The shadowy world of counterfeit wines [and billionaire snobs]
Try and feel the pain of these billionaires
William Koch: Has spent years and tens of millions litigating against wine counterfeiters. Just think of what could have been done with that money.
DECEMBER 22, 2013, 12:06 AM|A high-stakes courtroom drama played out in New York City pitting wealthy wine collectors against a man accused of intentionally making and selling millions of dollars’ worth of fake rare wine. Martha Teichner looks into the world of wine forgery. [And widespread snobbery, siúticos one and all.—Ed]
EXCELLENT COMMENTS
[Original thread on CBS page] | 112 people listening
Keeping political opinions aside, Did Sunday morning air this story to garner sympathy for poor Mr. Koch or was it simply to show how dumb you are once you become uber rich. Either way I cannot muster a lot of sympathy for a guy who buys wine that you don’t even drink
I LOVE Sunday Morning. I DVR it and watch it at my leisure with my husband. One of my daughters (home from college) watched it with us. I have never seen a sadder story for CBS to use. We had to turn off this program for the first time ever. I agree with most all the comments posted. At this time of year of giving and sharing and wishing for peace on earth…this display of greed is so wrong. My daughter asked how he could get so much money. We told her it was at the expense of so many people that he did NOT pay well enough. Then to be soooo cocky about being not only ripped off BUT spending the millions to put the man away that ripped him off. THINK OF ALL THE GOOD that money would do instead of his need for greed and revenge….Leave that to fictions TV shows. SAD SAD SAD CBS Sunday Morning!
Also… shame on Martha Teichner, Dustin Stephens and Remington Korper.
I have never written into a forum such as this one to comment on TV programming, however I so appreciate Sunday Morning and was so extremely disappointed that they ran this story I could not help myself. It was truly offensive and I am very happy to see that other have commented on this as well.
What a sad, pathetic story to start a holiday week. Allow Mr. Koch to explain to the world how victimized he is by having spent 4.5 million dollars on fake wine and his belief that he is doing a good deed by spending another 25 million to go after the counterfeiters!?! He was honestly proud of himself for trying to rid the world of this problem! It made me want to join the occupy movement, or perhaps get involved in wine forgery.
One plus, seeing Mr. Koch show the world his intellectual prowess when he bought 4 bottles of wine supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson had marked his name on the bottle with an electric etching tool. A very common practice in the late 1700’s… writing ones name on wine bottles with ELECTRIC tools! Please let Mr. Koch know I have a 1st edition bible autographed by Jesus for sale. What a pathetic fool…
SHAME on you CBS news! Truly an unwise decision for those of us who appreciate your programming.
This segment would have been tasteless, inappropriate and insensitive at any time it was aired but airing during the holiday season when so many folks are struggling financially, was just despicable. As referenced by another commenter, who was CBS playing to with this segment…evidently not the majority of their viewers. I must hope that all the really rich are not this self-absorbed and clueless.
I won’t go to the point of breaking it down piece by piece because I’m actually ashamed I watched it all the way through and only did so to see if it was some type of joke, which it should have been but was not.
Pitiful Sunday Morning, just pitiful!
STEPHEN JANSEN 1 hour ago
The REAL point of interest would be about the counterfeiter, his research and processes. Not the “poor little rich man” who was swindled on 1% (a rather fitting number, no?) of his multimillion-dollar wine collection.
I find it extremely ironic that Mr. Koch has funded 25 million worth of prosecution for wine forgers, yet has spent hundreds of millions perpetrating fraud designed to malign the federal government, social programs, climate change, etc, etc.
To quote another commenter: “Why would you air a piece like this that gives a platform to this man and his avarice is incomprehensible.”
I am very pleased to see that several people have already posted the same reaction to this story. I don’t know who you think your core audience is CBS (or maybe who you want them to be) but this story was likely offensive to most of America. What a waste of money. Must be nice to spend more money than you lost in the first place on a lawsuit to what end? What is Koch’s end game going to be? “Garnish” the perp’s wages to recoop his lost millions (and of course court costs) from this guy? Completely detached from the reality that the rest of us experience daily. Insulting! How dare Martha Teichner not challenge him while in his underground wine bunker about throwing good money after bad instead of showing this greedy fool empathy. It’s true He’s free to spend his money as he likes, but really CBS, this is the type of story that rouses the working class to rally with torches and pitchforks when you highlight the great unbalance of the Have Nots and the Haves Way Too Much.
