Uncle Nearest Receivership & Lawsuit : LIVE UPDATES

This will be my LIVE UPDATE page for the ongoing saga of the Uncle Nearest Receivership which was ordered on 8/14. If you haven’t been following along, please check out this piece first. It’s a decent breakdown of how we got here. This piece here will be heavily seasoned with skepticism and my commentary will be italicized.

If you feel like sharing your story feel free to contact me here. Your anonymity and confidentiality will be respected.

For Speedy.

Liquor store cat hates having to put things back the way they were as soon as the CEO cat departs.

UPDATE 10/1-

Happy receiver report day to all who celebrate. I want to temper folks expectations a bit, with the recent order by the court seeking more information from the 10 entities, any report delivered by the receiver to the court is likely to be incomplete, perhaps delayed, and could potentially be sealed if the court determines that there is confidential information involved.

If something is delivered to the court today, just know that my update will likely be delayed until tomorrow as I’m extremely busy with real life things for almost the entirety of the day and evening.

I’m sure that Janet will have some good updates if the court documents are viewable. You can likely find her work on kentucky.com

I can’t be the only one that zooms in on these things before reposting right?

Propaganda is a funny thing. If you only got your news from the UN and Fawn’s socials, you’d think that everything was just fine and dandy. As we all should know by now, social media is NOT real life. It’s presented as real, and many consume it whole cloth. Just because someone is in a store, with mountains of bottles doesn’t mean they’re selling wildly.

My favorite thing about Fawn autographing all of these bottles on the shelves, is that she marked them and we can now get an anecdotal idea of how long they sit. So if you’re in any of the places that she signed at, you can now track the progress of the local clear the shelves.

You all crack me up sending me pictures in my DM’s of the discounted stuff.

#CLEARANCEtheshelves

Big week or two for numbers nerds? Blogger cat was built for this.

UPDATE 9/30-

Short little update today, so don’t go crazy on the cold brew. The next 3-4 weeks should be coming at us at a frenetic pace. We are expecting the Judge to decide on whether or not to add LLC’s to the receivership, and the bank and the court should be getting the first quarterly financial report from the receiver. Remember, my commentary on court documents is italicized.

• The court issued an order today. It’s brief and to the point. The court has requested more information before it can determine whether expanding the receivership is appropriate. The court has ordered the receiver to serve that information on or before 10/14/25.

  • Guessing the bank info caught the court by surprise, and wants to confirm that the receiver also has this information..

• The court also ordered the ten entities listed for inclusion to respond to the motion on or before 10/21/25. Failure to respond will be viewed as a waiver of opposition.

  • The judge probably took his sweet ass time going over the receiver request for inclusion, and then looked over the bank arguments, and now wants to hear the Weaver’s reasoning for exclusion. There will be truck loads of documents to go over, from ten different entities.

• The court also ordered the bank to file all materials in its possession that it believes support expanding the receivership.

  • I said that the bank had done their homework, now the judge wants to grade it.

• The court also clarified some confusion- “Defendant Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC falls within the scope of the Receivership Assets under the Order Appointing Receiver. The Court will include this clarification again when it fully resolves the Receiver’s Motion for Clarification of Receivership Order but in the interim, the Receiver may show this Order to any entity that questions whether the Order Appointing Receiver applies to Defendant Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC.”

• Whiskey Decision on Instagram has a terrific post showcasing some different numbers, and it’s not TMZ style clickbait. Image below in case you’re not going to click the link.

• The barrel discrepancy reminds me of this story, and I’m sure it can’t just end in “Senzaki’s fault.” Fraud is fraud.

• Some of you probably prefer video to the typed words, so I recommend checking out Kandi over on TikTok as she’s doing video updates of the court documents as they land. I don’t do posts on socials about this case other than providing links back here, because the comments are wild. Kandi manages it well, so she’s worth a follow.

But I thought they were up 497% in Desoto, Texas?

At this point I wouldn’t rule out actual Moon Camps.

UPDATE 9/26-

While the judge has moved slowly on deciding whether or not to include other LLC’s in the recievership, Farm Credit just lit a match under his behind. The bank submitted a statement in support of the receivership order. It’s 10 pages long, but don’t worry, I’m just going with the highlights, or lowlights (still longish though sorry). So grab your beverage of choice, and gas up the Chrysler, here we go with the breakdown. Reminder, my commentary/thoughts/opinions will be italicized.

• “From information provided by Uncle Nearest to FCMA and from FCMA’s own diligence, a significant overlap appears to exist between the operations, finances, and likely the personnel of Uncle Nearest and the Additional Entities. Upon information and belief, some (or perhaps all as may be revealed by investigation) of these Additional Entities have received assets or proceeds of assets from Uncle Nearest or Uncle Nearest has paid such Additional Entities’ obligations to other parties directly (or vice versa).

  These assets or proceeds of the assets (which also constitute FCMA’s Collateral) transferred before the Receivership Order are Receivership Assets and the receipt and/or use of these assets should place these Additional Entities squarely within the scope of the receivership. Additionally, the failure of the Weavers and Uncle Nearest to recognize corporate formalities and division of finances with respect to the Additional Entities further warrant the inclusion of the Additional Entities under the Receivership Assets. To the extent the Receiver does not currently have sufficient information to determine whether any of the Additional Entities (or other entities that were not specifically identified in the Receivership Order) should be included as Receivership Assets, an order from this Court providing the Receiver access to the books and records of all potentially related entities is necessary.”

