James Walsh

Jun 10, 2024 | grubstreet.com | James Walsh

Khan with his wife Leslie. A judge in lower Manhattan this morning sentenced Omar Khan to two years in a federal prison for his role in a long-running scheme that defrauded many of the city’s fine-wine enthusiasts. In March, Khan pleaded guilty to one count of identity theft stemming from his impersonation of his own attorney in service of the nearly $7 million scheme. As part of that plea, a second charge of wire fraud, which would have carried a significantly longer prison term, was dropped.

Apr 3, 2024 | nymag.com | James Walsh

Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo Getty Images Early one morning this January, a school nurse in Suffolk County received an email with a distressing subject line: “STATEWIDE ALERT — False Immunization Records Baldwin Midwifery.” New York’s Department of Health was notifying schools across the state that a Long Island midwife named Jeanette Breen had falsified 12,499 records related to 1,452 students at 300 schools.

Mar 29, 2024 | grubstreet.com | James Walsh

Khan, left, with his wife, Leslie. Omar Khan, the bon vivant who allegedly swindled fine-wine insiders out of at least $9.5 million, pleaded guilty to identity theft on Thursday, less than one month after the FBI arrested him at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The details of Khan’s plea agreement remain unclear. In addition to identity theft, Khan had faced one count of wire fraud, a charge prosecutors presumably dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Mar 22, 2024 | news.wine.co.za | Grub Street |James Walsh

The dinner cost $7,250 a plate, but that isn’t what Krešimir Penavić remembers about the evening. What Penavić recalls is, first, the wine: four rare bottles from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the estate worshiped by oenophiles around the world. And, second, meeting Omar Khan, the man seated across from him, who was larger than life in every sense. “In his mass, in his voice, in his appetite, in his talk,” Penavić says.

Mar 18, 2024 | grubstreet.com | James Walsh

The dinner cost $7,250 a plate, but that isn’t what Krešimir Penavić remembers about the evening. What Penavić recalls is, first, the wine: four rare bottles from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the estate worshiped by oenophiles around the world. And, second, meeting Omar Khan, the man seated across from him, who was larger than life in every sense. “In his mass, in his voice, in his appetite, in his talk,” Penavić says.