Ben Cazaly, director of Imperial Wines of London, and two of his former employees, have been jailed for stealing the life savings of investors totalling £6m by convincing the mainly elderly victims to buy bottles of hugely expensive Petrus and Château Mouton Rothschild, for inflated prices, promising large returns which never materialised.

Imperial Wines of London Ltd was set up in 2008 by Cazaly, acting as a family run investment house in fine wines. The business later changed its name to Imperial Wine & Spirits Merchant Ltd, and claimed to have offices in London, Paris and Hong Kong, and personal suppliers in Bordeaux in southern France.