A Chinese fraudster, Qi Moudao, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being caught with 786 bottles of counterfeit wine labeled as prestigious brands, including Petrus and Château Lafite Rothschild. Alongside the prison sentence, Qi was fined 250,000 yuan (£27,500) after admitting to illegally bottling fake wines from renowned Bordeaux châteaux.
During the police raid, authorities confiscated hundreds of branded wine bottles, as well as empty bottles, aluminum caps, and bottling machines. Among the seized items, 33 bottles were falsely labeled as Petrus, Château Lafite Rothschild, or Pomerol. Another 29 bottles were branded as Carruades de Lafite 2017, the second wine from the famous First Growth estate in Pauillac.
Authenticity checks quickly confirmed that the wines were counterfeit. Investigations revealed that Qi had collaborated with two other individuals, Zhou Moubin and Qi Mouxi, to orchestrate the counterfeit operation between March 2020 and November 2021.
The Tongzhou District People’s Court of Beijing ruled that Qi’s actions constituted a severe case of trademark infringement, resulting in the five-year prison sentence. Qi chose not to appeal the decision.
The court released details of the case during National Intellectual Property Week in China, aiming to raise consumer awareness about the risks of purchasing prestigious wines from unverified sources. Officials highlighted the low cost of producing these counterfeit wines, which presents a significant financial incentive for fraudsters. In Mainland China, a bottle of Petrus can sell for over 50,000 yuan (£5,500), making it a lucrative target for counterfeiters. These criminals often try to sell the fake wines at slightly lower prices than reputable retailers, falsely claiming they have been smuggled.
In recent years, Chinese law enforcement agencies have intensified their efforts to combat counterfeit wines. In 2020, Bordeaux’s wine council achieved a landmark victory against counterfeits in China with the support of local authorities. Since then, several high-profile busts have occurred, including a raid in Fujian province in January 2023, which uncovered 40,000 fake bottles of wine, including Lafite and Penfolds, with a ‘street value’ of more than £120 million.
