A financial planner and owner of a company that manages a Santa Barbara County winery and restaurant was sentenced to four years in prison by a federal judge in a San Antonio, Texas, courtroom on June 27.
Charles Banks—founder and former CEO of Terroir Life, a company that manages wineries and restaurants including Qupé and Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos—pled guilty in April to wire fraud in defrauding millions from retired athlete Tim Duncan, who played for the Spurs. Federal Judge Fred Biery delivered the sentence, according to financialplanning.com, when the judge “berated” the financial adviser and some of his friends and family for not understanding the gravity of the crime.
According to financialplanning.com, Biery compared Banks’ situation to the person he sentenced just prior to Banks, a methamphetamine dealer sentenced to 10 years who had an income of about $4,000 a month.
“You and your family spend $50,000 a month and, of course, you grew up in a wealthy family,” Biery reportedly said. “People like you ought to be held to a higher standard because you know better.”
Banks is known in the Santa Barbara County wine industry as an investor in big-name wineries like Jonata, Sandhi Wines, and Qupé. Terroir Life manages several wineries and restaurants in California, including the famous Mayacamas in Napa. Banks resigned as CEO of Terroir in April.
Qupé winemaker and co-owner Bob Lindquist explained to the Sun via email that the winery hasn’t been affected directly by Banks’ legal troubles. Terroir is Lindquist’s partner in Qupé, Lindquist explained, and Banks’ resignation included a recusal from licensing and management of the winery.
“Charles is a good man who got caught up in a bad situation,” Lindquist wrote. “My thoughts are with him and his family. I was very surprised by the severity of the sentence.”
Banks’ conviction could lead to some issues for the wineries and restaurants that he holds state alcohol licenses for.
John Carr, a spokesperson with California’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) department, confirmed with the Sun that some of the licenses that Banks holds with the department are under review.
Banks has an interest in licenses for Mayacamas Vineyards and Cultivate Wines in the state’s Santa Rosa territory, Carr explained, and also for Mattei’s Tavern in the San Luis Obispo region. Those licenses are currently under review, considering the ruling in Texas, Carr said.
“Anytime a person has an ownership interest in an ABC license and faces conviction in a crime, it depends on the type of conviction whether ABC will file disciplinary action,” he said.
