used their money to pay himself dividends, which he used to fund a lavish lifestyle, buying ‘performance cars’, race horses, jewellery and designer clothing, the Insolvency Service said. He also spent £141,000 on hiring private jets, it added.

Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd was shut down by the High Court in London a year ago. At the time, the court head that Gundlach admitted in a written statement that he failed to buy sufficient wine and that he got his team of cold-callers to inflate wine prices when on the phone to potential buyers.

‘Anyone showing such blatant disregard for commercial morality should expect to be banned from running any limited company for a lengthy period of time,’ said Paul Titherington, of the Insolvency Service’s public interest unit.

Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd was incorporated in 2008 in Croydon, south of London.

What did Gundlach spend the money on?

Here is a selection of transactions from the company’s bank account, published by the Insolvency Service:

• £626,148 to bloodstock companies probably for the purchase of race horses
• £553,803 for the purchase and running of motor vehicles
• £170,000 to a well known bespoke jeweller
• £141,589 for private jet hire and associated costs
• £38,500 for an office Christmas party

See also:

• UK court closes wine investment firm with millions owed

Written by Chris Mercer