  • The bank appears to be very aware of the commingling of assets and money. Commingling can also be perceived as using company funds as their own. You know, it might be like having your own personal piggy bank that contains other peoples money. Keep a keen eye on the mention of “personnel” that’s no accident. In movies that’s called foreshadowing.

• “Grant Sidney, Humble Baron, and Quill and Cask are Receivership Assets.

  Uncle Nearest’s website states that “Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey and Nearest Green Distillery are owned by Uncle Nearest, Inc.

  Uncle Nearest, Inc. is owned by Grant Sidney, Inc.. Grant Sidney, Inc. is wholly owned by Fawn Weaver.”

  Upon information and belief, in 2025, Grant Sidney made multiple wires totaling over $16 million to Uncle Nearest for the purposes of paying (a) payroll, (b) the $7.5 million paydown at the closing of the Forbearance Agreement, and (c) for other operating costs of Uncle Nearest. Further upon information and belief, Grant Sidney and Uncle Nearest maintained bank accounts at CalPrivate Bank. FCMA has not had access to the CalPrivate Bank account information from years prior to 2025, but Grant Sidney’s significant infusions of capital during this short time period to Uncle Nearest warrant an investigation by the Receiver into the source of these funds. These transfers are also an example of the lack of separation of finances between the Weavers, Uncle Nearest, and the other entities related to the Weavers.”

  • And they still couldn’t pay on time? I suspect that some corporate veils are about to be pierced. Remember, the investors have never seen an actual complete CAP table. No one is really certain who owns what and how much of it.

Did you know there’s a little known side effect to NDA’s? Yeah, they apparently cause mice to have six legs.

• “Humble Baron

  The funds and operations of Uncle Nearest and Humble Baron appear to be comingled such that Humble Baron falls within the scope of the Receivership Assets. One glaring example is the likely payment by Uncle Nearest, Inc. of at least one settlement agreement payment on Humble Baron’s behalf. On August 1, 2024, Levy Premium Foodservice Limited Partnership (“Levy”) filed a complaint against Humble Baron and Shelbyville Barrel House BBQ LLC for their failure to pay to Levy contracted amounts in the action styled Levy Premium Food Service Ltd. Partnership v. Shelbyville Barrel House BBQ LLC, et al., Case No. 24-0890-II, in the Chancery Court for the State of Tennessee, 20th Judicial District, Davidson Couty, Tennessee (the “Levy Litigation”).

  On July 23, 2025, the presiding court in the Levy Litigation entered an agreed order filed by the parties to the Levy Litigation, which reflected that the parties reached a confidential settlement agreement (the “Levy Settlement Agreement”) and noted that, by September 15, 2025, they expected the terms would be satisfied. Upon information and belief, Uncle Nearest, Inc. made at least one payment directly to Levy after execution of the Levy Settlement Agreement. This settlement payment, alone, demonstrates that FCMA’s Collateral has been used to fund Humble Baron’s obligation.”

  • I had a feeling that Levy case would come up again, and it has. I think as this proceeds down the line, we will probably see all sorts of UN funds being used in goofy ways that are questionable ethically…. Speaking of which, here comes the goofy stuff.

• “Upon information and belief, Uncle Nearest made a payment to Guinness World Records on March 22, 2023, in the amount of $82,500. Uncle Nearest made a second payment on April 29, 2024, in the amount of $42,500. On March 23, 2023, Guinness World Records named Humble Baron as the holder of the record for longest bar in the world. These payments further demonstrate that FCMA’s Collateral has been used to fund Humble Baron’s business endeavors.”

  • The apparent clout chasing has a real cost. $125,000 for a humble brag. I still wonder if Death and Co ever got paid for that bar design.

• “Additionally, despite Humble Baron’s location on the Nearest Green Distiller property, it does not appear that Humble Baron has any lease with, or has paid rent to, Uncle Nearest for Humble Baron’s operations of the restaurant on the premises. Even if Humble Baron were truly to be considered a separate entity not part of the Receivership Assets, it would essentially be occupying a Receivership Asset for free.”

  • You don’t need to be a lawyer to understand this argument. It’s pretty clear that either it is separate, or it isn’t. And either way, it looks goofy. I’m sure this is somehow Senzaki’s fault, or the janitors, it’s always someone else’s fault..

• “Further, despite requests to Uncle Nearest before the entry of the Receivership Order, FCMA never received a list of the Humble Baron employees and their roles. Without access to books and records, the Receiver’s ability to determine the source of funding of Humble Baron payroll or if Humble Baron is being operated by Uncle Nearest employees is impossible.”

  • Remember the foreshadowing thing? This is it. This was included by Farm Credit for reasons.

It’s hard to tell if that’s true when almost everyone can’t say what they want to.

• “Quill and Cask Owner, LLC-

  In January and February of 2025, Uncle Nearest indicated that it had a buyer for barrels of whiskey at a competitive price. A Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “PSA”) provided to FCMA by Uncle Nearest for barrel sales was between Uncle Nearest, Inc. and “Q and Cask,Inc.” as the potential purchaser. A search of Delaware, Tennessee, and California (the most likely states of organization for the entity) secretary of state websites turned up no results for “Q and Cask, Inc.” as an entity in existence.”

• “However, an entity named Quill and Cask Owner, LLC did appear as an entity formed in Tennessee. The Articles of Organization retrieved from the State of Tennessee reflect that the principal executive office and mailing address of this entity is Keith Weaver, Suite 2000, 600 North Main St., Shelbyville, TN 37160. A true and correct copy of the certified record of the Articles of Organization is attached as Exhibit A. When FCMA inquired into any potential relationship between “Q and Cask, Inc.” and Uncle Nearest, Uncle Nearest, through its financial advisor at the time, advised that Q and Cask, Inc. was a different entity than Quill and Cask Owner, LLC. Now that the Receiver has begun his diligence, the fact that Quill and Cask is an affiliate is undisputed.”

