Cirque Du Salahi: Be Careful Who You Trust (7 page)

Their wedding took place at the grand St. Matthew’s Cathedral in the heart of Washington, DC on November 1, 2003. The nation had come to know the Cathedral as the backdrop of the dramatic 1963 salute of little John-John Kennedy to his father’s casket as it was driven away to Arlington Cemetery. But on this day, the Cathedral was packed with one thousand happy guests. Michaele wore an elegant long white satin dress with spaghetti straps and a floor length diaphanous veil. Tareq was in a white tuxedo and each of the thirty bridesmaids and flower girls carried a small white bouquet. Artful arrangements of white calla lilies were scattered along the massive marble alter and outside, after the Catholic mass, the newlyweds released white doves. Speakers included Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and the Ambassador to Ireland Margaret Heckler. Grammy winning artist Claude McKnight sang for the happy couple and their guests. Naturally the lavish reception took place at the Oasis Vineyards.

No matter what the mothers of the bride and groom were thinking that day, a video of the event confirms everyone seemed happy—for the moment.

In addition to their daily wine tastings, Oasis Vineyard hosted a few special events each year. The younger Salahi couple wanted to expand that. But strict local zoning laws limited the number of events each winery could have to just twelve per year.

“If you had your extended family over for Thanksgiving dinner,” Michaele explained, “that was considered one of your ‘events’ for the year. It was crazy! Fauquier County was like the old movie,
Footloose,
” Michaele continued, “It’s as though none of the leaders wanted anyone to have any fun!” Tareq and Michaele banded with other vineyard owners, lobbied politicians in Richmond, and ultimately got the law changed.

Tareq also joined in another fight, first started by a feisty seventy-something Virginia winemaker named Juanita Swedenburg, who believed it was unconstitutional that wineries were not allowed to ship product direct to consumers out of state. It would become a five year long legal battle which wound up at the U.S. Supreme Court. By all accounts, Tareq worked hard buttonholing every politician and bigwig he knew to convince them what was good business for the commonwealth’s wineries was good business for everyone in Virginia. A month after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of direct out-of-state sales, Tareq threw a massive red carpet party at Oasis Vineyards. The VIP guests were welcomed by founding father look-a-likes: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The guest list included high ranking state and national politicians and ambassadors.

Tim Kaine, then serving as Virginia’s Lt. Governor was unable to attend the five hundred person party but made sure to videotape a special message to be played at the event.

Tareq and Michaele, this is Tim Kaine, just to say congratulations to you guys and I wish I could be with you today. It was a great ruling for the Constitution, but more importantly for wine, when the Supreme Court ruled that direct shipment across state lines was something that should be allowed. I know Oasis Vineyard has played a key role in growing the wine industry in Virginia, and this recent ruling will help you do an even better job. I know Governor Warner and I and a lot of other Virginians gather in thanking you for your role in the Virginia wine industry in celebrating this great Virginia tradition begun by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. And as we get ready to go into the commemoration of Virginia’s 400th Anniversary, the growth of our wine industry that you guys have played a big part in is something we can be very, very proud of. So thanks for all your service to The Commonwealth and bon appétit!

With every new business and political event, Michaele and Tareq began to amass an impressive rolodex of important contacts, both professional and social. The handsome couple loved being out on the social scene and was genuinely well liked. She was beautiful and vivacious. Tareq was described variously as having “a brilliant marketing mind” and as “a businessman with the skill of a P.T. Barnum.” Their popularity wasn’t confined to Virginia. In Washington, DC they became regulars on the social scene at Café Milano in Georgetown and other hot spots. In 2003, shortly before they were married, Michaele remembers being introduced to Democratic National Committee Chairman, Terry McAuliffe, at Café Milano.

“We spoke for a few minutes and he told me he could get me into a big upcoming (Democratic National Committee) cocktail party. He said, ‘Please come! We need your spirit and enthusiasm at that event!’ I told him I had already been invited and planned to be there.”

As evidenced by the size of their wedding and the parties they threw, Tareq always thought bigger was better, and there was no more enthusiastic and visible promoter of the Virginia wine country. He never stopped thinking about the next business opportunity. He envisioned Oasis, which by then had grown to include over 100 acres of prime land, would one day have an inn, a spa, another fancy tasting room and even a food and wine culinary center.

The year before he met Michaele, Tareq had set up a companion company to Oasis Vineyard with offices in the same building at the winery. He wanted something of his own—something his mother couldn’t interfere with. Oasis Enterprises, Inc. concentrated on attracting tourism to the Blue Ridge Wine Way district and offered guides for selfdrive tours, custom limousine tours of the region and motor coach tours for groups of people.

Matt Carson, a former employee who worked at Oasis during its most successful time, declared Tareq a marketing genius. “The limos would drive people all around the area but the last stop of the day would always be Oasis. By then the tourists were tired and maybe a little tipsy and they’d be in the mood to buy some bottles to take home.” Tareq, says Carson, “is extraordinarily driven and talented and one of the greatest PR people of all times. He legitimately built the Virginia wine industry.”

