A California corporation whose agent is a former Major League Baseball player who was convicted of federal charges related to an insider trading incident has acquired the building occupied by Rishi Tea in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley, according to state records.
Yorba Linda, California-based
Wilbur-Parthenia LLC purchased the building located at 185 S. 33
rd Court, near Canal Street, from an affiliate of Brookfield-based
Briohn for $7.45 million, according to state records.
Briohn designed and built the 50,000-square-foot building in 2014. The building is the headquarters for
Rishi Tea & Botanicals. The building,
according to Briohn’s website, is used by Rishi as a tea processing facility and includes separate herbal tea fulfilment and manufacturing areas with precise climate control systems. The building has an assessed value of about $2.8 million, according to city records.
Joshua Kaiser, founder and CEO of Rishi Tea & Botanicals, said the sale of the building does not impact Rishi Tea, which is just a tenant that leases the space.
"Rishi Tea has no affiliation with (Wilbur-Parthenia LLC)," said Kaiser. "Rishi Tea & Botanicals did not sell its business and is still a proud Milwaukee-based and family-owned company. The building developer that built the facility for Rishi Tea & Botanicals sold the building to another developer and this has no effect on Rishi Tea’s operations or ownership. The only change for Rishi Tea is that we have a new landlord."
The registered agent for Wilbur-Parthenia LLC is
Doug DeCinces, according to state records.
DeCinces was a third baseman who played in the major leagues from 1973 to 1987 for the Baltimore Orioles, California Angles and St. Louis Cardinals, and was an All-Star in 1983.
In 2011, DeCinces and three others were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading when the SEC alleged they made illegal profits when Abbott Laboratories Inc. announced plans to merge with Advanced Medical Optics Inc. DeCinces agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle the charges, without admitting or denying the allegations. In 2012 he received a criminal indictment on insider trading related to the same incident and was charged with securities fraud and money laundering. A federal jury found him guilty on 13 counts and he was
sentenced to eight months of home detention and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
