Uncle Nearest founders sue bank and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Fawn and Keith Weaver, founders of Uncle Nearest, have sued their lender, Farm Credit Mid-America (FCMA), alleging the bank led a smear campaign against the Tennessee whiskey brand.
Yesterday (17 March), Fawn Weaver took to Instagram to announce that “the receivership of Uncle Nearest is done”, and that she and her husband, Keith, have filed a lawsuit against FCMA and the Supreme Court of the state of New York.
The filing forms the latest chapter in a legal battle between the lender and the whiskey brand, which began in July 2025 when FCMA claimed Uncle Nearest owed more than US$108m across several loans and accrued interest.
In the initial suit, the lender claimed the whiskey producer provided “apparently inaccurate” barrel inventory reports that overstated values by US$21m, sold whiskey barrels to pay other obligations, and discounted future revenue streams to at least four parties.
The court appointed a receiver for Uncle Nearest in August 2025, who has been attempting to stabilise the company ever since.
Now, the Weavers allege the bank has been leading a smear campaign against the whiskey brand, which they say can be proven with evidence already submitted in the initial filings.
Fawn Weaver said: “The complaint lays the groundwork to prove the bank knowingly circulated false accusations about Uncle Nearest, as well as Keith and me, including claims of missing inventory, financial misconduct, negative cash flow and insolvency, despite possessing the records that contradicted every single one of those claims. More than 10 attorneys across New York, Atlanta, New Orleans have spent the last seven months reviewing this evidence together, and to say that they are ready to litigate this case is an understatement.”
In a press release distributed yesterday by Grant Sidney, an investment holding company wholly owned by Fawn Weaver and the largest shareholder of Uncle Nearest, details revealed the suit filed by the founders alleges FCMA spread false accusations about the pair to protect bankers and deflect scrutiny from failures in a US$102m credit facility, and that FCMA’s accusations were made ‘to deflect scrutiny from failures in the administration of the credit facility’.
Fawn Weaver said in the release statement: “The bank knew [the accusations] were false when they made them, and they knew those accusations would strike directly at the credibility that allowed this brand to grow against all odds in this industry.”
James Williams, chief litigator at Chehardy Sherman Williams, who is leading the litigation, said: “False accusations can travel quickly, especially when they involve the founders of a nationally recognised brand. But when accusations are contradicted by the very records already in the accuser’s possession, there must be accountability.”
Chapter 11 filing
Weaver claimed the ending of Uncle Nearest’s court-appointed receivership yesterday was generated by the brand filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Weaver confirmed in her Instagram post that she had approved the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganise the company’s debt and protect its team members, as well as all of Uncle Nearest’s creditors and shareholders.
“Many who read the headlines are understandably concerned about the allegations of financial irregularities,” she said. “Frankly, if I were just reading the headlines or only the bank’s allegations, I’d be concerned too, but that’s one of the reasons I approved entering Chapter 11 this morning because Chapter 11 requires complete financial transparency. In that courtroom, no one gets to hide behind filings without evidence or accusations without proof, and the picture that has been painted about Uncle Nearest will now have to be proven through numbers that add up, not words.”
She went on to say that the loan at issue with FCMA has a principal balance of US$102.6m, “which the company disputes”.
She explained: “These liabilities stack up against an enterprise value estimated at approximately US$529m.”
She added that Chapter 11 “is what has allowed so many of America’s longest-standing companies to keep growing after running into challenges”, citing Delta Airlines, Marvel Entertainment and Neiman Marcus as examples of firms that have gone on to be worth billions of dollars following Chapter 11 filings.
“What each of the CEOs [of these companies] will tell you is this: Chapter 11 is not for the faint of heart. It is hard work, some of the hardest work they have ever done because we must keep our eyes on the future, never letting go of the vision, while addressing what’s behind us and continuing to build what’s ahead. And as founder and CEO, the responsibility for addressing this and moving the company forward ultimately rests with me, and me alone,” she said.
“I should have seen the signs sooner. I should have acted sooner. I wish I had, but I can’t go back and change the past. What I can do is make better decisions moving forward, beginning with making sure the story of Uncle Nearest is never again pulled away from what it should have always been about – the legacy of Nearest Green and his family – the legacy that deserves the truth; a story far bigger than any of these headlines.”
Weaver noted that for those who “want to understand the facts for themselves”, the court record will remain publicly available through a link in her Instagram bio.
She added that after her new legal and finance teams have settled into the next stage of proceedings, “I’ll give it the State of the Union of sorts. It’ll be big, and the only one I’ll do after that. I’ll ask that you stay up to date through the link.
“But before then, I want you to know that situations like the ones we’ve been through would have ended most companies, but because you have never wavered – our distributors, our retailers, our team members, the Green family and the hundreds of thousands of people who helped us build the brand – the mission we set out to accomplish when we launched in July of 2017 is still very much alive.
“Uncle Nearest will emerge from Chapter 11 because of what this team, this community and this legacy represent to the people who cleared the shelves when the lawsuit was first filed,” she said, before thanking the brand’s customers and distillery visitors for their support over the last year.
“This is a story that waited more than 160 years to be told, and as a community, together we’ll make sure it continues to be told because in that Mount Rushmore of whiskey with Jack Daniel, Johnnie Walker and Jim Beam, what we will make sure is Nearest Green as among the greats.”
Violation of orders
Despite these announcements from Weaver and her company, according to the court orders, only the receiver has the power to take Uncle Nearest or any of the receivership entities into bankruptcy protection.
As such, in the hours following Weaver’s Instagram post and Grant Sidney’s press release, Philip Young, the receiver running Uncle Nearest, filed an expedited motion for sanctions against Weaver and/or her counsel for Weaver’s “wanton and wilful violation of this court’s order appointing the receiver”.
Under that order, only the receiver has the legal authority to take actions on behalf of the company, and Young is now requesting US$75,000 in penalties, payable to Uncle Nearest, levied against Weaver and possibly her attorney.
“Despite the clear orders of this court that the receiver, and only the receiver, could act on behalf of the receivership entities, on March 17 2026, defendant Fawn Weaver signed and filed bankruptcy petitions on behalf of Uncle Nearest Inc, Nearest Green Distillery Inc, and Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Knoxville Division,” the receiver said in the filing.
Young noted he had forwarded the receivership order to the bankruptcy counsel and asked for the petition to be dismissed, but the counsel has refused to withdraw the petition.
“The unauthorised bankruptcy filings, and defendant Fawn Weaver’s press releases announcing the same, has created substantial confusion among Uncle Nearest’s customers, vendors, distributors, employees, and shareholders – not to mention the confusion and trepidation it has caused among potential buyers of its assets,” Young said.
“Indeed, within just a few hours after the unauthorised bankruptcy filings, the receiver received dozens of emails, telephone calls and texts from various constituents inquiring about how these bankruptcy filings impact the ongoing business of these receivership entities. This has had an immediate and negative impact on the operation of these businesses.”
Young and his counsel are now taking steps with the bankruptcy court to dismiss the bankruptcies, and have asked US district judge Charles E Atchley Jr to issue financial sanctions against Weaver and/or her lawyer: “These actions require immediate and severe sanctions by this court – not only because they are intentional and knowing violations of this court’s orders, but because they have caused significant and irreparable damage to the companies that the receiver has been ordered to protect.”
Young said he has considered and is likely to file for bankruptcy protection for Uncle Nearest, but that yesterday’s filings were “premature and ill-conceived”.
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