By Richard Thomas
(Credit: Angel’s Envy)
It has not even been a week since news broke that Angel’s Envy co-founder Wes Henderson was named in a lawsuit filed in June by his own relatives accusing him of planting hidden cameras in his Florida holiday home, private residences and the Kentucky Castle Hotel for the purposes of making illicit recordings. The consequences of the lawsuit becoming public have compounded repeatedly as the week has gone on.
The first and most predictable consequence was that Wes Henderson was ousted as CEO of the second whiskey company he founded, TKC Distilling. This is better known as the True Story brand. He was replaced by Kyle Henderson, Wes’s son who has been working in the family whiskey trade since early on in Angel’s Envy. Wes Henderson has also taken an unpaid leave of absence from his role as Deputy Coroner in Oldham County, Kentucky.
That was predictable, but what followed was not. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now investigating Henderson through its Louisville field office. As described by the Versailles chief of police (Versailles is the seat of Woodford County, where the Kentucky Castle is located), DHS is reviewing the large volume of allegedly illicit recordings taken by Henderson at specifically the Kentucky Castle, and perhaps other locations as well. What makes this especially interesting is that Federal law enforcement is spearheading that investigation, not the local authorities in either Woodford or Oldham counties.
DHS involvement strongly suggests some Federal law has been broken or perhaps a fear that some of Henderson’s recordings involve prominent foreigners. The Kentucky Castle is a popular hotel for wealthy Arabs buying thoroughbred race horses at nearby Keeneland.
Finally, the most recent part of the sex spying fallout has been in Louisville, where Wes Henderson’s wife Julie owns four franchise gyms under the Burn Bootcamp brand. Corporate has now taken over the management of those franchises, pending a third-party investigation into whether Wes installed hidden cameras there as well.
