A California rare-wine dealer was arrested by FBI agents recently and charged with trying to sell more than $1 million (€0.7 million) worth of counterfeit bottles at auction houses in New York City and London.

Rudy Kurniawan, who once boasted of having one of the most extensive personal wine collections in the world, was subsequently denied bail by a Manhattan federal court judge. He is accused of trying to sell counterfeit bottles of rare wine for more than $1.3 million (€0.9 million) at auctions in New York City in 2008 and, more recently, in London.

A Californian federal court judge had originally ordered that Mr Kurniawan be released on a $175,000 (€133,122) bond, secured by his property, on the conditions that he would be confined to home detention and monitored electronically.