FORMER ALLIED EXEC PLEADS GUILTY TO FRAUD

Michael Domecq, the former president and co-owner of Domecq Importers Inc. of Larchmont, N.Y., and Old Greenwich,Conn., today pleaded guilty and has agreed to serve 10 years in prison for conspiring to commit tax fraud and to defraud Allied Domecq.Michael was originally indicted in 2000 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan for participating in a scheme to divert more than $14.6 million from Domecq Importers into personal offshore bank accounts. The conspiracy took place from at least as early as