Mark Lipton wrote:I am confused why people still refer to him as Rudy Kurniawan and as Indonesian. Wasn't it established that he's actually Chinese and named Zhen Wang Huang? As hard as I try, I can only muster so much sympathy for Bill Koch, but I still view this decision as an important one.
Koch's lawsuit against Rudy said that was his real name, but did it say he was actually a Chinese citizen? Suharto prosecuted ethnic Chinese Indonesians and required them to acquire "Indonesian" names. So lots of Chinese Indonesians have 2 names. In any case suits usually use the name that the person used at the time. People sue John Wayne, Mark Twain, Albert Brooks (real name Albert Einstein!), Marilyn Monrie, Balthus, etc. I have no knowledge one way or the other, but his name is probably the least incriminating thing.
While its hard to feel sorry for either side in a battle of the billionaires (well, at least onetime billionaire in Greenberg's case), EG came across as a super a#%hole. I'll tip my hat to Koch for his doggedness, it's ultimately a plus for the wine world. And hey, at least he's better than his brothers!
What I'm trying to figure out is if I met Rudy K briefly. in 2005 I was at a big goodbye dinner for a friend moving to UK to study for his MW. About 2 dozen people at Bayard. There was a young Asian guy surrounded by young Acker-olytes. Someone referred to him as "doctor" (at the time, I thought maybe he was a doctor). He blinded group with a mag of Burgundy (nothing superspecial, something like a 1987 Rene Engel). In retrospect figured it must have been Rudy. If so, this was about point where he went from a huge buyer to a huge seller. Maybe he was auditioning the Engel to see if it was a good candidate for being becoming a 78 or 85 DRC.
Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 4:00 pm