A former personal assistant to Goldman Sachs president David Solomon has been charged with stealing $1.2 million worth of rare wine from his boss.
Nicholas De-Meyer was arrested at the Los Angeles airport late Tuesday and will face charges in federal district court in New York. The indictment doesn’t name David Solomon as the victim, but Goldman Sachs spokeman Andrew Williams confirmed that he is. He added that De-Meyer was Solomon’s personal assistant, and never a Goldman employee.
Among the stolen bottles of wine were seven from the French estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. Solomon reportedly paid $133,650 for those seven bottles, or about $19,000 each, the indictment said.
“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 Sweeney. He said the FBI art crime team worked on this case, along with the East Hampton, N.Y. police.
Solomon and Harvey Schwartz share the titles of president and chief operating officer at the Wall Street powerhouse. Both are seen as likely candidates to succeed Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who is 63, when he retires. Both men were promoted in January of 2017 when previous president and COO Gary Cohn left Goldman to join the Trump administration.
According to the indictment, De-Meyer worked for Solomon as a personal assistant from 2014 through 2016. He sold the wine he stole through a North Carolina wine dealer who came to New York.