How festive to feature a modern day Scrooge just before Christmas. Koch makes Ebenezer look like Bob Cratchit. Good for Koch that he got swindled on counterfeit wine. My heart bleeds. Oh, to think I got upset when I was overcharged by forty-nine cents for the broccoli at the market!I think Dante’s Inferno: Koch will drink his 40,000 bottles of wine over and over for eternity. CBS, we definitely want more sob stories on the terrible woes of the 1%.
Thank you William Koch for making the world a safer place for billionaire wine collectors. Learning that Koch has spent 5 times more to prosecute than he spent on the fake wine is just one of the pearls in this piece. If only he would chose to “shine a bright light” on issues that would truly make the world a better place. But, hey, we all have our priorities.
Sorry, I just can’t seem to dredge up one iota of sympathy for these mufti-millionaires who have been bilked out of so much money buying these phony bottles of wine when so much real good could be done with even one-half of that money.
All I can think of is how many desperate people could be fed right here in our country, or could get clean water and food in third world countries with even a small portion of that money…
And what do you DO with all that fancy wine, anyway? Sit and look at it? Occasionally pop open a bottle and drink it, only to have it go right down the toilet an hour later?
Such a waste…literally.
Totally agree. I just can not believe the poor taste displayed here by my long time viewed Sunday Morning favorite.
I am appalled that CBS chose to produce this story, unless their intent was to expose Koch’s extraordinary avarice. If that was the case, Martha Teichner should have toned down the gushing and fawning over this misanthropic dolt. I am a very long time viewer, but I can’t watch the rest of the show and will think twice about watching Sunday Morning anytime soon.
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CBS you hit it out of the park with this story…just like you did with the 60 Minutes Benghazi story. How insulting to the rest of us that Mr. Koch spent $25M trying to prosecute counterfeit wine dealers. He couldn’t find a more humanitarian endeavor, i.e. funding the 1.3 million folks who are about to lose their unemployment benefits? Oh, that would be income redistribution…I bet Mr. Koch considers himself a Christian too. Merry F#*$ng Christmas to you too Mr. Koch!
I was so disappointed in CBS Sunday Morning for using a Koch brother in this story. Not only was the story itself sickening, but to give him a platform to whine about being ripped off was appalling. This story and that man epitomize the greed that continues to contribute to the severe economic inequalities in this country. Imagine the difference he would have made if he had given even a tenth of the money spent on the wines and the lawsuits to a local homeless shelter, school, food bank, etc. Shame on CBS for this story.
My wife and I found this story absolutely appalling. CBS Sunday Morning is our favorite way to begin our Sundays and then to have a story that seems to sympathize with the grotesque excess of this man, our initial reaction was to turn off the show entirely. His moral outrage over being swindled was so absurdly overblown in light of all the other things in life that one should and could be outraged over. Why you would air a piece like this that gives a platform to this man and his avarice is incomprehensible.
He spent more, twice as much on fake wine than the average college graduate will make in lifetime! What makes you think people want to hear that or will have any sympathy! I agree with all comments and really hope CBS will think carefully about their future stories.
I agree with all the comments on this story. The Koch brothers do everything they can to abolish the minimum wage yet they cry foul when one of them is too stupid to correctly research the provenance of wine they are buying. I really hope that CBS was airing this story to show how idiotic and wasteful the K. brothers are. Not to attract any sympathy for them. Stories like this make me sick and want to stop watching Sunday Morning.
This story made me sick. Spending 25 million to prosecute is obscene. With homeless, hungry & poorly paid minimum wage Americans , that kind of money could help so many. I’m glad he was taken by that guy!
Bill Koch buying counterfeit wines. He had it coming!!
If it looks like a pirate, smells like a pirate, and tastes like a pirate, don’t touch it with a 10-FOOT pole!!!
I agree with the 7 people who’ve already commented. I was gleeful upon hearing how one of the Koch Bros was fooled and ripped off. Now, to top off his well-earned Karma, if only a Robin Hood character could get at his art collection and donate it to public art museums so all, rich & poor, could see. What a scrooge, this Koch Bro is. And Martha, did you really need to fawn so much? That was kind of sickening.
Over 40,000 bottles in his cellars? Since he doesn’t seem the type to share, Koch is breaking the cardinal rule of collecting wine; which is to never have more in your cellar than you can drink in your lifetime. My guess is Koch doesn’t drink ’47 LaTour to enhance his Tuesday night meatloaf.
The only way this could become a Dickensian Christmas Carol would be if Koch sold his excessive wine holdings, and donated the proceeds to worthy causes.
Good job Sunday Morning Show I guess no matter how much money you might have some people will never be full filled.