BOGUS
WINE
that included a pool, a spa and
— of course— a wine cellar. (The
work was never completed and,
seven years later, the mansion has
never been occupied.)
Kurniawan also amassed an art
collection that included works by
Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst.
He drove flashy cars and wore expensive clothing and jewelry. He
told the Robb Report — the luxury
lifestyle magazine — that he had
moved away from “edgy” watches
to a more “classic” timepiece by
purchasing a Patek Philippe 5960
Annual Calendar Chronograph
(retail price $92,000). “It looks
elegant and sophisticated with
a suit, yet you can wear it every
day without being too flashy,” the
wine collector advised.
Kurniawan ran up more than $16
million in charges on his American
Express card from 2006 to 2011. He
wrote personal checks for millions
more during the same five years,
according to the criminal complaint
that was later filed against him.
Along the way, Kurniawan acquired a bicoastal reputation for
having a formidable palate and a
keen eye for counterfeit wine. He
was also widely viewed as extremely generous. Kurniawan shelled
out tens of thousands of dollars on
HUFFINGTON
08.12.12
drinking binges at the restaurant
Cru, a gathering spot in New York
for wine lovers that later closed.
“Rudy would just waltz in, buy
wine off the list, and treat everybody to some very expensive bottles,” says Paul Wasserman, a wine
“WINES THAT HAD
DISAPPEARED FROM THE
MARKET 30 YEARS AGO
WERE REAPPEARING, OFTEN
IN LARGE-FORMAT
BOTTLES,” CORNWELL SAYS.
professional and friend of Kurnaniawan’s who attended several of
the gatherings at Cru. “He was very
cocky and arrogant about wine, but
he was also very generous. He was
definitely the center of attention.”
At the end of the meals, he asked
the restaurant staff to ship him all
of the empty bottles of wine his
party had consumed. He gave various explanations for this peculiar
request, including a “photo shoot.”
In all, 13 packages containing empty
bottles were shipped by FedEx to
Kurniawan’s home in Los Angeles
in 2005 and 2006. He complained