--- description: LaCroix founder Nick Caporella has been sued by two pilots who accuse him of inappropriately touching, according to reports. title: LaCroix Founder Sued for Allegedly Groping 2 Pilots: Report image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bbb4073924d937d/6989349de76ad2168a6326b0/la-croix-founder-accused-sexual-misconduct.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # LaCroix Founder Sued for Allegedly Groping 2 Pilots: Report by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 3, 2018 10:21 PM CUT  BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 25: LaCroix Sparkling Water at the ECOLUXE Pre-Oscars Celebrity Luxury Lounge on February 25, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 25: LaCroix Sparkling Water at the ECOLUXE Pre-Oscars Celebrity Luxury Lounge on February 25, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.Photo by Vivien Killilea/WireImage by [Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 3, 2018 10:21 PM CUT (Bloomberg) — Nick Caporella, the billionaire founder of the company that makes LaCroix sparking water, was sued by two pilots who accused him of inappropriately touching them while flying in the cockpit of his business plane, according to the Wall Street Journal. The allegations were included in lawsuits filed in Florida by the male pilots in the past two years, according to the story published on Tuesday. Caporella, 82, is a pilot who flies a corporate jet. National Beverage didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday. A lawyer for Caporella, who is also the company’s chairman, told the Journal that the allegations in the lawsuits were false and “scurrilous.” The article said that one of the lawsuits was settled, while one remains pending. National Beverage’s shares, which closed 2013 at about $20, have surged above $100 largely on the strength of LaCroix sales, giving the company a market value of more than $5 billion. National Beverage’s shares took a hit last week when the Securities and Exchange Commission asked the company to explain data that had been included in press releases, according to the Journal. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5329976/lacroix-sued-groping-pilots/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5329976/lacroix-sued-groping-pilots/"},"headline":"LaCroix Founder Sued for Allegedly Groping 2 Pilots: Report","datePublished":"2018-07-03T22:21:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:45:51.441Z","description":"Caporella's lawyer called the allegations false and “scurrilous”","url":"https://time.com/5329976/lacroix-sued-groping-pilots/","keywords":["sexual misconduct","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bbb4073924d937d/6989349de76ad2168a6326b0/la-croix-founder-accused-sexual-misconduct.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bloomberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bloomberg/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bbb4073924d937d/6989349de76ad2168a6326b0/la-croix-founder-accused-sexual-misconduct.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ECOLUXE Pre-Oscars Celebrity Luxury Lounge","caption":"ECOLUXE Pre-Oscars Celebrity Luxury Lounge","creditText":"Photo by Vivien Killilea/WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5329976/lacroix-sued-groping-pilots/","name":"LaCroix Founder Sued for Allegedly Groping 2 Pilots: Report"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers","description":"For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing all of us to stop accepting the unacceptable, the Silence Breakers are the 2017 Person of the Year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jbtW5SvJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-12-06T12:11:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jbtW5SvJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5329976/lacroix-sued-groping-pilots/","duration":"PT5M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5329976/lacroix-sued-groping-pilots/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```