by Serenata Wines

A Korean-born Belgian is set to pay back under a tenth of the total amount he managed to amass during a wine scam spanning just five days, according to an article published by The Drinks Business.

Denis Lefranq was jailed for two years and four months by Leeds Crown Court in October 2011. He has been ordered to pay back just £30,000 - over a six month period - of the £380,000 he amassed from the fraud.

At the time of the crime Lefranq was running a fine dining restaurant at 3 York Place, Leeds; he then set up a website, SurplusWines.co.uk in 2010, which claimed to be a seller of fine wines from restaurants that had been hit by the recession and forced to close.

The thirty-six year old then placed adverts in both local and national newspapers - leading to hundreds of orders being placed; the orders were never completed though and Lefranq shut his restaurant and fled to Europe once the funds had cleared.

He was then arrested in Prague during December 2010 and brought back to the United Kingdom, where he admitted to conspiracy to defraud.

Victims of Lefranqs scam have reacted angrily to the news that he will only pay back a small amount of the total he amassed.

Roger Burgess placed an order with SurplusWines.co.uk and stated: "If there is some way of tracing those people who lost physical amounts of cash that should be the bare minimum thats taken back, and it should not go to the state but to those customers."

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