MANHATTAN (CN) – A former assistant for one of the presidents of Goldman Sachs was indicted Wednesday on charges that he stole hundreds of bottles of rare wine from his boss valued at more than $1.2 million.
Though the newly unsealed indictment against Nicholas De-Meyer does not identify his boss by name, the oenophile victim has been reported as Goldman Sachs Co-President David Solomon.
During De-Meyer’s eight years working for Solomon as an executive assistant, according to the indictment, one of his responsibilities involved waiting for wine deliveries at Solomon’s apartment in Manhattan.
De-Meyer was supposed to bring those shipments to Solomon’s wine cellar in East Hampton, New York, but the indictment says De-Meyer began filching the expensive bottles in 2014.
Among hundreds of stolen bottles were vintages “from the French estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti,” according to the indictment.
“DRC wines are widely considered among the best, most expensive, and rarest wines in the world,” the indictment continues.
These bottles have also been the target of several high-profile cases of counterfeiting and a widely reported theft from the French Laundry.
Prosecutors say seven of the DRC bottles that De-Meyer stole from his employer had been purchased previously for $133,650.
Prosecutors note that De-Meyer didn’t take the bottles for personal use; he used the alias Mark Miller to put them back on the market.
This went on until 2016, according to the indictment. Prosecutors say that some of the seven DRC bottles that De-Meyer sold to a wine dealer based in North Carolina were transported to New Jersey and California.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs said in a statement that the theft was discovered in November 2016, after which it was reported to law enforcement.
Though indicted in New York’s Southern District, De-Meyer is scheduled to appear Wednesday before a federal judge in Los Angeles.
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