The Sausalito man now in prison at Terminal Island for setting fire to a Mare Island wine storage facility in 2005 was the subject of a recent episode of a CNBC show called American Greed.
According to tv.com, “American Greed is an original business documentary television series… that examines some of the biggest corporate and white collar crimes in the United States.”
Besides profiling high profile cases, the show, with host Stacy Keach, also covers stories about more common crimes like medical fraud, money laundering, Ponzi schemes, embezzlement, insurance fraud and murder, the site notes.
The Mark Anderson episode, called “Grapes of Greed,” first aired late last month, tells the story of Anderson’s defrauding his own wine storage customers, who began accusing him of stealing their merchandise. It explains that he faced a growing number of embezzlement charges when he “tries to conceal his crime with gasoline and a blowtorch, destroying more than $200 million worth of wine, and bringing scores of family-owned wineries to the brink of ruin.”
Sentenced last year to 27 years in prison for fraud, tax evasion and the arson of the Wines Central warehouse where millions of bottles of wine and other merchandise were destroyed, Anderson’s episode can be seen online on sites like tv.com and Hulu.
Jack Krystal, who owned the Wines Central warehouse, said he may watch the show if he can find the time. Otherwise, he tries to avoid dwelling on Anderson and the bad memories.
“I’m busy working and don’t want to think about Mr. Anderson,” Krystal said. “He destroyed a lot of lives. It’s a lot of bad memories.”
Though for a while Krystal considered trying to reinvent the wine warehouse business, he eventually, “threw in the towel,” he said.
Anderson has maintained his innocence, and is appealing his conviction. At least one news report notes he fired his latest lawyer. Anderson was reportedly recently granted his seventh extension to file the opening brief and now has a Sept. 27 deadline.
“Well, I understand he was trained as a lawyer, so maybe it’s part of his makeup,” Krystal said. “And it’s not like he’s going anywhere, so I guess he has plenty of time to keep himself busy.”
