The FBI raided a sleepy office complex north of Latest York City this week — and it may very well be the unlikely site where iconic wine shop Sherry-Lehmann has secretly been stashing a fortune in nice wines, The Post has learned.
On Tuesday — whilst FBI agents were scouring Sherry-Lehmann’s now-shuttered shop on the Upper East Side, as reported exclusively by The Post — one other FBI team descended upon a suburban tower in Pearl River, NY in what looked like an orchestrated blitz, sources near the situation said.
The FBI appears to have been trying to find what may very well be a large, stash of prize booze in an underground, air-conditioned room at Blue Hill Plaza where computer servers are positioned, a source with knowledge of the investigation told The Post.
News 12 Hudson Valley, an area TV station operated by Altice, reported the FBI raid in Latest York’s Rockland County, including a confirmation from the agency that it had been on the office park called Blue Hill Plaza.
Blue Hill Plaza in Pearl River, NY is owned by the identical landlord as Sherry-Lehmann’s Park Avenue store.LCM247/Wikimedia Commons
The FBI didn’t confide in the outlet the explanation it was there, and didn’t immediately reply to The Post’s requests for comment.
Sources near Sherry-Lehmann, nonetheless, note that Blue Hill Plaza is owned by Hong Kong-based Glorious Sun Group — which also owns the glass-and-steel tower at 505 Park Ave. where Sherry-Lehmann has been an anchor tenant since 2007.
The apparent, coordinated raid on the embattled, 88-year-old vintner comes because the feds investigate the disappearance of clients’ prized vintages whilst the shop has shuttered, in response to sources near the situation.
The mystery intensified last August, when Sherry-Lehmann co-owners Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green moved a wine-storage service registered under the name “Wine Caves” from a warehouse at 156–02 Liberty Ave. in Jamaica Queens, which is the address listed on its State Liquor Authority warehouse permit, which expires on Dec. 31.
An actual estate agent representing the Jamaica space confirmed that Wine Caves moved out last summer. Former Sherry-Lehmann employees said it was evicted for not paying the rent.
On the identical day that FBI agents raided Sherry-Lehmann’s Park Avenue store, a gaggle of agents scoured Blue Hill Plaza.James Keivom
Gilmer and Green, nonetheless, never registered a recent storage facility with the SLA — rendering any recent storage facility illegal.
“A warehouse liquor license isn’t a driver’s license,” said liquor license attorney, Max Bookman. “It’s issued for a selected location and you wish a recent one if you happen to move.”
There also is not any record of the Wine Caves business at either of the 2 buildings at Blue Hill Plaza, in response to interviews with the property management company, CBRE, in addition to security guards and an inventory of tenants on display within the lobbies during a recent visit to the buildings by The Post.
Glorious Sun declined to comment on whether and why Wine Caves is positioned in its constructing, its attorney told The Post.
Kris Green (left) and Shyda Gilmer are apparently targets of the FBI investigation.Eugene Gologursky
However the Hong Kong real estate company, which owns just seven buildings within the US, served Sherry-Lehmann in June with an eviction notice for its Park Ave. location, in response to a Wine Spectator report.
Sherry-Lehmann owes Glorious Sun $3.6 million in rent that goes back to 2020, in response to the report.
Wine Caves is a separate company from Sherry-Lehmann and offers long run wine storage for its wealthy clients, who may not have the space for his or her vast collections or wanted a safe-keeping place for his or her expensive hooch.
One such client, Mercedes Bass, the wife of late oil tycoon Sid Bass, kept her collection at Wine Caves and have become aware that a few of her bottles had been faraway from the power without her permission and delivered to a different customer, The Latest York Times reported.
Gilmer told The Times that the transfer had been a mistake and that the wine can be returned inside days, in response to the report. A spokesman for Sherry-Lehmann said the Bass family had picked up its collection from Wine Caves, however the family said that was not true, in response to the report.
Sherry-Lehmann faces multiple threats, including lawsuits from its customers and vendors who were allegedly stiffed by the venerable retailer.
Shyda Gilmer joined Sherry-Lehmann in 1996 and have become a co-owner in 2005.Latest York Post
At the very least three customers sued the long-lasting retailer claiming they’re owed greater than $1 million value of wine futures they bought several years ago that never arrived.
The shuttered shop also owes Latest York nearly $2.8 million million in unpaid sales tax, of which Gilmer is personally liable.
Gilmer joined Sherry-Lehmann in 1996 in sales and have become co-owner of the corporate in 2005.
Green, a former hedge fund executive, invested within the business in 2013, becoming a co-owner on the time.
The pair are sometimes seen dining at Nobu, individually or together — and prior to now with clients.
Gilmer was spotted there this month, sources tell The Post, in addition to at a Cigar Bar in Manhattan.
Gilmer and Green, who seem like targets of the FBI investigation, in response to former Sherry-Lehmann employees who’ve been questioned by law enforcement, didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Nixon Peabody, a law firm representing Sherry-Lehmann in lawsuits over missing wine from former customers, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.