  • And why is this important? Sounds like foreshadowing.

• “Upon information and belief, Quill and Cask made a payment on or about January 30, 2025, in the amount of $275,000 to Uncle Nearest. This payment leads to more questions about the relationship between Quill and Cask and Uncle Nearest.”

  • Oh boy, and where did the barrels go? Or what was the payment even for? Surely not the glam squad.

• “The Weavers and Uncle Nearest have maintained no financial discipline or corporate formalities between the Weavers, Uncle Nearest, the Subject Entities, the Additional Entities, and potentially other entities related to the Weavers. Due to the lack of financial discipline between Uncle Nearest and the Additional Entities, these Additional Entities (and any others the Receiver uncovers as possibly related or transferring money to or from the Weavers, Uncle Nearest, the Subject Entities, or the Additional Entities) should be included in the Receivership Assets.”

  • This is very likely to be of great interest to the investors as well, who are probably only just now beginning to realize what’s been done with their investment.

• “Because of the wholesale absence of structure between the Weavers, Uncle Nearest, and the Additional Entities, in the interest of equity and to ensure all available and intertwined assets are brought within the receivership, the Additional Entities (and potentially more) should be included. Without their inclusion in the receivership, the Receiver will be left with an incomplete picture of the finances of the Uncle Nearest and Weaver enterprise and without access to assets that should be administered as Receivership Assets for the benefit of all impacted stakeholders.”

  • This absence can only rest at the feet of the CEO. This is why they exist. Structure. I believe that not only was there flimflammery, but also grotesque amounts of incompetence.

The Second Course got commingled with the first and third. I’ll see myself out now.

• “Based on information that FCMA has received or been made aware of, FCMA believes that all of the Additional Entities should be a part of the receivership estate. At a minimum, Grant Sidney, Humble Baron, and Quill and Cask are all entities whose own operations and finances are so comingled with Uncle Nearest’s that their inclusion in the scope of the Receivership Assets is warranted. The Receiver’s ability to obtain an accurate financial and operational understanding of all entities relating to Uncle Nearest is critical to allow him to operate in accordance with his duties.”

• “Further, to complete the financial and operational understanding, the Receiver must have the power to review books and records of all the other Additional Entities and any other entities that he discovers may be related to Uncle Nearest and any other Receivership Asset. Moreover, the Receiver is subject to quarterly reporting, and once he has full access to information, he can always move to remove any of the Additional Entities to the extent his diligence reveals they are unrelated to the Receivership Assets.”

  • Seems to me the books are junk, and the receiver needs these assets to once and for all, audit the financials.

FINAL THOUGHTS-

• The bank has apparently done some homework, and their argument appears on the surface to be very convincing. I’m curious if the Weaver’s will file a social media post, I mean, file a document to the court arguing against, or if they’re still counting on God to somehow kick a winning field goal. Inclusion of these assets will likely make it more likely that non-bank creditors will somehow finally get paid something. I cannot imagine how this will be spun as a win by Fawn if the inclusion happens, the Grant Sidney inclusion alone should be deeply concerning, but I’m sure it will be.

CEO cats sometimes get in their feelings and rage comment. You know, like successful business people do.

UPDATE 9/22-

Still no word on the additions to the receivership, but some drama on the onlines. Let’s cut it up.

• An African-American Media Company posted an article with the headline “Uncle Nearest one step closer to bankruptcy.”

  • Nothing crazy about that. It’s possible that bankruptcy could happen. Several firms were in fact hired that specialize in bankruptcy (among other things of course), so it’s at least being looked at.

  • But something nutty happened later on. Uncle Nearest commented on the post with a lonnnnng comment.

  • UN boosted on others positive posts, and said that the headline was TMZ style clickbait. Look, TMZ is absolutely clickbait, but they’re often right. I don’t think that speculating that bankruptcy could happen is clickbait.

  • The comments were overwhelmingly pro-Fawn, which is unsurprising, because who would dare enter into that cesspool trying to say anything different?

  • The post was later on removed, likely by the poster.

  • Also, don’t worry, I have some screenshots.

Someone else recently entered the chat, oh yeah, that was TDG.

Other than their own lawyer in a court document saying that they had discussed bankruptcy, and also discussing it with investors, yeah no, they haven’t talked about bankruptcy at all.

Well, we know it isn’t desired. She said so to investors. Also, now she’s blaming someone else? Not just Senzaki? Now the comptroller?

A lot of people are in fact checking the source materials. That’s why we can’t understand the propaganda!

It’s easy to have more fans than haters when you delete the comments. Also, not everyone wants UN to fail. Not this guy.

PT Barnum would have loved the “clear the shelves” campaign.

You guys are playing around too much. Brave being in those comments.

And then, another media group posted another article referring to the original article. They intelligently throttled the comments which should reduce the amount of nonsense that drowns out those that are asking questions and challenging the propaganda.

A better headline, and probably also clickbait- “CEO says words, no idea if true or not.”

Ultimately it’s online drama, and completely irrelevant to the action in the courtroom, but it’s part of the overall picture of a company in crisis. The loudest voices are not always the most truthful, it’s often just the loudest. Great leaders own their mistakes. Great leaders hold their team accountable, but the responsibility is always theirs and theirs alone. When a leader absolves themself of responsibility and freely assesses blame, they’ve lost the plot.

