This week, the FBI raided a sleepy office complex north of Recent York – and it will be the unlikely location where the enduring Sherry-Lehmann wine store is secretly amassing a fortune in advantageous wines, The Post has learned.
On Tuesday – as FBI agents searched the now-closed Sherry-Lehmann store on the Upper East Side, as reported exclusively by The Post – one other FBI team raided a suburban skyscraper in Pearl River, Recent York in what seemed to be staged lightning, sources near to the situation.
It appears the FBI was in search of what might be an enormous stash of helpful alcohol in an underground, air-conditioned room at Blue Hill Plaza where the pc servers are situated, a source with knowledge of the investigation told The Post.
News 12 Hudson Valley, a neighborhood television station operated by Altice, reported the FBI raid in Rockland County, Recent York, including an agency confirmation that it was situated in an office park called Blue Hill Plaza.
![Ariel's view of Blue Hill Plaza](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000014311674.jpg?w=1024)
The FBI didn’t disclose why it was there and didn’t immediately reply to The Post’s requests for comment.
Sources near Sherry-Lehmann, nevertheless, note that Blue Hill Plaza is owned by the Hong Kong-based Glorious Sun Group, which also owns the glass-and-steel tower at 505 Park Ave., where Sherry-Lehmann has been the essential tenant since 2007.
An apparent coordinated raid on a struggling 88-year-old winemaker comes because the feds investigate the disappearance of helpful vintage customers even while the shop is closed, in keeping with sources near the situation.
The secrecy 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 the State Liquor Administration’s warehouse permit, which expires December 31.
An actual estate agent representing Jamaica confirmed that Wine Caves moved out last summer. Former employees of Sherry-Lehmann said he was evicted for not paying his rent.
![Sherry-Lehmann store with FBI agents in front.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000014260767-1.jpg?w=1024)
Gilmer and Green, nevertheless, never registered a recent warehouse in the SLA, which implies that any recent warehouse is illegitimate.
“A license to sell alcohol in a warehouse will not be a driver’s license,” said Max Bookman, an alcohol licensing lawyer. “It’s issued for a selected location and you wish a recent one should you’re moving.”
In line with interviews with property management company CBRE, in addition to security guards and a listing of tenants displayed in the lobbies, there are also no records of Wine Caves activity in either of the 2 buildings at Blue Hill Plaza during The Post’s recent visit to the buildings.
Glorious Sun declined to comment on whether and why Wine Caves is in its constructing, its lawyer told The Post.
![Kris Green (left) and Shyda Gilmer.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000014317057.jpg?w=803)
However the Hong Kong real estate firm, which owns just seven buildings in the US, in June handed Sherry-Lehmann an eviction notice for its Park Ave location. Wine Spectator report.
In line with the report, Sherry-Lehmann owes Glorious Sun $3.6 million in rent that goes back to 2020.
Wine Caves is a separate company from Sherry-Lehmann and offers long-term wine storage to its affluent customers who may not have the space for his or her massive collections or needed a protected place for his or her expensive knick-knacks.
One such customer, Mercedes Bass, wife of the late oil tycoon Sid Bass, stored her collection at Wine Caves and learned that a few of her bottles had been faraway from the power without her consent and delivered to a different customer, reported the Recent York Times.
Gilmer told The Times that the transfer was a mistake and that the wine can be returned inside days, in keeping with the report. A Sherry-Lehmann spokesman said the Bass family picked up their collection from Wine Caves, however the family says that is not true.
Sherry-Lehmann faces many threats, including lawsuits from its customers and suppliers who were allegedly duped by the venerable retailer.
![Shyda Gilmer holds a bottle of champagne.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/NYPICHPDPICT000011740060.jpg?w=1024)
Not less than three customers have sued the enduring retailer, claiming they owe them greater than $1 million price of wine futures they bought several years ago that never arrived.
The closed store also owes Recent York nearly $2.8 million in unpaid sales tax, for which Gilmer is personally responsible.
Gilmer joined Sherry-Lehmann in 1996 in sales and have become part owner of the corporate in 2005.
Green, a former hedge fund director, invested in the business in 2013, becoming a co-owner on the time.
The couple is usually seen dining at Nobu, alone or together – and in the past also with customers.
Gilmer was spotted there this month, in keeping with The Post sources, in addition to at a Cigar Bar in Manhattan.
Gilmer and Green, who seem like targeted by the FBI, didn’t reply to requests for comment, in keeping with former Sherry-Lehmann employees who were questioned by law enforcement.
Nixon Peabody, the law firm representing Sherry-Lehmann in missing wine lawsuits from former clients, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.