1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

Federal prosecutors returned to a Northern California court yesterday, filing charges against a 5th defendant in the criminal conspiracy case linked to covering up an expansive bribery scheme. Next piece of the puzzle prosecutors opted to put in place is one of the 3d party vendors used by an as-yet-unnamed and uncharged "large national alcohol distribution company" and some of its suppliers. Crucial to this case, that vendor purchased "millions of dollars in prepaid gift cards" and planned luxury events and travel all for the use of both distributor employees and retailer buyers, according to charging documents. The vendor issued false or purposely vague invoices to the distributor or its suppliers, took a 10% fee and "did not withhold any income or other taxes" on funds used by individuals, feds lay out. The charges come just a couple weeks after the 4th defendant in the case entered a guilty plea, just as the 3 earlier defendants did. Gift Cards A-Go-Go: Millions in Employee "Banks" Unlike other defendants, the latest charges do not include violations of fed alc bev trade practice laws. Instead, feds charged Jessical Goebel, the principal of 3d party vendor J Go Events, with conspiracy to falsify records to obstruct investigation, a felony. That's linked to pattern of issuing false invoices for millions of $$ worth of $1,000 gift cards from at least 2017 to 2021. In fact, from 2019 to 2021, CA-based employees of just one unnamed "large national wine brand" received $500K in gift cards from J Go Events. "Some" went to distrib employees "as off-book or 'creative' incentives or compensation for meeting alcohol sales goals," docs explain. "Other gift cards" went on to retail buyers.Invoices didn't just misstate the true nature of the funds, but also inflated amounts, feds contend, with "overbilled" amounts going into "banks" or "travel banks" for use by distrib employees. J Go Events kept spreadsheets of the funds in each employee's bank, which could be used for "Super Bowl tickets, international vacations, first class flights, luxury automobile rentals, gift cards, and resort bookings with golf and massage packages." An unnamed distrib employee requested "business class flights, hotel rooms, tickets to Broadway shows, and wine tours," plus entry to NYC events and a Napa music festival for a buyer at "a large grocery store brand operating more than 200 stores" in NorCal, per charging docs.Links to Distrib Controller, Earlier Cases In most instances, prosecutors claim that "employees of DISTRIBUTOR-1" or other alc bev cos directed Goebel to submit invoices or pay out gifts. But at outset of their explanation of "the Scheme to Obstruct," feds write that the company itself as well as its employees requested that Goebel "purchase and deliver or mail gift cards." The filing also claims that distrib employees "including the Controller of its California subsidiary" were the folks who told Goebel that invoices should contain "false and generic descriptions for services rendered, such as 'Bay Area On Premise Holiday Dinner' or 'Educational Training and Tasting Seminar.'"Thru J Go, Goebel allegedly coordinated funds and gifts given or received by the 1st two defendants in this case, Matthew Adler and Bryan Barnes, as well as the 3rd defendant, retail buyer Patrick Briones, all named in this filing. Recall, Adler and Barnes worked for Deutsch Family, marketer of top US wine brand Josh, and Briones was the wine buyer for Albertsons. The 4th defendant, John Herzog (who changed his plea to "guilty" in late Oct and consulted for a separate supplier), worked with a distrib employee and Goebel to coordinate gifts for the buyer at a grocery chain owned by same parent co headquartered in Idaho.Apparent Redaction Error Identifies "SGWS" Goebel's company, J Go Events, is the first company officially named by prosecutors in documents associated with this series of cases. However, late in this charging doc, prosecutors claim that "J Go Events was directed by SGWS employees to purchase numerous items of value for" the still unnamed retail buyer referenced above. There are no other references to that acronym, commonly used to refer to major alc bev distrib Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, nor to any other distributor in this or any other public doc in the case. Tho not certain, this appears to be a redaction error by prosecutors. Southern has long been thought to be the unnamed distrib given known fed investigations into the co and its relationship with Deutsch Family. Such redactions are typically required to protect possible future defendants prior to the filing of charges and prosecutors can face stiff penalties for failing to use them.

3d Party Vendor Charged in NorCal Conspiracy Scheme; 5 Defendants, 4 Guilty Pleas; Redaction Error

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