By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER
SHELBYVILLE — A bombshell rippled through Bedford County on Monday when public documents revealed that Farm Credit Mid-America filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Uncle Nearest, Inc., Nearest Green Distillery, Inc., Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings, LLC, as well as Fawn Weaver and Keith Weaver personally for alleged breach of contract. In a copy of the lawsuit obtained by The Times, the creditor accuses Uncle Nearest et all of defaulting on over $100 million dollars in loans that originated in 2022.
The Bedford County distillery is steeped in Lynchburg lore. Fawn and Keith Weaver founded it in 2016, and it’s named after the formerly enslaved Black man, Nathan “Nearest” Green, who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. Many Green descendants remain as prominent members of the Moore County community and several work locally at Jack Daniel’s.
The couple also own property in Moore County including the original Dan Call Farm in Lois as well as the Tolley House on Main Street in Lynchburg. The suit states that Farm Credit Mid-America has placed a lien on the Call farm and other property as a form of collateral. {Correction: According to the Weavers, they no longer own the Tolley House on Main Street.}
The Nearest Green Distillery produces eight different whiskeys and have also acquired the rights to develop a vodka and cognac division, according to published reports.
The court documents accuse Uncle Nearest of breach of contract on $65.2 million in revolving loans, $22 million in term loans, and $15 million in Real Estate Line of Credit (RELOC) loans. In total the suit seeks $108,245,828.22 including unpaid principal and interest.
Creditors Move to Seize Control
The Louisville, Kentucky based company filed the suit in U.S. District Court, Eastern Division on Monday and is asking the court to place a receiver over the Shelbyville-based distillery to protect their interests – a condition the Weavers have agreed to according to the court document as consent was pre-written into their Deeds of Trust agreements.
“Uncle Nearest has admitted that it is in default and has consented to the appointment of a receiver. More specifically, Section 5.05(d) of each of the Bedford County Deed of Trust and the Eady Road Deed of Trust, described herein, provides that while an Event of Default exists, Uncle Nearest expressly consents to the appointment of a receiver, including an appointment ex parte, should the Lender apply for the appointment of a receiver.”
The suit asks that the court appoint Kevin Larin as the receiver to take over managerial control of the entire Uncle Nearest enterprise, including replacing anyone currently serving in management including but not limited to Fawn and Keith Weaver.
Farm Credit Claims Whiskey Inventory Was Inflated by $21 Million
The suit further alleges that Uncle Nearest failed to make principal and interest payments multiple times and instead used proceeds from the loan to purchase a Martha Vineyard estate estimated at over $2 million dollars under another name, UN HOUSE MV, LLC – which the lawsuit describes as “an entity that is not (and never has been) a borrower or other loan party.”
“In January 2025, however, the Lender learned that an entity that is not (and never has been) a Borrower or other Loan Party, UN HOUSE MV LLC (“UN House MV”), was used to purchase the MV Property using proceeds from the MV Property Loan, which is a violation of Section 6.11 of the Credit Agreement,” the lawsuit states.
The suit further alleges that Uncle Nearest used barrels of whiskey as collateral for the loan and then sold those barrels to “pay past due obligations to parties other than the lender.” Farm Credit Mid-America alleges that Uncle Nearest also “sold millions of future receipts and revenue streams at a discount to at least four different parties on at least four separate occasions” without informing the lender thus reducing their collateral.
In total, the complaint describes a $21M overstatement of whiskey inventory used to secure loans, verified by inspections and Borrowing Base reports.
The suit further alleges that Nearest Green and the Weavers ignored multiple requests from Farm Credit Mid-America for both information or responses to dozens of defaults on said loans.
The suit also states that the lender required Uncle Nearest et all to maintain a net worth of $100 million dollars in 2024 – a condition Farm Credit Mid-America says they failed to meet.
Weavers Call Lawsuit ‘Demonstrably False,’ Cite Commitment to Transparency
The Times reached out to both Fawn and Keith Weaver on Friday. In a conversation with Keith Weaver, he described the lawsuit as “demonstrably false” and stated that they planned to file a response late Friday afternoon.
“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 stated. “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 also stated that the suit felt personal because it named both him and Fawn personally.
“One of the things we take very seriously, because it’s a core principle of the company, is radical transparency. It’s also fundamental to who Keith and Fawn Weaver are personally,” he said.
He also referred to the timing of the suit as “purposeful” and its inclusion of the Martha’s Vineyard property as “interesting” considering that the company will participate in the annual Garden Party on Martha’s Vineyard in August, which he describes as an opportunity to lobby on behalf of Uncle Nearest with spirits buyers from around the country.
“It’s pretty wild,” he said. “The only thing I could say is the way it was framed in the filing, at least, whether deliberate or not, is trying to taint something. We don’t know the motives of it. But it feels, you know, it feels purposeful.”
He stated that the company continues to enjoy year-over-growth in a “tough market for the sector” and that they’ve posted double-digit growth over the past 52-weeks.
“We feel like Uncle Nearest is something that should live beyond our lifetime and we feel like it’s something worth protecting.”
The Weavers say they intend to file a formal response and release a press release Friday afternoon. Proceedings will take place on Knoxville; however, as of the time of this publication, no official court date had yet been set.
{Updated on Saturday, August 2: No press release or official statement as of noon on Saturday. We reached out to the Weavers who tell us the information is delayed but on the way. They also tell us that a tentative court date is set for August 7 in Knoxville.}
This is an ongoing story that will be updated as more information becomes available.•
About The Lynchburg Times
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