Ex-Goldman Sachs worker charged with $1.2m wine theft

A former assistant to the vice president of US investment bank Goldman Sachs has been arrested on suspicion of stealing more than US$1.2 million worth of wine from his boss.

Bottles of DRC were among the wines stolen

Nicolas De-Meyer, 40, of New York, who had previously served as a personal assistant to Goldman Sachs co-president David Solomon, was arrested on Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport.

According to the indictment, De-Meyer is accused of stealing hundreds of bottles of wine from the cellar of Solomon between 2014 to October 2016, selling them to a wine buyer in North Carolina under the alias of ‘Mark Miller’.

Among the wines stolen were bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), including seven bottles in October 2016 purchased for $133,650.

“Rare wines have a very specific market, but even given the narrow chance of making money illegally, thieves will find a way to break the law,” said FBI assistant director William F. Sweeney Jr in a statement confirming his arrest. “The theft in this case, however, was no small amount, totaling more than a million dollars.

“The FBI Art Crime Team is tasked with investigating and recovering rare and many times invaluable items, and bringing to justice criminals who believe no one is watching. We would like to thank the East Hampton Village Police Department for its partnership in this case.”

As reported by Bloomberg, Solomon, 55, is considered a contender to succeed Goldman Sach’s chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein, and according to the Real Deal, had a 1,000-bottle wine cellar in his Manhattan residence.

Solomon fired De-Meyer in November 2016, after discovering some wine was missing.

De-Meyer. who had worked for Solomon since 2008, has been charged with one count of interstate transportation of stolen property, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.