82-Year-Old Billionaire LaCroix CEO Accused Of Inappropriate Touching

Nick Caporella, the 82-year-old CEO behind popular drinks brands LaCroix, Faygo, and Shasta, has been accused by two male pilots of inappropriate touching, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The accusations were spelled out in a lawsuit filed in Florida over the past two years, accusing Caporella—who is also a pilot—of unwanted touching while in the cockpit of his corporate jet. Caporella's lawyers denied the allegations to the Journal.

In one of the cases uncovered by the Journal, a pilot who worked for Caporella for five months in 2016 accused the CEO of "repeated unjustified, unwarranted and uninvited grabbing, rubbing and groping of Terry's leg in a sexual manner, reaching up towards [the accuser's] sexual organs." That case was settled in January and as part of the settlement, the accuser withdrew his allegations.

In a second case that's still pending in the Circuit Court in Broward County, Florida, a pilot claimed that over 14 flights from March 2014 to July 2015, Caporella grabbed the accuser under his armpit, thighs, and moved his arms towards his co-pilots genitals.

Caporella has run National Beverage Corp. since 1985 and owns 73.5 percent of company shares.