John Fox

A federal judge sentenced John Fox, former owner of Berkeley wine shop Premier Cru, to six and a half years in federal prison Wednesday after he was found guilty of defrauding more than 4,000 customers out of about $45 million.

A settlement decision on the Premier Cru class action lawsuit was reached May 16, affecting approximately 4,450 Premier Cru customers who were left without the bottles of wine they paid for before the company declared bankruptcy Jan. 8.

During a Wednesday bankruptcy hearing for Fox Ortega Enterprises, a company that owns the Berkeley wine store Premier Cru, one of the company’s creditors contested the proposed sale of Premier Cru’s more than 78,800 bottles of wine — the latest legal action facing the company that has been embroiled in a slew of lawsuits.

John Fox, owner of the Berkeley wine store Premier Cru, declined to testify during a creditor’s hearing Wednesday in response to questions posed by creditors and the trustee regarding the loss of millions of dollars in wine orders.

John Fox — owner of wine shop Premier Cru in Berkeley — who filed for bankruptcy is currently embroiled in an FBI investigation for alleged involvement in a Ponzi scheme.

A judge issued a court order Thursday stipulating that the owner of a Berkeley wine store facing several lawsuits for fraud turn over a computer that could hold millions of dollars worth of banking information his store received for pre-ordered wine that was never delivered.