Benedict Moruthoane sentenced to 7.5 years for fraud

On 5th January 2011 Benedict Moruthoane was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for fraud in respect to two wine investment companies: International Wine Commodities Ltd and Templar Vintners Ltd. Neither company bought any wine – IWC took some £800,000 from investors and Templar Vintners £100,000. Hertfordshire police raided and closed the offices of IWC in October 2008. They closed Templar Vintners down in January 2010 soon after it started operation.  

Just before Christmas, following a trial at Saint Albans Crown Court lasting two months, the jury found Moruthoane guilty just before Christmas. The case followed an investigation by the Economic Unit of the Hertfordshire Police.

 

In January 2010 Guernsey Financial Services Commission issued a public warning against Templar Vintners Ltd for falsely claiming on its website that it was authorised by the Commission. 

James Allie, a Brent councillor and the Liberal Democrat's parliamentary candidate for North Brent at the last General Election, was company secretary for Templar Vintners Ltd. Allie's name was used to give a patina of respectability to the fledgling company 

A concerned client of Templar Vintners, who had paid for two cases – 2008 Ausone  and 2008 Lafite – received an email purporting to come from Allie but it is likley that it was sent by Moruthoane. It is thought that Allie had no active involvement in Templar Vintners and no charges were brought.

Clearly it was, at the least, careless and foolish of Allie to have  unwittingly allowed his good standing and reputation to help persuade potential customers to invest in a fraudulent scheme.    

Fraud trial@St Albans: Templar Vintners Ltd

(Proceedings rather seem to have jumped ahead of themselves moving rapidly onto Templar Vintners, the third and most recently formed company involved in this trial. A question I think of juggling with witnesses' availability. Doubtless there will be a return to evidence involving the Bordeaux Wine Trading Company and International Wine Commodities.

The Judge – His Honour John Plumstead may have revealed that the judiciary have also been subject to government cuts when he referred to 'his creaky old laptop'.)

Dr Francis Leigh Moss

Dr Moss explained that he had been contacted on his mobile phone by a Daniel Price, a salesman for Templar Vintners Ltd. Initially he was surprised to be contacted on his mobile as he rarely gave the number out. On reflection Moss thought he might well have filled out a form expressing interest in buying wine for investment. He had already previously bought wine for investment from the Bordeaux Wine Company.

Moss said that Daniel Price was confident, well spoken and had an air of knowledge – he spoke the language (of wine investment). In October 2009 he agreed to buy a case of 2008 Ausone (St Emilion) en primeur for £7740. As well as his invoice Moss received a Templar Vintners brochure, which looked 'glossy', 'professional', 'establishment – at the upper end of the market and a 'multi-million pound' company stating that 'Templar Vintners is one of the leading fine and rare wine merchants'.

In December 2009 Moss bought a case of 2008 Lafite-Rothschild for £4200. After Christmas he decided to rationalise his wine investment portfolio: to sell the less well performing wines to free up funds to buy wines that would show a greater return.

Looking at his portfolio Moss concluded that it was "the highest and scarcest wines from the best vintages – 2000, 2003 etc. which had given the best performance. This was a good time to remove the less good wines from my portfolio, sell them and reinvest. I was open to offers and Templar Vintners raised the question of an exchange."

It was arranged that the wines Moss wanted to sell would be bought by Bordeaux Index Ltd "a highly reputable, secure company (Moss)" and the wines transferred from Branford bond to London City Bond. The deal was worth between £13,000 and £15,000. Templar Vintners would use the money raised to buy new wines for Moss.

Before he went ahead with this new deal Moss decided, given the amount of money involved, that  he needed to do more research. He checked with Companies House and discovered that Templar Vintners was incorporated in 2008 and had changed its name during 2009. There were two directors: Andrew Griffiths and James Allie. Moss could find out little about Griffiths but discovered that Allie was a Liberal Democrat councillor in Brent, so felt reassured.

Moss was also worried that the firm's address Hamilton House was 'an address of convenience'. That his contact with Templar Vintners was by mobile phone and that the brochure had used material from other companies – "cut and pasted". "Looking at the brochure I became more concerned – not a true and genuine document'. He told Templar Vintners that he was not prepared at this time to go through with the deal.

