Plea negotiations are ongoing in the case of a former MillerCoors executive’s “scheme to defraud his employer through invoices for fake marketing events,” according to Law360. Former MillerCoors VP David Colletti pled guilty to recruiting vendors to help him scam MillerCoors. According to Law360, “in May, Colletti, who ran the company’s marketing, admitted to coaching vendors…to submit inflated or falsified invoices for marketing events to MillerCoors, signing off on them, and then collecting a portion of what the beer company paid out.” The scam allowed vendors to allegedly bring in as much as $3.5million. The take away? Be sure proper approvals are in place for expenses, which includes confirmation that the agencies are reputable and the events or items being paid for actually occurred or exist.  

The New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) fined two liquor stores $20,000 each for cooperative buying. The stores are owned by a husband and wife, each owning one store.  New York rules prohibit joining together to purchase products at a reduced, volume discounted price. A clip from the hearing is available here and worth watching: SLA Co-Op Clip As you will see from the video, many members of the SLA wanted to cancel both licenses. However, it was noted that the couple fully cooperated with the SLA and this was their first infraction. In the end, the SLA balanced its desire to send a strong message with the desire to encourage cooperation and settled on a $20,000 fine per store.

Alcohol beverage industry attorneys, including myself, share their thoughts on the rise of the craft spirits business.