Two lawsuits filed by companies within Ballast Point’s ownership structure accuse board member and purported majority investor William “Bill” Trzos of secretly borrowing approximately $3 million against affiliated companies through unauthorized financing agreements, allegedly using forged or improperly obtained corporate approvals and exposing the businesses to garnished accounts, intercepted revenue and mounting creditor claims.
The complaints describe the alleged conduct as a “brazen scheme of fraud, forgery, and embezzlement” and warn that the resulting financial obligations have created an “imminent threat of operational collapse.”
Trzos and his attorneys forcefully deny those allegations. They maintain that the financing transactions were legitimate, that Trzos personally guaranteed the loans and that the lawsuits are part of an effort by minority investors to damage his reputation and force him to sell his controlling interest at an unfavorable price.
The claims have not been proven at trial, and no court has ruled that Trzos committed fraud or embezzlement. But the rapidly escalating dispute has exposed extraordinary turmoil inside a brewery already reduced to a fraction of its former size.
According to the complaints, Trzos entered at least three financing agreements with separate lenders between mid-2025 and February 2026. The agreements allegedly imposed approximately $3 million in obligations on entities connected to Kings & Convicts Brewing Company, the private ownership group controlling Ballast Point.
The plaintiffs claim the loans were secured without the knowledge or approval of the company’s governing board. They allege the transactions were discovered only after accounting personnel traced withdrawals from company bank accounts and lenders began attempting to collect.
The alleged consequences extend beyond an internal disagreement over corporate authority. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say bank accounts have been garnished, company revenue has been intercepted and affiliated businesses have been saddled with unauthorized obligations that threaten their ability to continue operating.
The complaints accuse Trzos of using the corporate entities’ assets and credit for his own benefit, although the publicly available accounts do not fully explain where all of the borrowed money ultimately went. When asked by The San Diego Union-Tribune why his client obtained the loans, it is reported that Trzos’ attorney Michael Buley said he did not yet know the answer and was continuing to examine the facts through the litigation.
Trzos’ court filings argue that he holds a 55 percent ownership interest in Kings & Convicts Holdings and had the authority to arrange the financing. His attorneys also say he personally guaranteed the obligations, has already repaid approximately $2 million and is negotiating the remaining balance.
Attorneys representing the other ownership faction say they have not been provided documentation substantiating those repayments. Each side blames the other for Ballast Point’s crisis The opposing sides offer dramatically different explanations for the brewery’s condition.
Attorneys for Kings & Convicts and its affiliated plaintiffs contend that Trzos created the crisis through unauthorized self-dealing. They allege that the loans depleted resources, exposed the businesses to aggressive collection efforts and left the companies inadequately capitalized to maintain operations.
Trzos contends that a hostile minority faction has taken control of an improperly constituted board, denied him access to financial records and filed litigation without valid corporate authorization.
His attorneys describe a paralyzed governing structure divided by a 50-50 deadlock, arguing that Ballast Point cannot effectively manage risks, respond to business opportunities or make strategic decisions while the dispute continues.
Trzos has asked the San Diego Superior Court to appoint a neutral provisional manager to inspect company records and oversee its financial affairs. In a declaration, he said an independent review would show that the loan allegations lack merit and that the lawsuits were filed in bad faith.
The plaintiffs oppose that request, arguing that Trzos is using a crisis allegedly created by his own conduct to seek additional control over the organization.
The cases are being heard by San Diego Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner. Trial dates have not been scheduled, although attorneys have indicated that they are willing to explore mediation. Another hearing is scheduled for August 14.
The litigation is particularly striking because the disputed ownership arrangement was introduced less than a year ago as the beginning of a new era for Ballast Point. In August 2025, Ballast Point announced that San Diego hospitality operator RMD Group and Trzos’ investment firm, Cypress Ascendant, had made what was described as a new majority investment in the brewery. The announcement promised refreshed tasting rooms, upgraded menus, expanded hospitality operations and long-term growth throughout Southern California and beyond.
