SQUEEZING HIM DRY

Napa Valley Vintner Owes $5.1 Million After Stealing Company Funds for Private Jets and Home Renovations

Millionaire Tuck Beckstoffer used vineyard funds to rent a private jet and renovate his home now owes millions in damages to his former partners.

A distinguished Napa Valley vintner has been ordered to pay $5.1 million in damages to a winery he once owned, as well as give up his shares in the company after his partners alleged he used company money to buy luxury cars, private jets and renovate his home. Tuck Beckstoffer was originally the sole owner of Tuck Beckstoffer Wines and Dancing Hares Vineyard, now known as Amulet Estate. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that before he was fired in October 2020, he raked in a $450,000 salary, according to court documents. On top of that, he used $100,000 in vineyard funds to landscape his home, almost $35,000 on interior design and more than $165,000 to go to gun shows and fly-fishing excursions, court documents show. It was alleged he even cut a deal with a private jet company to provide $350,000 in winery “products and services” in exchange for 35 hours on the jet. The partners estimated Beckstoffer’s net worth to be $8.3 million, the businessman now owing more than half his wealth in damages.