This entire saga is probably about ego, prestige, and flimflammery.

Also, below, two consecutive stories on Fawn’s IG. Almost the same caption, but the numbers are different. Probably want to get the new CFO to verify which is correct.

261% is a “wow” number but meaningless without case counts and dollars.

Damn, their sales dropped multiple percentage points in a story a bit later. Well, good thing we aren’t investors in this company.

Receiver Cat on the left. Unicorn Cat on the right. A tale of two cats.

UPDATE 9/19-

A brief bit today while we wait on the judge to decide on whether to add everything to the receivership or not. Just some thoughts mostly, and some things that apparently a lot of people don’t know.

• I didn’t expect the book story to be a big thing, but I’ve seen some commentary elsewhere where I think some folks may have missed the point, and perhaps it’s because I didn’t explain it well. It’s not so much about the marketing move of juicing book rankings/sales, but also what went on behind it.

  • There was a book tour where Fawn set an interplanetary record for most books signed or something. Each of these stops cost Uncle Nearest actual money. Hotels, flights, transportation, Glam Squad, food, entertainment, and a team of handlers to support the events that all require their own accommodations/transport and likely per diems for food.

  • These funds are likely all paid by Uncle Nearest.

  • Sure, you can chalk this up to marketing, but it sure seems like self-dealing when the royalties for the book go to the author and not the company that funded the tour.

• Marketing is gonna market, I know this, but every time Fawn says that UN whiskey is Gluten-Free, Sugar Free, Fat Free, Carb Free, Additive Free (Truth Free probably), I have to chuckle. Love this excerpt from their website below.

They send random samples to what TTB certified laboratory? WTF is a triple certified lab? Everything with this brand is EXTRA.

This is pretty much most whiskey. Derrrrrp.

• Did you know that the famous picture that is used on the cover of Love and Whiskey is NOT Nearest Green? Many people do not in fact know this, and it continues to surprise me. Yes, even the Angel on my shoulder didn’t know. Who is it then? Well, It’s his son George. There are no known photographs of Uncle Nearest himself. 10,000 artifacts don’t lie, and in all fairness, UN’s own website and Fawn’s book mentions that there are no known photos. TRUTH AT LAST! I suppose if you didn’t get a free book it’s easy to assume that it was Nearest.

• Can we talk about the investors for just a moment? When I began writing these stories, I had decided to heavily focus on the front line employees (and the court documents) because in sagas like this, they are usually the ones that get overlooked. I will continue to prioritize their stories, but the investors story is coming soon. I will say that there are names you will eventually commit to memory, as they are just as important to this dumpster fire of a story as Weaver/Senzaki.

  More to come stay tuned.

It’s excruciating to watch social media when you know what is happening behind the scenes.

• Layoffs have begun. The scope is unknown at this time, but people are departing the company. I hope they find something better soon and many of them did not deserve having to go through all of this.

• This season of Shark Tank should be a laugh-riot. I for one will be cringe watching.

World’s Best Cat Dad is packing it up, while CEO Cat lives it up.

TDG Cat realizing that they might not get their money…….

UPDATE 9/18-

Well folks, it’s heating up. Tennessee Distilling Group has entered the chat with a court filed “Notice of Appearance and Request for Service.” Tennessee Distilling Group is who makes the whiskey for Uncle Nearest. Yeah, the actual distiller. What does that mean? Pour yourself a beverage and try to remember that some people were built for this. My opinions/thoughts/commentary will be italicized. From the document filed with the court (don’t worry it’s short, but very intentional)-

“NOTICE OF APPEARANCE AND REQUEST FOR SERVICE

• The undersigned files this Appearance in the above cause and gives notice that Lucas A.Davidson will appear and represent the interests of Tennessee Distilling Group, LLC. Counsel requests service of all filings and notices in this cause in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee at:

Lucas A. Davidson, Esq.

ldavidson@buchalter.com

1 Music Circle South, Suite 300

Nashville, TN 37203

T: (629) 224-6600

F: (213) 896-0400”

As Neo once said, “oh deja vu.”

WHAT COULD IT MEAN?

• A Notice of Appearance is a legal document filed by an attorney, usually in a bankruptcy case. It indicates that the attorney represents a specific party, in this case Tennessee Distilling Group, often a creditor. The document can serve a few purposes.

  • It notifies the court and other parties (like a receiver) that the attorney is representing a client.

  • It requests to receive copies of all documents filed in the case, ensuring the attorney, and TDG, stay informed about the proceedings.

  • Court documents like this are frequently filed by secured creditors to monitor the bankruptcy process. If there is one. Looks like one, walks like one, quacks like one…

• A Request for Service is often included in these filings. It asks to be served with relevant documents related to the case. This ensures that they get timely updates about hearings, motions, etc.. It also establishes a formal line of communication with the court.

• If you didn’t know, TDG is the distillery that Uncle Nearest contracts with to produce their whiskey. Because, you know, their actual still sits idle…

While I’ll have to consult with the Ouija board to try and predict what’s about to come, I have eyes, and what I see is that the future looks bleak. TDG is one creditor. I have identified One Hundred and Sixty potential creditors.

Do you have any idea how big this book will be in Kansas City?

UPDATE 9/15-

With two weeks and change to go before the first report is due back to court, I have a little story for you, so sit back, pour yourself a cup of your favorite beverage and clutch your pearls whenever appropriate.

Let’s talk about books. Recent revelations suggest that the Uncle Nearest approach to narrative building may extend beyond just heritage and branding.

