Wine investment boss is charged

THE former boss of two companies that sold whisky and champagne as investments has been charged with three counts of fraud after a wideranging investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Stephen Richard Jupe, 49, of Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, has been charged with carrying on the business of Securitized Syndicated Investments, trading under the name Marshall Wineries, with intent to defraud customers and creditors.

The company collapsed in 1996, owing an estimated £700,000. It was wound up by the High Court three months later.

Jupe is alleged to have defrauded customers of a subsequent company, called Marshall Wineries Limited.

He faces a fourth charge of breaching the Insolvency Act by naming his second company Marshall Wineries, as this was the trading name of his first company which went bust.

Jupe has been bailed to appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court, London, on July 17.