Senior salesmen from a major US drinks
distributor have been suspended after sending lewd strip club images to a
Laurent Perrier executive.
Southern Wine & Spirits’ sales director Joseph Eger and district manager Dimitrios Kaloudis hit the front page of the
New York Post
earlier this month in a photo showing them pour $1,000-worth of Laurent
Perrier rosé into an ice bucket at The Hustler Club while Eger is
groped by a stripper.
The photo was sent to Sabine Latapie, New York State manager for
Laurent Perrier’s US arm, who suggested that it came as retaliation for a
decision to find a new distributor for the Champagne house.
As reported by
Page Six, Southern Wine & Spirits has now
suspended “several sales management employees” while it carries out an
investigation into the “disturbing allegations.”
Following the incident, Latapie reported it on Facebook, commenting:
“This behavior is precisely why we are terminating our relationship with
Southern New York.” She also described the act as “sexual harassment,
but I won’t even go there.”
In response to news that the employees had been suspended, Laurent Perrier’s US president Michelle DeFeo told
Page Six:
“We are pleased that SWS is taking the incident involving the
individuals in these photos as seriously as we are,” adding: “This type
of conduct should not be tolerated in the wine industry nor any other.”
Source:
www.thedrinksbusiness.com
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