It was meant to be a statement of curiosity not abject blame. I think, and I could be wrong, that we often replicate the behaviors of those that lead us. i.e. I was lead into the world of wine by very generous people, and I do my best to replicate that in my life when sharing wines with others now that I have a cellar of my own. Kindness and generosity begets kindness and generosity, and to my knowledge there’s really only one case where this doesn’t happen and that is with sociopaths. It’s probably explained much better if you watch Simon Sinek’s - Leader’s Eat Last
Again, I’m not attempting to blame the individual that was stolen from, that’s truly sad and I can’t imagine how upsetting ANY theft might be to experience.
Most people have probably been exposed to both ruthless and giving leaders. Which we choose as role models and which behaviors we emulate depends on whether we admire them and benefit from them. And our character, which circles back to the old nature vs. nurture debate. I think it’s some of each.
I’m glad you had it and enjoyed it. Also glad it’s where it should be at 30 years.
I have no resentment of people who have money and use it to buy fine wine, especially not if they know something about it, appreciate it and take the time and trouble to hold it to maturity. I have to admit I have gotten a little peeved at people who open top Bordeaux right after bottling.
I have a few really fine '88 Burgundies left that I will be opening this winter. Yes, they are an order of magnitude or two behind Romanee Conti in price and reputation, but '88 Bruno Clair Chambertin Clos de Beze, '88 Rousseau Chambertin and '88 Jadot Chapelle-Chambertin should be really good right now. For any Burgundy at thirty years, fingers crossed!
Back in the 1990s, as a writer and editor at The American Lawyer magazine, I tracked a number of cases where lawyers went astray – embezzled, leaked insider info, bilked clients, broke all the ethical rules. The funny thing was that they were all stars, people who had been very successful. One was the managing partner of a large firm, another was a huge business generator at a young age at a very top firm, one was a Rhodes scholar and do-gooder, one was the youngest person ever to make partner at his elite firm.
A psychoanalyst I met through work had also followed the cases and saw a pattern I hadn’t. All these transgressors had come from very moralistic (mostly religious) families and had been subject to enormous expectations at a young age. Their crimes were kind of their way of rebelling against a life of enormous expectations, the shrink said. They all accepted responsibility and were remorseful. When caught, they seemed relieved (except in one case).
This Goldman assistant doesn’t fit that pattern of overachievement. But – and this is my point – to engage in theft on that scale says more says about him than about his boss. If his apartment closets were stuffed with boxes of Post-Its and office scissors, you might conclude that this was a his reaction to his boss. I don’t know what the explanation is, but this theft had a more complex etiology.
John, I hear what you’re saying and I think you’re absolutely right. There’s some interesting complexity to this event. Thank you for sharing your experiences…they bring up some interesting aspects that make me look at this in a different light.
“Appearance and people’s opinions and money and material things were always very important to him,” said DeMeyer’s [Findlay, Ohio] high school friend, Andrew Fitzpatrick, 40, who lives in NYC.
“If he’s going to pull a scam, it’s going to be a very, ‘I stole rare vintage wine kind of a scam;’ a kind of ‘f–k you’ to everybody. He had a big chip on his shoulder, like a lot of people do who grew up in small towns. We want to be more than we are.”
… “He was charming, that was his big thing,” said Fitzpatrick, who added that DeMeyer was voted “Best Dressed” in high school and drove a white Mustang. “He was always good at kissing up to someone.
“No one ever felt that they could trust him because he knew how to infiltrate every group and use whatever knowledge he had for his own benefit.”
The other interesting character is Ryan Chaland, a North Carolina wine broker who was buying the wine for cash from DeMeyer at his apartment, though DeMeyer pretended to consult his boss before agreeing on a price. Chaland’s company, Wine Liquidators, then offered things like DRC well below the going rate. It was one of the ultimate buyers that got suspicious and traced his bottles back to Geoff Troy of New York Wines, who had sold them originally (at a higher price) to Solomon.
Goldman Sachs chief goes after buyer of his stolen wine after ex-aide’s suicide leap
It’s a case of sour grapes.
The head of Goldman Sachs is suing a wine dealer for buying $1.02 million worth of rare vino stolen by his personal assistant, who killed himself last week as he was being brought to face justice.
Multimillionaire financier David Solomon and wife Mary Solomon’s insurance company brought the Manhattan Supreme Court suit in their names late Thursday.
The Solomons are suing dealer Ryan Chaland, who owns an online company called Wine Liquidator for theft, fraud and conversion.
They’re seeking the $1.02 million plus interest and legal costs.
There’s pretty good prima facie evidence that Chaland should have know the wine was hot. He was buying it from this young guy in cash at his apartment, and then selling it for below-market prices. I mean, come on!
Chaland has shown he’s in it for the money, no matter who gets screwed. Hope they dig deep and find all the illegal business he’s done and the screwing is reversed.
Of course, the theft is wrong. But going after him this way…
This is really sickening… pursuing the assistant so ferociously, getting him to commit suicide and then going after the merchant once the thief took his life…I think I know why this guy is VP at Goldman.
When I was in my thirties, the concierge in my building who had the double of all the keys, started stealing bottles in my cellar. One day, the poor fool showed me his cellar where I saw several bottles I knew I had in my cellar (he could not have this Gevrey!). I picked the bottles I recognised as probably coming from my cellar (some Gevrey and some decent Bordeaux growth ok not DRC but really at the top of my affordability at the time). He let me take them back, we had a conversation where I asked him not to do it again and this was it. He did not feel proud… I knew he could not afford to buy the stuff without serious budget consequences and changed the lock.
We all know this kind of banking is not about creating value for society but extracting as much as possible from society for the Corporation (and oneself) including, to pick an example, using dubious risk analysis (advised that if controlled by the tax man, there is a 70% chance he will find the move illegal but considering there is only a 10% chance I get controlled, let’s take the risk to be redressed is typical in these industries…) so we should not be surprised…
Unless the 7 bottles were Romanee Conti, having paid 135000 $ for 7 bottles at the time does not indicate a bargain… but, what the hell, he could afford it (and could afford being robbed 500 bottles without noticing… so why getting this strongly after the idiotic and greedy (a quality by company standards…) assistant…until he takes his life… sickening but that’s today’s world…
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