Trzos said at the time that Cypress Ascendant would contribute more than capital, describing the firm as a “connecting partner” that would create an ecosystem for strategic expansion. Kings & Convicts co-founder Brendan Watters said the new investors brought the financial structure and local operating experience necessary to take Ballast Point “to the next level.”
Instead, according to the lawsuits, the relationship deteriorated into accusations of secret financing, forged approvals, embezzlement, corporate obstruction and attempted coercion.
RMD Group’s current position in the ownership fight is not entirely clear from the publicly available filings and reporting. It is believed they are more of an operation, sweat-equity partner, tasked with managing the culinary and bar aspects of the company's tasting rooms. Additional questions also remain about the precise percentages held by each investor, which entities are responsible for Ballast Point’s brewery operations and which companies control the remaining restaurants and intellectual property.
Separate litigation surrounds Trzos and Cypress Ascendant. The Ballast Point complaints are not the only recent legal actions involving Trzos or Cypress Ascendant.
On March 24, former consultant Ken Manqueros filed a separate lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court against Trzos, Cypress Ascendant, Cypress Ascendant Holdings and the William Trzos Trust. Manqueros alleges that he performed consulting, advisory and operational services for the defendants but stopped receiving his full agreed compensation beginning in June 2024. His complaint alleges a documented shortfall of at least $373,077.50 through the end of 2025 and asserts causes of action including breach of contract, unjust enrichment, conversion, wage misclassification and intentional misrepresentation. Manqueros also seeks a constructive trust or equitable lien against the proceeds from the proposed sale of a San Diego condominium held by the Trzos trust.
Those allegations are also unproven. The case remains open, and Manqueros initially filed the matter without an attorney. A case management conference is presently scheduled for August 28.
In New York, CH1 Funding LLC filed an Article 75 arbitration proceeding on April 30 against Cypress Point Holdings, Santaluz Holdings, Trzos and the William Trzos Trust. The public docket categorizes the matter as a commercial arbitration proceeding before New York Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley, but the limited publicly accessible case summary does not disclose the underlying allegations or the amount in dispute.
Other lending disputes involving Trzos or affiliated companies also appear in court records. A Minnesota matter involving Drake Bank resulted in a reported judgment of approximately $340,132.80, while a separate case involving Triad Business Bank concerned a $4.5 million loan made to Cypress Ascendant Management and guaranteed by Trzos.
Ballast Point’s plaintiffs have referenced Trzos’ prior litigation history as part of their argument that the current dispute reflects a broader pattern. Trzos’ attorney disputes that characterization, maintaining that the other cases are not comparable to the fraud and embezzlement accusations now being asserted.
Reports supplied to SanDiegoVille also reference a purported judgment approaching $35 million against Trzos or an affiliated company. SanDiegoVille has not yet independently verified the amount, underlying case or present status of that judgment and is not reporting it as established fact at this time.
From a billion-dollar brewery to three remaining locations
The courtroom battle arrives as Ballast Point appears to be approaching the end of a years-long retreat. Founded in 1996 by Jack White and born from San Diego’s Home Brew Mart, Ballast Point became one of the most important breweries of the modern American craft beer movement. Its Sculpin IPA achieved national recognition, and the company expanded production and hospitality operations across California and into other states.
In 2015, Constellation Brands acquired Ballast Point for approximately $1 billion. The valuation astonished the industry and appeared to confirm that San Diego craft beer had evolved from a local subculture into a major commercial force.
The optimism quickly faded. Constellation struggled to justify the acquisition price and sold Ballast Point in 2019 to the much smaller Chicago-area Kings & Convicts Brewing Company. The purchase price was never publicly disclosed, although the transaction was widely understood to represent a very small fraction of the $1 billion Constellation had paid four years earlier.
The new ownership officially took control in March 2020, presenting the deal as Ballast Point’s return to independent and locally rooted ownership. But the promised revival never materialized on the scale once envisioned.
