‘The Con’ on ABC Airs The Wine Con Featuring Rudy Kurniawan

‘The Con’ is brand new on ABC. In an upcoming episode airing on Wednesday, March 24th, they follow the wine con aka Rudy Kurniawan.

What is The Wine Con?

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Back in the early 2000s, a young man named Rudy Kurniawan exploded onto the scene in the fine wine industry. It’s a place where the rich spend more on one bottle than some make in a full year at a job. Rudy was said to be spending up to a million dollars on rare bottles of wine at auctions and throwing very lavish dinners. This all sounds like a luxurious life doesn’t it?

Behind it all, Rudy also became the center of an outrageous scam, conning some of the richest collectors in the world. The wine connoisseur was admired for building a full cellar of rare wines, selling many of his bottles for record breaking amounts. However, he was hiding a big secret. When Kurniawan crossed paths with billionaire wine collector, Bill Koch – everything was exposed.

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Who is Rudy Kurniawan? 5 Facts You Should Know

• Rudy was born on October 10, 1976 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• His birth name was Zhen Wang Huang.
• Kurniawan attended California State University, Northridge in the late 90’s. He arrived to the US on a student visa in 1998.
• FBI agents arrested Rudy at his home in California on March 8, 2012
• After searching his house, agents found inexpensive Napa wines indicating they would be passed off as vintage wines.

The Con will feature interviews with Bill Koch, Rudy’s friend Arthur Sarkissian, while taking viewers around the world with investigators and former FBI agents as they uncover lie after lie.