An accused Russian counterfeiter and Burgundy bottles filled with Italian wine

The alleged mastermind of a multimillion dollar wine counterfeiting gang was conducting a transaction with a shady printer at Milan’s Malpensa airport when the Italian carabinieri moved in and arrested him on Sept. 26. At the exact same moment in multiple locations in France and Italy, various law enforcement officers launched raids and arrested five collaborators. It was the culmination of an international operation to dismantle a network that prosecutors say sold more than €2 million (approximately $2.12 million) in fake wine.

At the head of the illicit activity, investigators found a familiar suspect: Aleksandr Lugov. A 40-year-old Russian national who has several aliases, Lugov was previously arrested in Burgundy and convicted of counterfeiting wines from top names, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) and Domaine Leroy. But within a few years, investigators began to see similar fakes on the market again, leading them back to Lugov.

An all-too-familiar face in Burgundy

Lugov first came to light in 2013, when DRC staff began finding odd bottles on the wine market. An international investigation led to the arrests of multiple people in France and Italy. Eventually, the trail led to Lugov.

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