Safeway’s parent company Albertson’s has been taking wine shipments from a distributor whose former executives are accused of making elaborate bribes in exchange for prime placement on the grocery shelves.

Back in the 1950s, something known as the payola scandal exposed that certain music labels were bribing DJs to play certain records, and artificially create hits. Turns out that in the modern day, something similar may have been happening on the wine shelves of Safeway parent company and grocery chain Albertson’s.  

The Chronicle reports that top executives from the alcohol distribution firm of Southern Glazer’s have been charged with bribery in numerous schemes to determine which wines were placed more prominently on Albertson’s shelves. Per the Chronicle these alleged kickbacks included “included prepaid gift cards, luxury items, consumer electronics and even cash, as well as travel expenses like airfare, hotel stays, expensive meals and golfing trips."

The Chron adds that “A trip to Maui for an Albertson’s wine buyer and his spouse, for instance, was funded with a $30,000 invoice for a ‘seminar’ a year earlier.”

There is no evidence that Safeway stores were involved in any of this malfeasance, Moreover, both Southern Glazer’s and Albertson’s insist that any employees suspected of wrongdoing were fired long ago.

“Southern Glazer’s is committed to full compliance with all applicable laws and industry regulations, and we hold ourselves and our employees to the highest standards of ethics and integrity,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to the Chronicle. “We have cooperated with relevant authorities and will continue to do so.”

For their part, Albertson’s said in their own statement that “The behavior in question was wholly inconsistent with our policies, and we do not, and will not, tolerate it.”

If convicted, the defendants face prison senttences of up to 20 years, and fines of up to $250,000 for each bribery charge.

Related: Wine Country Developer Arrested by Feds, Charged With Fraud and Money Laundering [SFist]

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