FBI raids posh wine retailer

The Federal Bureau of Investigation searched Park Avenue wine retailer Sherry-Lehmann Wine & Spirits Tuesday as part of an investigation into the 89-year-old vintner.

Sherry-Lehmann, which the New York Times has reported is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, is in existential crisis. It faces lawsuits from customers for alleged failure to deliver prepaid wine, is delinquent on $2.8 million in taxes, and reportedly could be evicted from its midtown home. It also shut down after getting a cease-and-desist order from regulators for selling liquor without a license, according to the New York Post.

The doors were wide open Tuesday morning as t-shirted officers and an agent sporting an FBI windbreaker congregated outside. It was a jarring scene for a merchant that's a New York institution, whose shelves have been browsed by Greta Garbo, Mick Jagger and Harrison Ford, and which for decades decided which brands the city's elite purchased.

Katia Porzecanski/Bloomberg

Sherry-Lehmann's owners, Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green, and an attorney for the firm, didn't reply to emails seeking comment. 

An FBI spokeswoman confirmed that agents carried out an enforcement action at the Park Avenue store related to the investigation reported by the Times. 

The Times, citing former employees, reported last month that witnesses had been asked to appear before a federal grand jury in Manhattan at the end of June. A spokesman for the Southern District of New York, which the Times said is conducting the investigation with the U.S. Postal Service and the New York Police Department, declined to comment.

Sherry-Lehmann was long considered the gatekeeper to the U.S. market for brands from around the world. Its founders, brothers Jack and Sam Aaron, changed what New Yorkers drank, introducing them to Dom Perignon and Bordeaux's Chateau Petrus. The store became the wine-buying destination for the city's elite after World War II, and for the holidays saw the best wine brands vie for a spot in its windows and catalog.

In 1978, Andy Warhol stopped by the store to sign bottles of 1975 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, the vintage that carries his artwork on the label. Sales clerks covered the signature with saran wrap and upped the price.

Sherry-Lehmann's owners set up a separate business renting customers storage space for the pricey wines they purchased. The Times reported that employees believed Sherry-Lehmann improperly sold clients' stored bottles to other customers, which its owners have denied.

Sherry-Lehmann also denied having a set time by which to fulfill contracts for future wine sales, and said that the delivery of some wine was due to outside delays such as tariffs. 

It "expects the delayed wines to be bought and delivered in 2023," the store said in a January court filing.

— With assistance from Ava Benny-Morrison and Guillermo Molero