By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — In a plot twist no one familiar with the case saw coming, the court-appointed receiver running Uncle Nearest is now suing the lender that asked the court to put him in charge.

Receiver Phillip G. Young Jr. filed a counterclaim against Farm Credit Mid-America on July 7 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The filing accuses the lender of negligence and gross negligence. It says Farm Credit’s failure to perform basic checks allowed former Chief Financial Officer Michael Senzaki to run a years-long fraud that swelled the company’s revolving credit line from $35 million to nearly $67 million.

A counterclaim is a lawsuit filed inside a lawsuit, with the defendant fireing back at the party that sued first. Here, the receiver is not trying to erase what Uncle Nearest owes. His filing admits the company defaulted on its loans. Instead, he asks the court to reduce any judgment Farm Credit wins by whatever Uncle Nearest wins on its negligence claim.

That request matters because of who is making it. Young was appointed in August 2025 at Farm Credit’s urging, and Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. reaffirmed and expanded his authority in a May 26 order. A receiver answers to the court, not to the lender that proposed him. This filing is the clearest sign yet that Young is charting his own course.

{Editor’s Note: Source document for this article are as follows: Farm Credit Mid-America, PCA v. Uncle Nearest, Inc., et al., Case No. 4:25-cv-38, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee, Winchester Division. Receiver’s Answer and Counterclaim (Doc. 217, filed July 7, 2026); Joint Answer of Fawn Weaver and Keith Weaver (Doc. 218, filed July 7, 2026); Scheduling Order (Doc. 214, entered June 16, 2026). }

WHAT THE COUNTERCLAIM SAYS SENZAKI ADMITTED

According to the counterclaim, Senzaki admitted to third-party investigators hired by Uncle Nearest that he falsified monthly financial reports sent to Farm Credit beginning in 2022. The filing says he also admitted to signing Fawn Weaver’s name on corporate documents without her knowledge, diverting her equity interests to himself, fabricating board minutes to deceive lenders, and using misappropriated money to buy a Las Vegas home, purchase vehicles and gamble.

Every Senzaki admission above comes from one place: the receiver’s counterclaim describing interviews conducted by investigators Uncle Nearest retained. Senzaki has not responded to these allegations in this court record, and nothing in the record shows criminal charges.

The counterclaim says Senzaki submitted 28 drawdown requests on the credit facility between July 2022 and August 2023 — about one every two weeks, at a pace of nearly $5 million a month. His was the only signature on all 28, the filing says, and Farm Credit approved every one without confirming them with Fawn Weaver, the company’s CEO, majority shareholder and sole authorized signatory for major changes to the loan facility.

The receiver argues a single phone call or email to Weaver at any point during those 13 months might have exposed the fraud. The filing also says Farm Credit collected nearly $400,000 in amendment and origination fees along the way, creating what it calls a misalignment of incentives: “The more Mr. Senzaki borrowed, the more Farm Credit earned in fees.”

The counterclaim also describes a vendor scheme. It says Senzaki exploited a loophole in the company’s Bill.com payment system to reroute vendor payments the Weavers had approved into companies he controlled. Financial reports Senzaki prepared showed about $345,000 in unpaid bills. After his departure in October 2024 and the receiver’s appointment, the filing says, the true figure turned out to be more than $10 million.

Alongside the counterclaim, Young answered Farm Credit’s original complaint on behalf of the three corporate defendants: Uncle Nearest Inc., Nearest Green Distillery Inc. and Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC. On the two core allegations — that Uncle Nearest defaulted and that the defaults broke the loan contract — the receiver’s answer says simply: admitted.

In plain terms, the company itself is no longer fighting over whether it broke the loan agreement. The fight is now about who bears the blame for how bad things got, and how much of the debt Farm Credit can actually collect.

THE WEAVERS ANSWER SEPARATELY — AND POINT BACK AT THE LENDER

Fawn and Keith Weaver filed their own joint answer the same day. They could not answer for the company: Atchley’s June 16 scheduling order states that only the receiver may respond on behalf of the corporate entities. That order set July 7 as the deadline for all defendants, which means both filings landed on the last permitted day.

The Weavers admit certain loan payments were not made on the exact dates Farm Credit lists, but they deny the lender’s description of a continuous, escalating default stretching back to January 2024. On the disputed $21 million gap in the borrowing base — the pool of whiskey barrels and receivables that secured the revolving loan — they say the shortfall came from Farm Credit itself. According to their answer, the lender directed a reclassification of about $19.25 million in inventory, which cut borrowing capacity by roughly $13.5 million. It was not false reporting by the company, they say.

The answer also confirms a detail not previously in the public record: the receiver sent both Weavers termination notices on or about June 1, 2026. Keith Weaver’s answer notes he was not an employee. And the Weavers argue the credit agreement requires certain claims to be brought in New York courts, not Tennessee.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The June 16 order puts the case on a track toward trial. The parties must file a discovery plan by July 28 and propose trial dates between 14 and 17 months out — placing a trial somewhere between August and November 2027. They must also tell the court whether they believe settlement is likely.

All of this unfolds against the backdrop of the pending sale. On June 1, the receiver notified the court he had signed a letter of intent to sell substantially all of Uncle Nearest’s assets to a confidential Black-owned investment firm, with a purchase agreement expected within 45 days of that notice — a window that closes in mid-July. The Martha’s Vineyard property, Grant Sidney assets and the Cognac, France property are excluded from that deal.

Farm Credit’s complaint put the debt at more than $108 million in principal and interest as of July 2025, before fees, costs and continuing interest. The Weavers’ appeal of the May 26 receivership ruling remains pending before the Sixth Circuit. •

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