Nicolas DeMeyer was scheduled to face a judge in a Manhattan federal court for defrauding his boss. Instead, he decided to take his life.
A former personal assistant to the multi-millionaire head of Goldman Sachs jumped to his death from the 33rd floor of New York’s Carlyle Hotel on Tuesday just as just as he was about to plead guilty to stealing $1.2 million worth of high-end wines from David Solomon, The New York Post wrote.
Nicolas DeMeyer, 41 was in his hotel room speaking on the phone to his sister.
“I can't go to jail,” he told her, according to a police official.
His sister had alerted the hotel staff about the alarming texts he was sending her saying he might kill himself over the case, police sources said.
When security forced open his door, DeMeyer was naked and sitting on the window sill.
According to police, Nicolas DeMeyer an art history major, had been working as household assistant to wealthy financier David Solomon, who has since become the CEO of the Wall Street investment firm.
When asked to shuttle his boss’ vintage wines from Solomon’s Manhattan apartment to his wine cellar in East Hampton, DeMeyer devised a plan to steal some 500 bottles.
DeMeyer’s pilfering might have gone unnoticed had he been able to resist the temptation to take away seven exorbitantly expensive bottles including $133,450 worth of wine from the French estate Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which he sold to a dealer who put them up for resale.
However, those bottles were so rare that a Napa Valley art dealer traced them back to Solomon and tipped him off to the theft, police said.
Solomon confronted DeMeyer, who admitted taking the wine and promised to pay him back, prosecutors said.
Instead, DeMeyer fled and spent the next 14 months traveling the world, visiting cities including Rome, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires before returning to the US, where he was arrested in January upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport.
He was facing up to 10 years in prison.
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