Saturday, April 13, 2013

Another 10,000 Orgasm Victory for a Billionaire Koch Brother?

Note: Bill Koch is the brother of the politically active beltarians, Charles and David Koch.

NyPo reports:
Billionaire wine lover Bill Koch uncorked a major courtroom victory yesterday — draining $12 million in punitive damages from a fellow oenophile who sold him 24 bottles of bogus Bordeaux.

Koch high-fived his lead lawyer after jurors in Manhattan federal court awarded him the amount from Eric Greenberg, who blinked in apparent disbelief before slumping back in his chair.

“Out of sight! Over the moon!” Koch said. “We weren’t even expecting any damages and we got $12 million. Unbelievable!”

Jury foreman Darrell Paul of The Bronx said the verdict reflected Greenberg’s failure to investigate the authenticity of the wines he sold even after learning there were fakes in his cellar.

“I personally felt there needs to be a message out there that says it’s not really cool to do business that way,” said Paul, 41, who works as a retail manager.

Outside the courthouse, Koch posed triumphantly with a magnum of counterfeit 1921 Chateau Petrus Pomerol he bought for $29,500 at a 2005 auction.

“There’s a huge code of silence in this industry, and my whole point is to shine a bright light on that,” Koch said.

“The perpetrators are now warned, and there are now serious consequences.”

Koch said he had no plans to ever taste the purported wine.

“Who knows what’s in it? There might be arsenic in it,” he said. “Or there might be hog piss. You don’t know.”

The 72-year-old energy magnate, brother of Tea Party backers David and Charles, embraced several jurors and gave them his business card. He said the verdict “compares favorably” with his win in the 1992 America’s Cup yacht race, a victory he likened to “10,000 orgasms.”

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