According to multiple credible sources with direct knowledge of operations, Uncle Nearest management allegedly instructed some employees to take specific actions designed to artificially elevate the book Love and Whiskey to bestseller status, actions that raise ethical concerns and could potentially violate the terms of various online platforms.

The sources, who have requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation, shared that some employees were directed to purchase the book via their personal Amazon accounts while using company credit cards to complete the transactions. This method, was possibly intended to simulate widespread consumer interest while masking the coordinated nature of the effort. Each order was shipped not just to the employees themselves, but to a curated list of preferred clients, customers, and industry representatives, ensuring targeted visibility.

This strategy of paying full retail price across a broad set of personal accounts may have been intended to influence the book’s positioning on Amazon’s sales rankings, which in turn can have a ripple effect across industry bestseller lists. Bulk wholesale orders from a single account often don’t count toward list placement, but a large number of individual purchases can.

According to documents obtained by this blog, employees appear to have been directed to purchase books with specific directions from management. 

“STAGE ONE-

• 1- Log-in to your PERSONAL Amazon account.

• 2- Add your Company JP Morgan Chase Card.

• 3- Order yourself Love & Whiskey (via presale link)

• 4- Order (5) of your friends and family members a presale book, who you KNOW loves to read, and will take the time to write a review on Amazon and Goodreads.  (Do each individually).

STAGE TWO-

• 1- Log-in to your PERSONAL Amazon account.

• 2- Order books for our local distributors (list of contact information not included by blogger cat as it holds personal information) as this will become their bible when selling the Uncle Nearest brand in the market.

• 3- Once all are complete, please send back an email confirming this was done.

• 4- In the email, please confirm the # sent to friends and family + the list we gave you.

STAGE THREE-

• 1 Log-in to your PERSONAL Amazon account.

• 2- Order books for our local distributors (the list of contact information withheld by blogger cat, again due to privacy protection) as this will become their bible when selling the Uncle Nearest Brand in the market.

• 3- If you have an ambassador, please order five for them to give to their top accounts who they want to have this new “bible” for our brand.

• 4- Once all complete, please send back an email confirming this was done.  “

NOTE- the list of contact information documents are not posted as they list private information of recipients but the amount of books ordered was staggering.

I’ve read the audiobook from Libby, and well, I’d give it a 5 star review just on the insights you can learn about the author along the way.

Some employees were also asked to write and post glowing reviews on Goodreads, the popular book rating platform, and then copy those same reviews onto Amazon. In addition, they were encouraged to reach out to recipients of the book, urging them to do the same, review the book positively and help amplify its presence online.

The same batch of documents provided more specific guidance-

• “Because of the NYT algorithm, that isn’t based on just pure sales.  Hitting it once is near impossible (over 2.5 million books publish yearly and only a fraction a percentage will ever come close to even hitting the NYT list), so this a HUGE feat.  All your efforts are continuing to make this book a success, which is leading to us introducing our brand to new customers every single day!”

• “Getting to 100 ratings on Amazon will significantly impact the visibility of Love & Whiskey…and we are almost there with 93 ratings as of this AM!  Something you should know is that you don’t have to have purchased this book on Amazon to review it, and just getting us these ratings (without a review) is immensely helpful. “

• “And every 100 ratings after that takes us even more visible in Amazon’s algorithm. “

• “Our GOAL is to get to 1000 ratings, and here’s why it matters:

• Algorithm boost: Amazon’s algorithm gives more visibility to books with higher ratings, making “Love & Whiskey” more likely to appear in recommendations and search results.  (Also, see above, as reviews help with the NYT algorithm, as well.)

• Visibility: Books with ore ratings are more likely to be recommended by Amazon.  This means more people will discover “Love & Whiskey.”

• Credibility: Higher ratings and reviews build trust with potential readers, showing them that this book is worth their time.

• Sales Boost: Increased visibility and credibility directly lead to more sales.  More sales mean more readers experiencing out story and more buzz around the book.

• Your ratings and reviews, as well as those from your friends and family, are cruising in making this happen.  If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to leave (at a minimum) a rating on Amazon.  Every singe one counts and brings us closer to our goal.  Please also share the above with your friends and family”

Kinda feel bad for Clay at this point.

In a separate communication, some employees were reminded to-

• “Please go on Good Reads TODAY and post your review, and please ask those that you have gifted to also do the same as they start to receive and read them.”

In the same communication they are encouraged to-

• “Once you do your review on Good Reads, please copy, and paste into Amazon reviews as well.  (link provided).

• “Please confirm with me once you have posted your review.”

Blogger cat note- Amazon shows 875 global rankings.  Goal missed.  Probably got a gold medal anyway.

While coordinated marketing efforts are nothing new, this kind of internal orchestration walks a fine line. It raises questions about radical transparency, manipulation of consumer perception, and the ethics of manufactured enthusiasm. Platforms like Amazon and Goodreads have explicit rules against incentivized or coordinated reviews, especially if they are not organic or disclosed.

As of this writing, Love and Whiskey maintains a strong review profile and visibility on several online platforms. Whether this strategy will have longer term reputational consequences for Uncle Nearest remains to be seen.

This story offers a timely reminder that in an era where visibility often trumps authenticity, even the brands with the best story aren’t above scrutiny. Consumers and readers deserve to know when what looks like grassroots support might actually be the result of a tightly controlled campaign.

Gail is right, perhaps we should call FW to investigate what happened over there.

A FEW PARTING THOUGHTS-

When I started looking at this story, my initial thoughts were, so what? Wh0 cares? Using Amazon this way seems to be a really good way to save on the logistics of getting books out to clients, reps and patrons. Saves on shipping costs (with Prime), and packaging, labor to unbox, individually box, ship etc..

