Blake Spahn is Selling Dwight School Children to Big Tobacco and Big Alcohol!
Why is Blake Spahn using Dwight School children as a pipeline for Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco?
Vice Chancellor Blake Spahn is heavily involved in the alcohol business, and has gone to great lengths to hide that fact:
- Blake Spahn has had a lucrative side career in an industry completely at odds with the education of young children: commercial alcohol
- In 2011, Blake Spahn and Andrew Chrisomalis co-founded Davos Brands, an alcoholic beverage distribution company.
- Andrew Chrisomalis is a principal officer for the Anglo-American International Elementary School in New York, a Dwight School board of trustee member, a contributing member of the Dwight School Foundation, a school donor, and has/had a child enrolled in the school.
- Davos developed numerous beverage brands, including Ty Ku Sake, Aviation American Gin, Sombra Mezcal, and Astral Tequila.
With his questionable ethics, is Blake Spahn the new Rick Singer and leveraging Dwight School donations against acceptance favors?
Blake Spahn has profited immensely from his alcohol ventures, and has even donated those profits to Dwight School:
- According to a 2021 article in the beverage publication “Artisan Spirit,” the George Clooney-led Casamigos tequila brand Diageo announced in August 2020 that they would acquire Davos Brands and Aviation American Gin for $610 million. Additional sources cite the purchase amount at $337 million.
- In September 2020 Davos Brands was sold to Diageo. The cash proceeds were $58.6 million, with consideration of up to $36 million, contingent on the brand performance over the next ten years. The Fairfax Holdings 2020 financial report reads, “We wish Andrew Chrysomallis, Blake Spahn, and the entire Davos management team the very best in the future.”
- Davos Brands is associated with several donations to the Dwight School as listed in various publications.
- Davos Brands was listed as an “In-Kind” donor according to the 2021-2022 Dwight School Foundation annual report.
Why is Blake Spahn actively introducing Dwight School students with merchants of death (vaping kingpin, Juul)?
Buttoned-up Vice Chancellor Blake Spahn allowed infamous vaping company Juul Labs to give a sales-pitch to students at Dwight School:
- In an August 1, 2019 article published in Psychology Today, which discusses vaping among middle and high schoolers, Dwight School is referenced. The article reads in part, “a Juul representative visited the Dwight School in New York City to meet with students—with no teachers present—and told them the company’s e-cigarettes were ‘totally safe’…Other schools across the country were offered $10,000 from the e-cigarette company for the right to talk to students in classrooms or after school.” This incident was also discussed in a congressional hearing discussing the dangers of youth-vaping.
- In reference to Juul personnel visiting Dwight School, a New York Post article reads, “In 2018, Caleb Mintz sensed something wasn’t right about a presentation given at his school, the renowned Dwight School on the Upper West Side. Someone had been brought in to supposedly teach Mintz, then a ninth-grader, and his classmates about the dangers of tobacco and vaping. But the speaker had been sent by Juul Labs, the company behind the discreet vaping device that Mintz and nearly all of his friends had tried. The man gave a pretty standard spiel except, Caleb noticed, he kept mentioning how safe Juul was. After the presentation, Caleb and a friend asked the speaker how they might help a pal addicted to nicotine. The man — who wrongly assumed the friend was addicted to cigarettes (he actually had a vaping problem) — took out his Juul to show the boys how it worked. “I really felt like there was an ulterior motive.”
How alarming is it that Blake Spahn uses Dwight resources and lawyers to hide shady business dealings? In fact, Juul’s lawyer is currently serving as Director of MS Admissions at Dwight-Englewood.
Blake Spahn’s Go-To Lawyer represented Juul and is married to a Dwight Director of Admissions – No wonder Juul felt so welcome on campus!
- Blake Spahn’s go-to lawyer for his alcohol ventures also represented Juul. Lawyer Jason Berger of Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard, served as the attorney for Davos, Ty Ku, and JUUL. Mr. Berger is married to Jordana Berger, who is currently serving as the Director of MS Admissions at Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, NJ.