The Lynchburg Times reported on Sunday that the fastest-growing whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest, currently faces a $100 million lawsuit from Farm Credit Mid-America, which claims the company defaulted on its loans. Farm Credit Mid-America is Uncle Nearest’s primary lender, and it alleged that the company inaccurately reported barrel inventory and overstated its value by $21 million. The lender requested to appoint a receiver in order to protect its interests.
Uncle Nearest clapped back at the lawsuit, calling it “salacious” and “inaccurate,” according to The Spirits Business. The whiskey brand alleges that the lawsuit occurred in response to the actions performed by a single bad actor, the former CFO, Michael Senzaki. The company terminated Senzaki this year. The whiskey brand additionally claimed that the lender knew about its financial situation, and both parties were working on solving the problem.
Executives at Uncle Nearest Share the Legal Action Feels ‘Personal’
Uncle Nearest’s CEO Fawn Weaver and her husband, Keith Weaver, are additionally named in the lawsuit. Fawn had no issues discussing the lawsuit and the media’s reaction to the legal action on her social media page, as the CEO is a proponent of transparency.
“I had this surreal moment yesterday, thinking about all the hit pieces written about Keith and me in just 48 hours,” Weaver posted. “Now @keithwvr didn’t exactly share my reaction, but I thought, ‘Dang… you’ve got to be doing something really big for people to spend their energy writing hit pieces.'”
Weaver went on to share that the first portion of Uncle Nearest’s response had been filed, and the company provided emails centering on conversations between the bankers and Uncle Nearest for the public.
The conversations Weaver referred to centered on the brand’s Martha’s Vineyard property. The lender claimed in the lawsuit that Uncle Nearest was granted a $2.3 million loan for its Martha’s Vineyard property, and it alleges that Uncle Nearest acted in violation of the loan by purchasing the property through a different LLC and mortgaging it to a different lender.
Uncle Nearest maintains it acted with complete transparency, and claims that executives from Farm Credit attended a Gospel Brunch at the property, according to the Lynchburg Times. The outlet reached out to the Weavers, and Keith Weaver claimed that the lawsuit was “demonstrably false.”
“This suit contains a host of inaccurate claims against the company such as the suggestion that we have not paid the bank in over a year, which is just not true,” Keith Weaver expressed. “They also suggest that we’re using or have used corporate resources for personal benefit in the form of the Martha’s Vineyard house, which is also not true.”
He described the lawsuit as “pretty wild,” and claimed that the tactics appeared both “personal” and “purposeful.” He noted that the timing felt odd, considering that Farm Credit Mid-America was set to take part in Uncle Nearest’s Garden Party at the property in August. He shared that the party was meant for Uncle Nearest to network with spirits buyers in the United States, and surmised that Farm Credit’s filing might be a part of the lender “trying to taint something.”
Yet both Weavers believe that Uncle Nearest will continue to thrive, even during a challenging year for many spirits companies.
“Let our distributors and partners know: Uncle Nearest is stronger than ever,” Fawn Weaver posted on her social pages.
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