Liquor dealer gets 10 years By ALEXANDER SOULE

Liquor dealer gets 10 years
By ALEXANDER SOULE

Former Greenwich, Conn., resident Michael L. Domecq pleaded guilty to defrauding Allied Domecq plc, nearly seven years after he was indicted for embezzling almost $14.6 million.

Domecq is a descendent of Allied Domecq’s original Spanish founder, and is the former president of Domecq Importers Inc., a liquor wholesaler with offices in Greenwich and Larchmont.

Prosecutors say between 1989 and 1995, Domecq and other executives created phony invoices allowing outside advertising vendors to steer money into offshore bank accounts controlled by the executives. Domecq also admitted not reporting $7.7 million in income during the period to the Internal Revenue Service.

Three former Domecq Importers executives have also pleaded guilty to charges related to the conspiracy, along with two vendors of advertising display materials.

At the time, Domecq Importers was a subsidiary of Allied Domecq, and in 1988 Domecq Importers was combined with Hiram Walker & Sons Inc. Allied Domecq was subsequently acquired by Pernod Ricard, a French company whose U.S. headquarters is in White Plains; later Pernod Ricard sold several former Allied Domecq brands to Fortune Brands of Lincolnshire, Ill.

Domecq moved to Spain in 1997 while the investigation was pending. In 2006, he was convicted in the United Kingdom for possessing a false Spanish passport and illegally obtaining a U.K. driver’s license. He was extradited to the United States this year.

Domecq’s plea agreement with prosecutors includes a 10-year prison term; he is scheduled to receive a final sentence in August.

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