THE Griffith-based patriarch of one of Australia's biggest wine companies has asked police for help after being blackmailed by an elderly Italian for $5.5 million.
Matteo De Dominicis has allegedly been blackmailing Giovanni ''John'' Casella, whose family owns Griffith's Casella winery, for the past two years.
Mr De Dominicis, 67, had tried to extort more than $5.5 million from Mr Casella between February 2008 and a week ago, a court heard yesterday.
He allegedly demanded $645,000 in three separate payments last year and $5 million from Mr Casella a week ago, prompting the winemaker to go to Griffith police on December 6.
Local police and the Robbery and Serious Crimes Squad investigated and Mr De Dominicis was arrested on Wednesday morning. He faced Griffith Local Court yesterday, charged with four counts of demanding money with menaces.
He sat expressionless in the dock as magistrate Jeff Hogg denied him bail, saying he still posed a serious threat to witnesses and the victim.
The court heard Mr De Dominicis has no family ties in Australia and is considered a flight risk after refusing to surrender his passport. He is due to face the same court on February 10.
The Casella family, whose company produces the world-famous Yellow Tail wine brand, is worth $665 million, according to the Business Review Weekly's 2009 list of Australia's richest people.
The news of the blackmail attempt comes only two months after the death of the family patriarch, 88-year-old Filippo Casella, who began Casella Wines in 1969 after moving to Australia from Sicily in 1957.
The youngest of the three Casella brothers, and a co-owner of the winery, Marcello Casella, was convicted in Queensland in 1995 over a $60 million marijuana crop.
Email a friend