The alleged White House party crashers have no problem drawing attention to themselves... but they're apparently not as skilled at managing their finances. (Or their marriage, for that matter -- Tareq Salahi filed for a divorce from Michaele today in Warren County, Va.)
This Sunday, the N.T Arrington Auctioneer and Appraiser company will auction off thousands of items belonging to the Salahis' Oasis Winery in Hume, Va.
The sale is by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Virginia, according to the auction company's website. Items include everything from wine barrels to thousands of bottles of wine, kitchen appliances, two trucks and four tractors.
There are conflicting reports over what may happen to the vineyards.
OasisWine.com has a scrolling message on the site that says “Lots of rumors. Click this story to find out the truth.” The link takes you to a page on rumorfix.com that reports:
“[[W]hen we reached out to Tareq, he said the reports were not true and set the record straight exclusively to RumorFix. 'The story is untrue by Radar Online. The Oasis Winery & all real estate is not up for auction...' [Salahi said]. 'The only limited items up for auction were owned only by Oasis Vineyards, Inc. (not Oasis Winery)... which was either beyond repair or is truthfully our garbage that we don’t want anyways... It would have cost us more to have it removed, or repaired. It's cheaper to buy new or fairly new in this horrible financial market. The Oasis Winery is in fact reopening on Sept. 24 and it will be a very exclusive private party for our good friends in politics to family/friends and long time supporters of the Salahis before and after the White House dinner party.'”
According to the website, the winery is open for private parties and special events only. It's also taking 2012 wedding reservations. The tasting room, however, is closed to the public."
The auction website says the sale will begin at noon Sunday, Sept. 18, at the winery's location at 14141 Hume Road in Hume, Va. Would-be buyers can also bid early online here.
The website also includes approximately 5,000 bottles of "unfinished" wine, which can only be sold to a winery or someone with the appropriate ABC license; 100 cases of not-yet-labeled cabernet, 84 cases of Dogwood Cabernet, and 50 cases of mixed and assorted wines.
