The man behind a highly lucrative wine fraud operation has been sentenced to four and half years in prison for fraud.

Dogan Arslan, 43, was convicted of handling wine and spirits which he and his gang had obtained fraudulently.

When orders were placed, the wine was diverted to an address in North London. The wine promptly disappeared leaving producers empty handed. Arslan and his gang made at least £500,000 from the fraud.

When police arrested Arslan in October 2007 they found wine and spirits worth nearly £250,000 in his Tottenham warehouse including wine from P. Ferraud & Fils (Beaujolais), Château Camplazens (Languedoc) and Château Peyfaures (Entre-deux-Mers).

Fraud cases of this kind are rarely prosecuted successfully.

‘It was successful due to the close cooperation of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the fraud prosecution service, Euro Justice, The French Prosecution Service, French police and the commitment of the victims who were both vintners and transport companies,’ said DS Cheadle, the investigating officer in the case

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Jim Budd
Jim Budd
Decanter Magazine, Wine Writer & Photographer

Jim Budd moved from education to wine in 1988 and has written for Decanter since 1989. He is the former editor (1991-2015) of Circle Update, the newsletter of the Circle of Wine Writers.  He writes the award-winning www.jimsloire.blogspot.com and is one of the five members of the Les 5 du Vin blog. Budd exposes the dangers of drinks investment on his award-winning www.investdrinks.org website, and complementary www.investdrinks-blog.blogspot.com blog. He also contributes to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, Wine Behind the Label and the Academie du Vin. Budd is a keen photographer – especially in the Loire.