NEW YORK (AFP) - An ex-personal assistant of a New York banking executive is facing up to 10 years behind bars, accused of stealing hundreds of bottles of vintage wine worth more than US$1.2 million (S$1.6 million) from his boss, prosecutors announced Wednesday (Jan 17).

Nicholas De-Meyer, 40, worked in a personal capacity for Goldman Sachs' president and co-chief operating officer, David Solomon.

Solomon was not named in the indictment but was identified as a collector of rare and expensive wine.

De-Meyer is accused of going on a two-year stealing spree, pilfering the wine after receiving shipments of wine at his boss's Manhattan apartment, which he was supposed to transport to his wine cellar in playground for the rich, the Hamptons.

Between 2014 and October 2016, he stole hundreds of bottles of wine worth more than US$1.2 million from his boss's collection, using an alias to sell the pilfered wine to a North Carolina-based dealer, prosecutors said.

Seven of the stolen bottles came from French estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, whose wines are considered among the best, most expensive and rarest wines in the world.

Goldman Sachs confirmed that the theft was identified in the fall of 2016.

De-Meyer, who worked for Solomon from 2008 to 2016 but not for Goldman Sachs, is charged with one count of interstate transportation of stolen property and risks spending up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

He was arrested late Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport and the case has been assigned to US District Judge Paul Gardephe in New York.