Uncle Nearest CEO Fawn Weaver is “unshaken” and unbothered after the Black-owned whiskey distillery was placed in receivership.
Louisville-based Farm Credit Mid-America filed a lawsuit against Fawn and Keith Weaver, owners of Uncle Nearest, Nearest Green Distillery, and Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings.
The lawsuit alleges they defaulted on $108 million in loans and misused funds to purchase a home in Martha’s Vineyard.
The Weavers are owners of the first black-owned whiskey distillery named in honor of a Black American.
According to the New York Times, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled in favor of Farm Credit. The judge’s order placed the distillery in receivership to protect Farm Credit’s investments.
Farm Credit claimed in the suit that the Weavers had defaulted on $108 million in three separate loans, including interest.
The Weavers allegedly failed to make payments on the loans.
Farm Credit also accused the Weavers of using part of the loan to purchase a $2.2 million house on Martha’s Vineyard, near the Obamas’ home. The property is mortgaged through another lender.
Fawn and her husband, Keith Weaver, founded the distillery in 2017 after befriending the descendants of the first Black whiskey distiller, Nathan “Nearest” Green.
In the court order, the judge wrote that the receivership allows Fawn Weaver “to market Uncle Nearest and further build the brand.”
In a social media post on Saturday, Fawn said in a video, “Let me be clear: I built this company, I own this company, I run this company.”
She urged her followers to share her video “since lies tend to spread faster than the truth.”
Fawn pleaded with her followers to “buy every bottle” of Uncle Nearest whiskey. “Keep clearing the shelves,” she said.
She also advised other entrepreneurs to keep grinding. “If you’re the quitting kind, don’t start, as entrepreneurship will give you 100 reasons to quit every day,” she said.
“I know some folks have been hoping and praying for our downfall. I’m sorry to disappoint them, but… well… People have told me, ‘Move in silence.’ But God didn’t call me to do that. He called me to live out loud and knew he built me strong enough to take the shots when they came.”
Watch the video below.
