The FBI raided the Park Avenue store of wine retailer Sherry-Lehmann on Tuesday as the iconic 88-year-old winemaker’s legal troubles proceed to escalate, The Post has learned.
Federal agents showed up at the store that morning, and an unmarked white van remained parked at the corner of Park and 59th St. until tonight as part of a multi-law enforcement investigation into the company and its owners, sources say.
A Post reporter who tried to enter the store was told by an officer wearing an FBI T-shirt that it was closed. One other officer wore a T-shirt that identified him as a member of an “FBI-NYPD Gang Task Force.”
Agents were seen carrying boxes out of the premises.
One FBI agent who was at the store confirmed to The Post that they’d been there for hours, but declined to say what they were on the lookout for.
An FBI spokesman didn’t reply to a request for comment.
The famous retailer was shut down on March 10 by the New York State Liquor Authority for selling alcohol with out a current license and has not reopened since.
Owners Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green are allegedly under investigation for selling wine to customers and never deliver it, including several customers who bought greater than $1 million value of futures contracts that were never delivered, The Post previously reported.
Former employees who didn’t wish to be identified told The Post they’d been questioned by FBI agents in recent weeks.
One former worker who was at the store after it closed told The Post that agents likely reviewed the computer system and any records kept in the store.
Gilmer and Green didn’t reply to requests for comment.
The couple also got here under fire for allegedly selling wine that was stored in a Wine Caves warehouse that belonged to customers who pay a monthly fee to store their wine collection, in keeping with reports by The New York Times and Wine Spectator.
The corporate owes New York $2.7 million in unpaid sales tax, The Post first reported.
Earlier this month, SLA spokesman William Crowley told The Post: “The SLA has launched an investigation right into a number of potential breaches following recent media reports. This investigation is ongoing and the SLA will take all appropriate motion upon completion. As well as, the SLA provides for disciplinary motion against Sherry Lehmann for unlicensed sales.”
Over the July 4 weekend, the company’s website went offline, and company spokesman Eric Andrus recently said he now not represents Sherry-Lehmann.