A former project manager for Francis Ford Coppola’s Inglenook Winery in Rutherford is now facing criminal charges accusing him of taking $1.2 million from the sale of wine tanks and using the money for home improvements without the owner’s permission.
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George Giles Beeker III was charged Oct. 2 with grand theft and embezzlement, according to the Napa County District Attorney’s Office. The case builds on accusations first raised in a lawsuit Inglenook’s owner, Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery, filed in July 2024.
If convicted, Beeker faces up to six years in prison. Prosecutors told The Press Democrat on Tuesday that he has not been arrested and that a warrant issued Oct. 9 remains active.
Beeker could not be reached for comment. But in a court filing from September 2024, he rejected the accusations, saying he sold the tanks with approval and used the money for a project owned by the winery.
Beeker began working with Inglenook in 2019 to help oversee construction of a winemaking facility in Rutherford. Prosecutors said he bought 120 fermentation tanks for the project, then sold 26 of them between December 2021 and January 2022. The sale brought in $1.2 million.
Court records say Beeker used the proceeds for improvements on a property connected to the winery. He has maintained that he was authorized to sell the tanks and direct the funds to that property.
Niebaum-Coppola says otherwise. In its lawsuit, the company accuses Beeker and his firm, MissionFirst Associates, of misusing project funds and giving false information about costs, reimbursements and work completed. Coppola’s winery seeks more than $2.1 million in damages, plus interest, attorney’s fees and punitive damages, according to the civil complaint.
The lawsuit also names Calistoga Vintner Services, which bought the tanks, as a defendant. It says the company should have known Beeker didn’t own them.
Beeker denied all wrongdoing in his response, saying there was “no conspiracy, fraud or theft” and that the sale price was fair because the tanks were customized and had been in storage for an extended time.
Calistoga Vintner Services later filed its own complaint against Beeker, claiming he misrepresented himself during the transactions. That case, along with Inglenook’s lawsuit, is still pending in Napa County Superior Court, with a trial set for July.
