UK man loses fight against extradition to US over $100 million wine fraud

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LONDON (Reuters) -A British man accused of defrauding investors out of nearly $100 million through a Ponzi-like scheme involving non-existent luxury wines lost his fight against extradition from Britain to the United States on Tuesday.

Andrew Fuller, who was named by U.S. prosecutors as James Wellesley when he was indicted in 2022, is wanted on wire fraud and money laundering charges in New York.

Prosecutors allege that Fuller and his co-defendant Stephen Burton – who was extradited to the U.S. in 2023 and pleaded not guilty – ran Bordeaux Cellars, a company which said it brokered loans between investors and high net worth wine collectors.

The pair allegedly defrauded dozens of investors out of at least $99 million between June 2017 and February 2019.

Fuller, 58, challenged his extradition to the U.S. at London’s High Court, arguing he should be prosecuted in Britain as the majority of his alleged offending took place there.

But Judge Ian Dove dismissed Fuller’s appeal, ruling that most of the loss caused by the alleged fraud “occurred or was intended to occur in the U.S.” and that Burton’s pending trial in New York meant the two defendants should be tried together.

Fuller can apply to take his case to the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court. His lawyers were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alex Richardson)