Ballast Point’s large Miramar production facility was sold to Athletic Brewing Company, which acquired the property to expand its nonalcoholic beer operations. Ballast Point subsequently stopped brewing at the facility, although Athletic reportedly continued producing certain Ballast Point products under contract.
The Miramar tasting room later closed. Ballast Point’s original Home Brew Mart was separated from the company and transferred to new ownership. Other locations that had once illustrated the brewery’s national ambitions disappeared over time.
In June, Ballast Point permanently closed its San Francisco restaurant and taproom after only about three years in operation. The company offered no specific explanation, but an attorney for the plaintiffs in the current ownership litigation said the alleged financial misconduct had affected all of Ballast Point’s operations. Trzos’ attorney said he was unaware of evidence directly connecting the lawsuit to the San Francisco closure.
Ballast Point is now believed to have only three remaining public hospitality locations: Little Italy in San Diego, Long Beach and Downtown Disney in Anaheim. Its packaged beer remains available through retail distribution, but the company no longer resembles the vertically integrated brewery empire that Constellation purchased in 2015.
Ballast Point’s contraction raises an increasingly fundamental question: What remains of the company beyond its name, recipes, distribution arrangements and three hospitality venues? Its flagship production brewery is gone. Its historic homebrew operation has been separated. Most of its taprooms have closed. Brewing has reportedly been outsourced, at least in part, to the company that purchased its former facility.
The company continues to sell Sculpin IPA and other recognizable products, and the Ballast Point name still possesses enormous residual value. But the operating infrastructure behind that name has steadily diminished.
That distinction matters as the ownership factions accuse one another of threatening the enterprise’s survival. Ballast Point’s greatest remaining asset may no longer be its physical brewing capacity but the intellectual property and consumer recognition attached to a brand that once helped define San Diego beer.
If the ownership group is burdened by creditor claims, frozen or garnished accounts and internal paralysis, those assets could eventually become targets for refinancing, restructuring or a sale. No bankruptcy proceeding has been announced, and the brewery continues operating. The phrase “operational collapse” comes from allegations made by one side in contested litigation, not from a judicial finding or a formal insolvency filing.
Nevertheless, the warning is difficult to dismiss when considered alongside the company’s shrinking footprint and the increasingly hostile dispute among its owners.
Ballast Point’s crisis also carries significance beyond a single brewery. During San Diego craft beer’s explosive growth period, Ballast Point, Stone Brewing, Green Flash, AleSmith and later Modern Times helped establish the region as one of the most influential brewing centers in the world.
Many of those companies have since undergone dramatic transformations. Green Flash collapsed under the weight of an aggressive national expansion and was sold. Modern Times entered court-supervised receivership and changed ownership after its own rapid growth strategy failed. Stone Brewing was acquired by Sapporo, which recently agreed to sell the company’s U.S. operations again. Smaller breweries across the county have closed as alcohol consumption has declined and operators face rising labor, ingredient, insurance and real estate costs.
Ballast Point remains one of the most extreme examples because of the height from which it fell. This was not merely a popular neighborhood brewery that encountered difficult market conditions. It was a company once valued at $1 billion, operating a sophisticated production facility and exporting San Diego’s beer identity throughout the country.
Today, Ballast Point is down to three known hospitality locations, no longer controls its former flagship brewery and is governed by owners accusing one another of fraud, embezzlement, obstruction and conduct threatening the company’s continued existence.
A brand once celebrated as the ultimate craft beer success story now appears to be fighting not for national expansion, but for survival. Ballast Point’s remaining tasting rooms continue to operate in Little Italy, Long Beach and Downtown Disney, while its beer remains available in stores. For now.
Court complaints contain allegations, not established findings. SanDiegoVille has contacted or should contact William Trzos and Michael Buley; Kings & Convicts and its attorneys; RMD Group; Cypress Ascendant; Ballast Point; CH1 Funding; Ken Manqueros; and the lenders connected to the disputed financing for responses before publication.
Originally published on July 16, 2026. Information first reported by Rob Nikolewski of San Diego Union-Tribune.
