(Wine-Searcher) - Appellate court endorses jury view that Eric Greenberg knowingly put fake wine up for auction.

A federal appeals court has upheld billionaire Bill Koch's claim for compensation from entrepreneur Eric Greenberg over the sale of 24 bottles of fake Bordeaux.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York this week rejected Greenberg's argument that there was a "complete absence of evidence" that he deceived Koch into buying the wine, which Greenberg has said he thought was authentic, according to Reuters.

Greenberg was accused of knowingly selling the wine at a 2005 auction by Zachys Wine Auctions. The wines included lots purporting to be 1811 Château Lafite, Château Latour from 1864 and 1865 and a magnum of 1921 Petrus. Some of the wines were claimed to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson.

The case inspired the book The Billionaire's Vinegar, which went on to spark legal action itself, when British wine expert Michael Broadbent sued the publishers, Random House, for defamation over several passages in the book. It was eventually settled out of court and the publishers apologized and paid Broadbent an undisclosed sum.

In April 2013, a jury awarded Koch $12.4 million, including $12 million of punitive damages, after a three-week trial. The trial judge later cut the award to $1.15 million, including just $711,622 of punitive damages, saying in his decision that "he was dealing in luxury goods marketed to a sophisticated and wealthy subset of the population. The harm was strictly economic, and the victims were far from vulnerable consumers. These facts merit a relatively low award of punitive damages."

The award was appealed by Greenberg's lawyers.

In this week's decision, the appeals court said there was evidence that Greenberg "exerted influence in selecting bottles for auction," misrepresented chateaus and vintages, and knew his misrepresentations would be communicated to others.