The more I thought about it, paying “retail” price via Amazon, might have been cheaper than doing all the things I mentioned above, made some sense, but something kept nagging at me.

It’s a question I still don’t have an answer to, but I’m left wondering-

If Uncle Nearest funds were spent on book purchases, where did the royalty money for the books go?

Did you know that the goal of Monopoly is to not go bankrupt and to stay out of jail? It’s like real life.

UPDATE 9/13-

The Receiver, now known here as the #RealPeoplesCEO, filed some documents with the court yesterday. We are fully loaded with three full ounces of cold brew concentrate so let’s break them down. Remember, my commentary/thoughts/opinions are italicized. There is a lot, so keep scrolling.

Document #1 is a notice of the Receivers Professionals (essentially, who he has hired for assistance). Please note that this first document is VERY relevant to the document that follows.

• “Receiver has retained Newpoint Advisors Corporation as the financial consultant for this receivership. “

  This company offers many services, but notably they assist with restructuring under U.S. bankruptcy law (notably Subchapter V for small businesses), receiverships, assignments for the benefit of creditors, and liquidations where needed.

• “Receiver has retained Thoroughbred Spirits Group as the operational consultant for this receivership.”

  This is a company with expertise in planning, and scaling. They also do financial assessments.

• “Receiver has retained the law firm of Belcher, Sykes, & Harrington PLLC to serve as alcoholic beverage counsel for this receivership.”

  The spirits industry is complex. Overly so. Good to have folks that know something about it around you, unlike what’s been happening.

• “Receiver has retained Herald Law Firm in Paris, France to domesticate the receivership order in France, and to assist in the evaluation and/or liquidation of this receivership estate’s French assets.”

  This could be a Scooby-Doo “Ruh-roh Shaggy” moment.

• “Receiver has retained Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP in Boston, Massachusetts, to domesticate the receivership order in Massachusetts, and to assist in the evaluation and/or liquidation of the receivership’s estate’s Massachusetts assets.”

  Those assets possibly including a twice mortgaged house?

• “Receiver has retained the law firm of which he is a member, Thompson Burton, PLLC, to advise him on all other legal aspects related to this receivership.”

  It’s always advisable to phone a friend when in need, and all of this will make more sense when we break down the next court document below.

The services provided by the recently retained Newpoint Advisors Corporation. Notably missing- fun handshake routines.

Document #2 is a fascinating read so I won’t delay. The #RealPeoplesCEO submitted a Motion for clarification of receivership order.

• “In support of this Motion for Clarification, the Receiver states as follows: during his investigation of Receivership Assets, which involved a diligent review of Uncle Nearest, Inc.’s books and records, financial statements, corporate documents, and other relevant contractual agreements, the Receiver has identified several entities (the “Entities”) that appear to be somewhat related to Uncle Nearest, Inc. and may fall within the scope of the Court’s Order including: “

  Notably, several of these were already known to the blogger cats. Some though were not. Receiver cat is doing the work it would seem.

  • “Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holding LLC, A Tennessee Limited Liability Company. While this entity was listed in the Complaint, because it was not specifically listed in the Order, certain financial institutions are confused about whether its assets are subject to this receivership.”

    Someone at some place, did their homework and asked questions, which is what competent people should be doing.

  • “Shelbyville Barrel House BBQ LLC, A Tennessee Limited Liability Company. This entity is believed to be owned by Keith Weaver. It operates from the Uncle Nearest/Nearest Green property, but appears to be separate financially from Uncle Nearest.”

    This is interesting. Fawn mentions this place in Lynchburg in her book. It is owned by Chuck Baker. The second location is on the property in Shelbyville, and while it says it’s Chuck’s second location, the receiver seems to think differently here. UPDATE- The location in Shelbyville lists an email address for contact that is info@nashwood.com. Perhaps the Weavers invested in Chuck’s business? Oh noes. Also Fawn apparently reviewed them both on DoorDash under the user name Fawn W. Any bet on how many stars? 5.

  • “Humble Baron, Inc, a Delaware Corporation. This entity appears to be owned by a blind trust that benefits Keith Weaver. Upon information and belief, this entity must be owned by a blind trust in order to keep its restaurant license separate from Uncle Nearest’s distilling license. It operates from the Uncle Nearest/Nearest Green property, but appears to be separate financially from Uncle Nearest.”

    I’m admittedly unfamiliar with Tennessee laws regarding this so I’ll leave it untouched.

  • “Grant Sidney, Inc., a Tennessee Coporation. Upon information and belief, this entity is owned by Fawn Weaver. It is the largest shareholder of Uncle Nearest and has contributed capital to Uncle Nearest from time to time. The receiver believes that this company also owns interests in other spirits unrelated to Uncle Nearest.”

    This is Fawn’s own company. She mentioned that she put some of her own scratch into UN to keep it going, it probably came from this company. It’s game on now if he wants this as part of the receivership. Also, this means he knows how much of the company she owns. A CAP table has to be coming soon much to the interest of the investors who still have no exit options.

  • “Uncle Nearest Spurs VI, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company. It is unclear how this entity is related to Uncle Nearest. This entity was revealed in a general search of the Delaware corporate records.”

    I mean, are they going to open a cowboy boot shop with branded Cowboy Hats and Spurs? I dunno man, I’m just a blogger cat.

  • “Quill and Cask Owner, LLC, a Tennessee LLC. Upon information and belief, this entity is owned by Fawn and Keith Weaver. It has contributed capital to Uncle Nearest from time to time, and has purchased barrels of spirits from Uncle Nearest.”

