Farm Credit Mid-America, the plaintiff, has submitted a ‘Verified Complaint’ against defendants Uncle Nearest, Inc., Nearest Green Distillery, Inc., Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings, LLC, Fawn and Keith Weaver (in their official and individual capacities) for breach of certain loan agreements to Uncle Nearest and seeks the appointment of a receiver and other relief. The plaintiff has requested that Uncle Nearest respond to its emergency request for the appointment of a receiver by August 7, 2025.
Nearest Green Distillery Founder and CEO Fawn Weaver has provided an initial response to the claims and says it is prepared to provide a full response by the August 7 date.
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Farm Credit Mid-America Files $100M Suit Against Nearest Green Distillery – Requests Receivership
Nearest Green’s Founder Responds to Lawsuit and Has a Message for Her Fans — ‘Mount Up’
“Defendants Uncle Nearest, Inc., Nearest Green Distillery, Inc., Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings, LLC, Fawn Weaver, and Keith Weaver (“Defendants” or “Uncle Nearest”), by and through counsel, hereby submit this Response in Opposition to Plaintiff Farm Credit Mid-America, PCA’s (“Plaintiff” or “Lender”) Emergency Motion for the Immediate Appointment of Receiver (the “Motion”), asking this Court to grant the extraordinary remedy of appointing a receiver for Uncle Nearest.
“Defendants are reviewing Plaintiff’s submission and preparing for the August 7, 2025 hearing. However, given the multiple salacious and inaccurate allegations in both Plaintiff’s Complaint and Motion that casts Uncle Nearest in a negative light, Uncle Nearest submits this response addressing certain key claims to correct the record and provide the Court with critical missing context. It will address these issues more fully at the August 7, 2025 hearing.”
Uncle Nearest argues that the overstatement of collateral of approximately $21 million based on ‘barrels of whiskey on hand’ was stated by its former Chief Financial Officer “acting on his own, and who has now been terminated.”
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The response says, “Between 2022 and 2023, the former CFO represented to the Plaintiff that Uncle Nearest had 77,000 barrels of whiskey on hand and used this overstatement to secure a $24 million line of credit increase. Plaintiff approved the increase without verifying the inventory with the third-party warehouse provider. While Uncle Nearest’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) signed the loan amendments reflecting the credit limit increases, those documents contained no information about barrel counts, and the former CFO was the sole signee on all loan notices used to request funding secured by the barrels. Inventory reporting was handled separately and exclusively by the former CFO.
”Plaintiff was uniquely positioned to know that the former CFO had engaged in fraudulent activity—conduct that is now under third-party investigation, including this specific instance. The lead investigator met directly with Plaintiff’s CEO to share that information, confirming that the Weavers were not aware of the fraud or the overreporting that triggered the technical default that Plaintiff now primarily relies upon to seek an appointment of a receiver.
It goes on to say, “Plaintiff additionally ignores that in January 2024, Defendants notified Plaintiff of this overstatement by submitting verifiable inventory reports based on the actual barrel inventory. No one at Uncle Nearest was aware that the CFO had inflated the previous reports. Once the updated report was provided, the discrepancy became evident. Despite being aware for several months of this overstatement by the former CFO, Plaintiff’s Motion tellingly fails to acknowledge that Uncle Nearest was the victim of fraudulent activity and never intended to trigger the technical default.
In regard to the Martha’s Vineyard property, the suit claims the defendants, “misrepresented that ‘Term Loan proceeds would be used by Uncle Nearest to purchase a $2.225 million home on Martha’s Vineyard Island.” Uncle Nearest states that, “the Motion ignores critical context. The Motion omits that Defendants were fully transparent with the Plaintiff about the purchase and intended purpose of the Martha’s Vineyard Property. The Plaintiff made no objection to the purchase at the time the funds were advanced.” It continues and says that Farm Credit’s Financial Officer traveled to Martha’s Vineyard in 2023 with Uncle Nearest’s former CFO and stayed in a Plaintiff–funded rental. Internal emails confirm the trip was social in nature and included plans for group outings and bike rentals.”
