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Man charged with $1.2m wine theft falls to his death

A former assistant to the CEO of US investment bank Goldman Sachs, who had been charged with stealing more than US$1.2 million worth of wine from his boss, has fallen to his death.

De-Meyer stood accused of stealing $1.2m worth of fine wines from his boss’ cellar over two years

Nicolas De-Meyer, 41, of New York, had previously served as a personal assistant to David Solomon, then vice-president of Goldman Sachs, and was arrested in January.

According to the indictment, De-Meyer was charged with interstate transportation of stolen property having been accused of taking hundreds of bottles from the cellar of Solomon between 2014 to October 2016, and selling them to a wine buyer in North Carolina under the alias of ‘Mark Miller’.

Among the wines stolen were bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), including seven bottles in October 2016 that had been purchased for $133,650.

Police said he had used the money from the sale of the stolen wines to fund a 14-month globe-trotting adventure.

Solomon fired De-Meyer in November 2016, after discovering some wine was missing from the cellar of his Manhattan home.

De-Meyer was due in court on Tuesday this week and was expected to plead guilty before a Manhattan federal judge. But instead fell from the 33rd floor of the Carlyle Hotel in New York. He was facing up to 10 years in prison.

Solomon, who was named Goldman Sachs chief executive in July, said in a statement that he and his wife were “deeply saddened to hear that Nicolas took his own life… He was close to our family for several years, and we are all heartbroken to hear of his tragic end”.

Solomon, 55, was vice president of US investment bank Goldman Sachs at the time of the theft, and is thought to have held a 1,000-bottle wine cellar in his Manhattan residence.

If you are in need of support, you can get help from the following:-

If you are in the UK, you can call the Samaritans on 116123

If you are in the US, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255

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