    I have questions. Barrel picks? Gifts? Barrels that were sold to increase cash flow? Where did the whiskey go? Not much is available about this company but I’ll keep looking.

Could be a different Fawn W. Might be, coincidences are common are they not?

• The document continues-

  • “Nashwood Inc., a Delaware Corporation. Upon information and belief, this entity is owned by Fawn and/or Keith Weaver and operates Tolley House Bed & Breakfast in Lynchburg, Tennessee. It shares a common corporate address with many of the Weaver’s other corporate entities. “

    The only clue about Fawns involvement is the “About us” section which seems to copy from her book, which if you read the thing….

  • “Classic Hops Brewing Co. Upon information and belief, this was a concept began by Keith Weaver. It is unclear whether this entity was ever incorporated or fully operational.”

    I mean if you really want to set more investor money on fire, might as well open a craft beer company.

  • “Shelbyville Grand, LLC, a Tennessee LLC. Upon information and belief, this entity is owned by Fawn and/or Keith Weaver and operates from the same location as several other of the Weavers’ corporate entities. It is unclear the purpose or function of this entity, but it appears in certain corporate records.”

    It is possible that they purchased property at the 100 Public Square North location in 2022.

What’s another $900k or so?

• The document continues to continue-

  • “Weaver Interwoven Family Foundation. The ownership and function of this entity is unknown, but it appears in certain corporate records of Uncle Nearest.“

    This one is going to be incredibly interesting. I don’t have time to get into this rabbit hole, will probably have to wait for a forensic accounting report.

  • “Park Street LLC, a Delaware LLC. Upon information and belief, this entity is owned by Keith and/or Fawn Weaver. It maintains bank accounts at similar banks as Uncle Nearest and, upon information and belief, the Weavers are signatories on those bank accounts. Its purpose and function are unknown to the receiver.”

Receiver cat better not find sacks of cash under the bed.

• “As indicated above, each of the Companies is related to Uncle Nearest, Inc. by common ownership, common business operations, and/or common financial operations. The Receiver makes no representation about whether these entities should be included within the scope of this receivership* (*-see below). Rather, the Receiver files this Motion for Clarification to seek the Court’s determination as to whether it intended the entities listed above to fall within the scope of the Receivership Assets under the Order. The Receiver endeavors to fully and completely carry out the wishes and instructions of this court. WHEREFORE, Receiver respectfully requests the Court enter an Order clarifying whether the entities listed above are within the scope of the Receivership Assets under Paragraph 2 of the Order.”

  Seems as if the receiver is asking for permission to go here. He probably knows there’s a here to go to.

• *“Based upon conversation with Fawn and Keith Weaver, the Receiver expects them to argue that these other entities and their assets should be beyond the scope of this receivership. Based upon conversations with counsel for the secured lender, the Receiver expects it to argue that these entities and their assets should be included in this receivership. Therefore, the Receiver seeks the Court’s Guidance on this issue.”

  Yeah, I saved this for last. Sorry. This is probably the ballgame right here. The bank likely wants to know where all this money has gone, and what LLC holds it so they can get their nut back. The Weavers likely don’t want their “personal” money touched. Investors probably didn’t like their personal money “touched” either.

Everyone is reading tea leaves, consulting the bones, the magic 8 ball, Ouija, and every other thing trying to make sense of it all.

UPDATE 9/12-

There is so much going on, we should see a flurry of updates over the next few days. Right now, every little thing is being overanalyzed because there is so little public information.

• We are down to 19 days before the first quarterly report is presented to the court/bank/Weavers.

• The receiver has been on the job for a couple weeks now, so we should see some moves being made.

• I predict that staffing reductions will be coming if the financials are as bad as I think they are. .

• I have a book story for you all on Monday morning.

• I have a feeling that the narrative is about to change significantly in regards to the Weaver’s and their future with Uncle Nearest.

• Below is a form letter that was sent out to multiple contacts dated 8/27/25. Posted purely for your perusal.

I wouldn’t read too much into this. It’s fairly standard stuff.

I keep reminding myself that his job is to run UN, not blow it up. Of course the Weaver’s will still be involved.

Do not revere the pirate cat, for the pirate cat is an actual thief.

UPDATE 9/7-

Do not mistake my recent silence for not updating this page. I’m dealing with real life things, and touching grass now and then. It’s healthy. Also KBF. Anyway, while I continue to dig, there’s a really interesting story about a brand that was part of the so called UN Fund that was supposed to invest in up and coming brands. I encourage you to read it, because it’s so freaking relevant to how UN has been run. Check it out here, and kudos to the writer for doing the work.

Employee cat loves a plastic appreciation cup.

UPDATE 9/2-

A couple of quick hits today-

• It was unofficial employee appreciation weekend at the distillery (aka Labor Day). They all got a lovely note and leftover plastic swag cups. The note said, “You are SO appreciated! Thank you for everything you do. - Team NGD”

• Fawn shared a story over the weekend that said after being at the distillery “all afternoon”……

• “Employers will really get this- the number of team members that I had that pulled me aside to say this is the best job I’ve ever had….. thank you thank you for building it, thank you for seeing us, thank you for fighting in this time, and zero chance I wouldn’t fight (AWKWARD LOUD LAUGH), kinda built for that. It was a beautiful thing and I love my team, and so it’s amazing to have them to show the same amount of love I have for them back.”

  Odd flex that employers would get this, and also, thanking someone for fighting in a situation they entirely allowed to happen is also strange. Why is it always about how much love she gets when the team got surplus plastic cups? I’m going to add this story to the list of things that probably didn’t happen, because, well, it probably didn’t happen.

