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The German citizen Gerhard B., 73, has confessed to having built up a wine estate and a horse breeding farm in Virginia with embezzled money. B. was president of the US subsidiary of a Virginia-based company. The British newspaper dailymail speculates that it could be a German industrial company. B. allegedly used company cheques and fake invoices to pay his personal expenses between 2010 and 2017. Around 1.5 million US dollars (1.38 million euros) thus flowed into the development of the boutique winery Otium Cellars and the horse breeding Goose Creek Farms, according to the prosecution's findings. Otium Cellars was sold in 2021 and renamed Otium Winery.
Among other things, B. allegedly bought about hundreds of bottles with false invoices. According to investigators, the company's current president said the company "would not purchase any of these items or services in the ordinary course of business.".
In addition, B. allegedly used over $146,000 for school fees and $358,000 to pay off his credit card debt. In total, the damage amounts to over four million dollars (3.67 million euros), according to the prosecution. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted at trial on 7 November 2023.
(al / source: decanter, dailymail)