NEW YORK – A prosecutor has opened the New York fraud trial of a California wine dealer by calling him greedy, but a defense lawyer says his client is the victim of a corrupt industry.
The differing views were offered to jurors in federal court in New York City during opening statements Monday at the trial of Rudy Kurniawan (KUR'-nah-wahn).
The Indonesian-born immigrant of Chinese descent was arrested last year and accused of trying to sell more than $1.3 million worth of counterfeit bottles to other wealthy collectors.
Prosecutor Jason Hernandez says Kurniawan manufactured fake wine labels at his Arcadia, Calif., kitchen. Defense attorney Jerome Mooney portrays his client as a scapegoat.
The millionaire businessman is being held without bail.
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