What exactly is the risk to the customer? I can see there being a risk of some hassle and inconvenience, but is there any reason to think your wines in your storage locker could actually be seized by the government or by creditors? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
I’m speaking of the issue generally, not with regard to whatever may or may not be the case with Legend Cellars.
Silver Spirits.
http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Long-Island-Retailer-Charged-With-Futures-Fraud_2325
I recently paid for another year. I’m ok with what’s going on. Some good lawyers with tons of valuable wine stored there, way more than I have, walked some of us thru the risks to us. I’m comfortable.
As others have said, George deserves his day in court. Things are not always what they seem. If you’ve ever been sued, you’ll know what I mean.
No dog in this fight nor do I have any information on this specific situation. This is a choice we all face in a business proposition where any risk (like credit) is involved:
If the price of “storage” is the same at both firms what would you do?
Of course this gets fun and interesting when the “prices” are different and/or the assessments of risks vary widely. Victor can handle that more complicated stuff.
Complete knowledge of risks is impossible. And one cannot with any insurance instrument known protect against the unknown. Lots of airplanes fly right over the other large wine storage facility in OC. How does one factor in the probability of a crash? Is it greater or less than that from the Legend’s risk. Just cuz you don’t know about risks doesn’t mean they aren’t there… And knowing about them doesn’t mean they will actualize.
that’s exactly what the problem is. George is being charged with fraud and one of the claims is that he hides ownership with his children but he runs it.
Owner labels mean nothing if he’s found guilty
This letter changes nothing. The part of the charge against George is specifically labeling that he has his children as sole owners on the titles/ownership to avoid tax/insurance. The fact that the attorney reinforced that Scott and his sister are the owners doesn’t change a single thing. Just look at the above post in this thread when someone said “oh I thought George was the owner”.
it’s not that the DA/police will take the items out of the locker, it’s that they wont let you have access until proof that none of the property in your locker is George’s. (if they think his assets are co mingled)
That being said, no one is going to lose their wine from this. They might have their electricity shut off or the building might be seized, but your wine is still your wine.
Good to have assurances from an independent party…NameBright - Coming Soon secure as buying fire insurance from your upstairs neighbor.
By the way, I wonder how customers with segregated money at MF Global now feel about their account statements.
I guess the first thought that came to my mind is that someone racking up legal fees may be tempted to cut corners, like paying electricity bills. To be honest, the specter of unethical behavior is enough to cause me to give careful consideration. I guess going with someone else, who may have similar issues but are unknown to me, is safer then then something like this. I know that is unfair and perhaps not logical, but that is the way I feel.
BTW, i do not have any wines stored there, I just wanted to give people a heads-up.
Dear Bambi,
I hate to break this to you, but a lawyer is bound to represent solely the best interests of his client,
not those of the customers of his client.
True. However, taking incremental risk without incremental compensation seems the theme here, in my personal view.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…
TTT
Have there been any additional developments on this? Now that I’m actually living in OC, it’s becoming increasingly inconvenient to have my offsite storage in LA, so I need to come up with a solution (and while a cellar at home is on the roadmap, it’s a little way off)…
There is nothing to worry about.
+1
Probably too big to fail. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I thought George got in big trouble again (very recently) for stealing a very very large amount of wine out of someone’s locker?
Seriously? Or are you just chumming the water…
I see no reason for me to “chum the water” as I don’t store my wine there and don’t have a competing business. What I do have are friends that store their wine there and just want to make sure everyone knows what’s going on. Maybe this has no impact on Legends Cellars themselves but it seems to further complicate the issue of George’s assets in the facility if he is convicted and money is owed.
I have heard essentially the same thing.
Disclaimer: I have no evidence to substantiate that, as I said I’ve just heard that too. No idea if it’s true or not. I also do not store wine there and have no interest in this issue directly, other than knowing people who store there. That said, better to be safe than sorry IF things are true/somewhat true/a little true.