FBI raids embattled wine seller Sherry-Lehmann’s NYC store
The Park Avenue store of troubled wine seller Sherry-Lehmann was raided by the FBI on Tuesday as the iconic 88-year-old vintner’s legal troubles continue to escalate, The Post has learned.
Federal agents descended on the store in the morning and an unmarked white van remained parked at the corner of Park and 59th St. into the evening as part of a multi-law enforcement agency investigation of the business and its owners, sources said.
A Post reporter who tried to enter the store was told it was closed by an officer wearing an FBI T-shirt. Another officer wore a T-shirt that identified him as a part of the “FBI-NYPD Gang Taskforce.”
Agents were seen carrying out boxes from the premises.
One FBI agent who was inside the store confirmed to The Post they had been there for hours but declined to say what they were looking for.
An FBI spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
After this story was published, a spokesperson for the US Postal Inspection Service reached out to The Post to say the agency is “co-lead with the FBI and NYPD” in the Sherry-Lehmann investigation. The USPIS typically probes mail fraud.
The famed retailer was shut down March 10 by the New York State Liquor Authority for selling alcohol without a current license and it has not reopened since.
Owners Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green are allegedly being investigated for selling wine to customers and never delivering it, including several customers who bought more than $1 million worth of futures that were never delivered, as The Post previously reported.
Former employees, who did not want to be identified, told The Post that they had been interviewed by FBI agents in recent weeks.
One former employee, who’d been in the store after it closed, told The Post that the agents were likely looking at the computer system and any records that were kept inside the store.
Gilmer and Green did not respond to requests for comment.
The pair have also come under fire for allegedly selling wine that was stored in its Wine Caves warehouse that belonged to customers who pay a monthly fee to store their wine collection, according to reports by The New York Times and Wine Spectator.
The company owes New York $2.7 million in unpaid sales tax, as The Post first reported.
Earlier this month, SLA spokesman, William Crowley told The Post, “The SLA has opened an investigation looking into a host of potential violations following recent media reports. This investigation is ongoing, and at its conclusion, the SLA will take all appropriate actions. Additionally, the SLA has pending disciplinary charges against Sherry Lehmann for selling without a license.”
Over July 4 weekend, the company’s website went dark and the company’s spokesperson, Eric Andrus, recently said he no longer represented Sherry-Lehmann.
