The nation’s only Black-owned whiskey distillery is on the brink of bankruptcy.
On March 17, Uncle Nearest CEO Fawn Weaver announced she filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect the 159-year-old whiskey distillery from creditors.
Weaver also announced a lawsuit against a Kentucky-based lender for running a “smear campaign” against her.
A judge placed Uncle Nearest in receivership after Fawn and her husband defaulted on $108 million loans in 2025.
Phillip Young, the receiver who is running the company, called for sanctions against Weaver and is trying to block the bankruptcy.
In a video uploaded to Instagram on Tuesday, Weaver told followers that she filed for bankruptcy protection. She said that she was committed to transparency, and directed her followers to her website, Follow the Case, featuring court records and files.
By filing the bankruptcy, Weaver said the receivership has been dissolved.
“As founder and CEO, the responsibility for addressing this and moving the company forward ultimately rests with me and me alone,” Weaver 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.”
“The accusations circulated about us were not only false, the bank knew they 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,” Weaver said in a news release.
“The follow the case link on the Fawn Weaver site is not new,” Weaver’s attorney J. Richard Byrd told theGrio.com. “It has been there for quite some time. It was created as a place for people to have the ability to look and read the filings and responses for themselves.”
