Sherry-Lehmann Upper East Side Wine Store Raided By FBI: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A long-troubled Park Avenue wine seller was raided by the FBI on Tuesday, according to reports.

FBI agents spent hours inside Sherry-Lehmann, an iconic and elite 89-year-old wine merchant on Park Avenue between East 60th and 59th streets recently mired in legal disputes over tax arrears and undelivered luxury wines, according to the New York Post.

It is unclear what the FBI were searching for, but the tabloid reported agents were seen carting large boxes out of the shuttered shop.

In March, the store was closed by the State Liquor Authority for selling alcohol without a license — a $388,000 bottle sold after the license wasn't renewed on time, according to the New York Times.

A federal grand jury was convened in June as part of a criminal investigation into allegations that the longtime wine seller was accepting customer's money for huge amounts of valuable wine that they never delivered, The New York Times reported.

Multiple customers filed suits claiming that they had paid for over $1 million in wine that was never delivered as exposed in a New York Times investigation in May.

The store also reportedly owes $3.6 million in back rent to their landlord, and $2.7 million in unpaid sales tax, plus other debts owed to dozens of wholesalers, the Times wrote.

According to the New York Post,the FBI possibly raided a hyper-elite wine storage business run by Sherry-Lehmann's owners called the Wine Caves in Rockland County during the same time as the Upper East Side search.