Tareq’s innovative mind lead him to do business with Independence Airline, headquartered at Dulles Airport. He made a deal with the carrier to offer Oasis wines on hundreds of flights each week. To accommodate the airline, Tareq bought an expensive new bottling machine so the airline could offer specially packaged small blue bottles of Oasis wine. Tareq says he also made a deal with the Outback Steakhouse franchise to carry both a red and white Oasis wine in every restaurant, nationwide. He traveled extensively to Outback Steakhouse locations to give the staff seminars on Oasis products and tips to selling more and better wines. So many business deals, so little time!

Independence Air went bankrupt in 2005 and Tareq says because, “Oasis was not a secured creditor. We lost more than $100,000 practically overnight.” His mother chided him about being stuck with a new bottling system he really had no more use for.

“But we’re optimistic people,” Tareq explains, sitting up tall in his chair. “We have big dreams, high hopes for success and we try hard. We’ll work and fail 100 times, then try 101 times.”

Over the years some of Tareq’s business schemes looked like sure winners but became too bloated along the way, and far from admirable, as victims of his unpaid bills piled up. Tareq’s creed seemed to be if
he
lost money then no one else in the business chain should expect payment either. It was an explanation he would use often, as if his big picture risks should naturally be funded by others. More seasoned entrepreneurs would realize if one thinks too large and makes plans without contingencies, they will risk both their livelihood and their reputation. And, if it happens too often then no one will want to do business with you. It is a lesson Tareq Salahi finds hard to grasp.

Multiple sources interviewed for this book describe a dark side to Tareq’s business dealings. They call him a con artist, a flimflam man and worse. These sources did not want to be identified for fear of litigation or because they had already taken a legal path against the Salahis. Their stories all come down to one point: they felt they were owed money by the Salahis and had not been paid. Some amounts were small, some were large and some of the cases have already been decided by the court against the Salahis. Some former employees of Tareq Salahi’s describe him as a “cheater” but one who repeatedly gets away with bad business practices because he’s just so damn charming.

Some of the legal cases are clear cut; the Salahis were guilty of nonpayment. But some also seem frivolous, as with the couple who sued over some of the costs of their $54,000 Oasis Vineyard wedding nearly
two years
after the event took place. The Salahis believe the suit was filed as the couple was divorcing. Another wedding related lawsuit was initiated by a bride who cancelled her American Express payment immediately after her $75,000 Oasis wedding. This so-called “charge back” was handled by former Oasis employee, Jennifer Woods. “This bride was wretched from the very beginning. She’d order all this very expensive stuff, and then fight everything. Her biggest problem was when she found out we put a mark up on items. We patiently explained that the same bottle of wine you’d buy at Costco … if it’s served in a fine restaurant, it’s going to have a mark up. She just didn’t get it,” Woods said in an exasperated tone.

Michaele and Jennifer worked diligently to gather all the expenditure evidence to present to American Express, a company known to fight hard for their cardholder’s interests. Not once, but twice, American Express agreed with Oasis and put the charge through. The bride filed a formal lawsuit and the Salahis’ attorney, unfortunately, failed to respond in time. As of the fall of 2010, the judgment against Oasis was still pending.

Many of the couple’s financial woes can be traced to two things which overlapped in 2006. First, the business situation at the winery began to deteriorate as Corinne spent less and less time at the Alexandria school and much more time at the Hume home and in the vineyard’s offices kicking up trouble. The second factor was Tareq’s establishment of the America’s Polo Cup in 2006. It was to be an annual international event with the first game played between the United States and England at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia in 2007. A mom-and-pop barbeque caterer eventually complained that the Salahis never paid for their services. Another year a different caterer had the same complaint. There were other vendors who groused about nonpayment as well.

Tareq and Michaele explain when they are asked about this, “You know all these sponsors and people pledge money and when the checks don’t arrive, what are we supposed to do?”

Documents back up their assertion that checks written to them did bounce, contracts were broken, and payments to them were not made. That does not, of course, absolve them of their financial obligations. The operation of the America’s Polo Cup event, and the resulting financial strains that mounted with each passing year, became an unmanageable and huge burden.

The tension and distrust between the older and younger Salahis became even more intense when it became clear that there was something terribly—mentally—wrong with Dirgham. Several former Oasis employees reveal it wasn’t only Corinne who assaulted workers and caused trouble around the winery. Dirgham’s mental state caused him to explode in angry fits, to threaten staff in front of customers and to fire some on the spot. One female employee (who does not want her name publicly associated with this book) says the last straw came for her in the fall of 2006 when Dirgham rushed into the main tasting room early one morning and ordered her to get out.

“I told him no, I had to be here to open up. He grabbed me, took me off the ground and tried to throw me across the room. After that, I ran off toward the back of the winery. He chased me! Screaming at me …. I was scared to death. I slammed the door and called the police.”