On a Friday evening in January around 5pm he spoke on the phone with an Ethan Brook who was "agitated, angry and affronted". Brook accused him of "neneging on the deal – a deal that he had requested". Moss asked for his money back on the previous deals but was told that this wasn't possible for legal reasons as under the Distance Selling Regulations there was a six week tiime period.

Moss asked for reassurance that this was a genuine deal and asked for a signed letter from Andrew Griffiths or James Allie. He asked in particular for reassurances from James Allie as he thought someone in James Allie's position would not be involved in something that was not legal and above board.

Moss never received a signed letter from either Griffiths or James Allie.  He did receive an email purporting to come from Allie but it wasn't signed. The transfer never went ahead nor has he received any money back for the two cases of 2008 that he ordered.

Under cross-examination from Mr Smith, representing Andrew Griffiths, Moss agreed that the brochure didn't mention 'multi-million pound company'. However he drew this inference from Templar's claim: 'our clients benefit directly from our immense buying power, amassed through years of experience'.

The trial continues.

3rd November 2010:
Please note that Andrew Griffiths has now been severed (official parlance) from this case with a new trial date to be set in due course.

Templar Vintners and Boss Vintners:

Templar Vintners: two arrests made;

Brent Liberal Democrat councillor Templar’s company secretary

On Thursday 4th February Hertfordshire police arrested Benedict Moruthoane and Andrew Griffiths at the London offices of Templar Vintners Ltd. On Saturday 6th February they were charged at Hatfield Magistrates Court with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering and were remanded in custody. 

Although Templar Vintners Ltd did not start trading until the second half of 2009, its website claims that it is ‘the leading merchants of fine and rare wines’. On 22nd January 2010 the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) issued a warning against Templar Vintners over a false claim that it was authorised by GFSC to run a wine fund. (See also here and here.)

Griffiths is the sole director of Templar Vintners Ltd and was appointed on 30th June 2009. James Allie was appointed company secretary on the same day. Allie is the Liberal Democrat councillor for the Alperton ward in Brent.  Allie does not list his appointment as company secretary of Templar Vintners Ltd on the Brent Council register of members’ financial interests.   

I tried to contact Allie for comment but received no direct reply, although Brent Council’s Liberal Democrat office manager did pass on the following response from Allie: “I haven’t been contacted by the police about this matter.” 

I was also in touch with the Brent Council press office, who subsequently contacted Allie. In his response Allie said that he had become company secretary of Templar Vintners Ltd because he was godfather to Moruthoane’s children and had taken on the work without payment. (Work done by councillors without payment does not need to be registered.) Allie said that the company had not started trading when it was raided by the police. 

Allie would appear to be misinformed here. Contacts through investdrinks.org indicate that Templar Vintners started trading in the second half of 2009 – most likely in September or October. It is also clear from Andrew Griffiths comments posted here on 25th January 2010 that Templar Vintners had been trading in 2009.

Boss Vintners’ bogus awards 

Moruthoane is a director of Boss Vintners, based in Johannesburg and founded in 2004. Initially called Voodoo Diamonds, the company name was changed 31st August 2005 with Moruthoane appointed director on 22nd July 2005. Boss Vintners claims to ‘the world’s leading fine wine merchants’. 

On its website Boss Vintners (Company Profile section) claims to have won awards from Decanter magazine, The International  Wine Challenge (Wine magazine) and from the Which? Wine Guide. From Decanter Boss claimed to have won the Bordeaux Specialist UK Wine Merchant of the Year" (Decanter Magazine) 2004/2005 and Fine Wine Specialist UK Wine Merchant of the Year" (Decanter Magazine) 2004/2005. These claims are entirely bogus. Decanter had no retailer awards in 2004 or 2005. The DWWA retailer awards started in 2007 and Boss Vintners has never won any Decanter retailer awards. 

Nor are the International Wine Challenge award claims true as Chris Ashton, event director of the International Wine Challenge says:  “Bordeaux merchant in 2004 was Farr Vintners and the Fine and Rare Merchant didn't exist in 2003! They are not the correct logos any way, they don't have dates on them so they are completely fraudulent as well!!”

Equally the claim to have won the 'Fine Wine Specialist Award" (The Which? Wine Guide) 2004' is also bogus: there was no The Which? Wine Guide 2004 published.  

In June 2009 Moruthoane was charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering in relation to International Wine Commodities Ltd, where he was a director. The case is due to be heard at St Albans Crown Court with the trial starting on 7th June. Moruthoane has pleaded not guilty.