The suit doesn’t necessarily dispute this, the suit claims that the plaintiff also took out another loan on this property.
Uncle Nearest Paid Back $16.5 Million on Loans to Farm Credit Mid-America
Uncle Nearest says that they paid nearly $9 million to Farm Credit in 2024 and an additional $7.5 million in 2025 as they worked in good faith to resolve the technical default caused by the former CFO’s misreporting.
When Uncle Nearest was working with a third-party advisory firm, that firm advised Uncle Nearest not to make payments during the negation period, insisting this was a standard practice. Once a mutually agreed upon repayment plan was reached, Uncle Nearest paid the $7.5 million in calendar year 2025.
Uncle Nearest main defense is they are the victim based on what the now fired CFO did. The response says, “But for the fraud perpetrated by Defendants’ former CFO, Defendants fulfilled their monetary obligations to the Plaintiff. In other words, Defendants were, and are, victims of fraud— not perpetrators or conspirators.”
In closing, Uncle Nearest believes the use of an receiver is not warranted and “Given the circumstances, the drastic and extraordinary remedy of receivership is both unwarranted and inappropriate. It should be denied.”
Uncle Nearest is expected to provide a full response in court when it will more fully address each issue at the August 7, 2025, hearing.
What Did Fawn Weaver Share with Her Nearly 300k Instagram Followers?
Here is an excerpt summarizing most of what Weaver had to say about the lawsuit brought against her company.
“Well, my response has been filed, and I trust the truth will now get just as much attention on social media and in the press, as the intentional misleading and hit pieces. Y’all, I had hit pieces. That is kind of cool.”
“Let me run some stats for you then I’ve got a request. Uncle Nearest is the only independent whiskey brand in the top 50 and one of the few spirit brands periods seeing double-digit growth in revenue, volume, and velocity. Over the past week or so I’ve traveled the country meeting with our customers distributors and Uncle Nearest enthusiasts. The first stop was the DMV where our year-over-year growth is 44%.
“Then I went to Ohio, where our growth is sitting at 38%. Then Texas, where we’ve grown 33%, 50% in July alone. And Georgia, where I just left a couple days ago. Y’all are just showing out at 49% year-over-year growth. And in a backdrop of industry decline and disarray, Uncle Nearest is the shining star, growing against impossible odds and because of y’all Nearest Green Distillery, continues to see year-over-year growth in tourism revenue power, possibly making us one of one in the entire industry on that front.
“So, was the reason so many were willing to take debate and jump to negative conclusions before waiting or even asking for the truth. It’s because of our success. Who knows. What I do know is this Uncle Nearest is having its strongest year in the market ever and I’m not letting anything slow us down. And this is where you can help. Make sure our distributors and our retail partners, our restaurants and bar partners, let them know that Uncle Nearest is bigger than whiskey.
“That we’re building the next great American brand and our supporters, the strongest, this business has ever seen. How do you do that? Go clear out the shelves, go to your local store and literally buy every bottle of Uncle Nearest and Nearest Green.
“And when that store re-stocks do it again. Let them know any hurdles we face while building this business, we’ll keep jumping over them together. It’s because this team and family was built for this exact moment, and no 48-hour news cycle is going to change that.
“In an era where people hurl arrows the moment anything negative is said about someone highly regarded, stand in the gap with the truth, you’ve watched us build this company from the ground up with integrity and against all odds, seeing every high, and every low. You’ve been with us, every step of the way and Keith, and I couldn’t be more grateful, encouraged and excited for where we’re headed. I’ve got a little uncle nearest in my glass, and my sabbath is about to begin my favorite 24 hours of the week.
“I’ll leave you with this, ‘Regulators mount up’, I love and appreciate y’all. Cheers
~ Fawn Weaver CEO of Nearest Green Distillery
Hang tight and we’ll keep you posted on progress in this pivotal case for Fawn and Keith Weaver and the entire Nearest Green Distillery organization.
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