Matthew McConaughey cast in wine fraud film The Billionaire's Vinegar

Film is adapted from the book of the same name by Benjamin Wallace

Matthew McConaughey has signed on to play the lead in The Billionaire's Vinegar (Getty)

Matthew McConaughey is to star in The Billionaire’s Vinegar, a film following the catastrophic fallout of the wine world’s most infamous frauds.

The Sony Pictures production follows the extraordinary story surrounding the wine bottles, sold to US billionaire Bill Koch for almost half a million dollars, which were found to be fakes.

It will be adapted from the book of the same name by Benjamin Wallace. Rights to the book, subtitled The Mystery of the World’ Most Expensive Bottle of Wine, were sold in 2008 before it had yet been published.

Wallace’s book details the events surrounding the sale and investigation into a 1787 Chateau Lafitte Bordeaux, inscribed with Th.J, which in 1985 a was sold at Christie’s for $150,000.

The eye watering price was partly due to the age of the vintage but more to do with the significance of that little signature – believed to below to one of America’s founding fathers Thomas Jefferson.

Four further bottles were sold to billionaire businessman Bill Koch for over $300,000 – but doubts about their provenance had started to emerge. Koch launched a series of lawsuits against fraudulent wine dealers and eventually won $12million in damages.

The script will be adapted from Wallace’s book by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas – who also tackled 3:10 to Yuma and Chicago Fire.

It will be produced by Todd Black, James Lassiter, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Will Smith.

Once known for his lighter romantic-comedies, McConaughey has shifted gears spectacularly in recent years, winning an Oscar last year for his role in Dallas Buyers Club.