Feds and NYPD Raid Iconic Wine Shop in Unmarked White Vans As Sherry-Lehmann’s Dramatic Fall Continues

Federal agents raided Sherry-Lehmann, the now-shuttered New York wine shop. (Photo: AP Photo/John Minchillo)

On Tuesday morning in what felt like something out of a movie, a series of unmarked white vans pulled up on Park Avenue in front of the now-shuttered wine shop, Sherry-Lehmann. FBI agents and NYPD officers emerged from the vans, descended upon the shop and began removing boxes from the premises, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

A reporter for the  New York Post apparently tried to enter the store but was told the shop was closed. One of the officers on the premises wore a T-shirt that read “FBI-NYPD Gang Taskforce,” according to the New York Post.

The New York Post reported that the unmarked van was parked at the corner of Park and 59th from the morning “into the evening.” When the reporter asked the agent what they were looking for, they declined to comment.

Shortly after the article was published Tuesday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, an organization that typically probes mail-related fraud, informed the New York Post that the agency is “co-lead with the FBI and NYPD” in the investigation.

The FBI raid is just the latest in a slew of high-profile legal troubles faced by the once-iconic wine shop that catered to New York’s elite for 88 years.

Former owners Shyda Gilmer and Kris Green face allegations for selling over $1 million worth of wine to customers and never delivering it. After the New York Times published an article about the missing wine in May, Sherry-Lehman has received more than its fair share of media attention.

The wine shop has since made headlines for owing the state of New York $2.8 million in sales taxes and facing eviction from its prime location on Park Avenue. The shop apparently owed its landlord, a Hong-Kong-based company Glorious Sun, about $3.6 million in rent. According to an article in Wine Spectator, Sherry-Lehmann stopped paying rent in March 2020 and was shut down in March 2023 by the New York State Liquor Authority for selling alcohol without a liquor license.

According to an article in Robb Report, a former employee surmised that the FBI was raiding Sherry-Lehmann’s computer system and searching for any records stored at the shop that could aid in its investigation.

Gilmer and Green were at the forefront of the accusations. They were alleged to have sold several customers’ wine stored in Sherry-Lehmann’s Wine Caves to other customers.

Sherry-Lehmann’s website was deactivated over the July 4 weekend and the company’s spokesperson is no longer affiliated with the company. Both Gilmer and Green have declined to comment.

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