• It’s probably just a coincidence that one of the brands (Equiano Rum) that UN “invested” in is having a bit of a dispute.

Another rabbit hole in a field full of them.

Crave Communications Limited isn’t Equiano. But they do hold the trademark.

I’m not the smartest man, but Aaisha isn’t one of these…?

$2 million eh? Did you know that “Eh?” is Canadian for nonsense? That’s probably true only in my head.

The Uncle Nearest Venture Fund roster. Coincidence? Perhaps.

The 777 Club, where your whiskey is likely younger than what the label says. Allegedly.

UPDATE 8/31-

It’s quiet on the update front right now, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t happening in the background. Right now the only voice will be Fawn Weaver, until 10/1/25 when the first quarterly report is due from the receiver. Fair? No. There are a boatload of rumors right now, and until we have on-record confirmation, we sit on our paws waiting like everyone else.

• Payroll was met it seems. Good! The Receiver powers up to level 2 CEO.

• The claims of all the tours selling out are farcical, this weekend notwithstanding. A quick look at the website shows the tour availability fairly open. Not saying people aren’t going, they are, it’s labor day weekend after all, but it’s just hype.

• The People’s CMO continues to talk about the $60m distillery that she built that you can’t walk around because of how many people are visiting. I still have a hard time thinking about how a lot of investor money was spent on a Hollywood Set.

• I checked out the book Love & Whiskey on the Libby app, and one guess who narrates the book. Also, there’s precious little in the book other than The People’s CMO personal diary entries about her time in Lynchburg and spending money they didn’t have on the Call house/farm….

Payday cat, is praying.

UPDATE 8/28-

I know it’s been a little quiet, but that’s mainly because these updates refuse to write themselves while I’m busy. I don’t need Ai, I need a few clones. A few days ago a press release went out from Uncle Nearest announcing the appointment of the receiver. Today I’ll be breaking that down. A reminder that my thoughts/opinions are italicized. A couple things before we get started.

• Fawn at InvestFest talking about “This is our Taylor Moment” is why Taylor Cat makes an appearance below. No slag at TS at all.

• There’s a lot of speculation that Jack Daniel’s will swoop in and buy Uncle Nearest somehow. A few thoughts I have on this begins with a question- What does Uncle Nearest have that Jack needs?

  A still that doesn’t produce? No. Even if it did produce, no one needs still capacity right now. The whiskey industry is in a shift and with Jack having tons of barrels of their own whiskey in storage, age statements returning, no one likely needs to make MORE whiskey.

  Aging barrels of whiskey? Again, no. No one needs more barrels. UN even mentioned this in their filings, that flooding the market with barrels would result in a deep haircut on what they could get for them. On top of that, no one needs MORE Tennessee whiskey.

  The property? For what? They don’t need horses or event space. A house in Martha’s Vineyard? A gift shop? A Cognac chateau? Vodka?

  The only thing that might even possibly be perceived as valuable to Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman is the Intellectual Property, and they don’t even NEED that. They already have it in the history of their own distillery story now, and they very likely know that producing an Uncle Nearest label under a spirits conglomerate portfolio would likely not be well received in the market place.

  Now, anything is possible, but this seems like a huge stretch for a company that sold their cooperage not long ago and just reported a 3% decrease in net sales. .

Let’s break down the press release below.

Garbage Can Cat isn’t impressed by illusionists. Might chase that red light later though. Haven’t yet decided.

• “ Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey today announced that Phillip Young, a partner at the Nashville-based law firm of Thompson Burton PLLC, has been appointed as the receiver for the company. This appointment, made by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, is in connection with a loan default case. The company wants to reassure its customers, suppliers, and all interested parties that operations will continue uninterrupted.”

  Receivers typically don’t enter a company and start thrashing about like a maniac. Part of their purpose is reassurance to employees, contractors, partners etc.. so that business continues while they determine whether the business is solvent, and if it could be a viable concern for the future. Closing a place down at jump, would not be helpful.

• “A receivership is a court-supervised process designed to protect and preserve a company's assets and business value. The appointment of Young is a strategic and positive step to ensure the company’s future health and stability. Under the receivership, the company's day-to-day operations will continue without disruption. Production, distribution, and all business functions will proceed as usual.”

  Oh well, yeah they definitely said it better than I did.

• “I understand that this news may raise questions, but I want to be clear that this is not a negative development for Uncle Nearest,” said Phillip Young, on behalf of the company. “Uncle Nearest’s primary goal remains unchanged: to continue producing the award-winning Tennessee whiskey that customers love and expect. I look forward to continuing the company’s strong commitment to its community, its partners, and to honoring the legacy of Nearest Green.”

  I want to know in what world where having a court appoint someone to run your company is not a negative development, but hey, the receiver said it, and I’m guessing he’s operating under some kind of “do no harm” thing, and that makes some sense. I suppose this avoids the “maniac thrashing about” perception. I think we can also understand the “propaganda” parts from Mr. Phillip because he is running the company for the time being.

• “‘We fully support the court’s appointment of Phillip Young as receiver,’ said Fawn and Keith Weaver, owners of Uncle Nearest, Inc. ‘Many people misunderstand receiverships, but in some cases they are a powerful tool for strengthening a company. That is the case here.’”

  I think by now, we all understand that whether or not it’s supported (remember, they were in court trying to prevent a receivership at all), he’s there, and what else are you going to say to the person that now runs the company? I’ll give them this, it costs nothing to be polite. Advice I should probably take myself sometimes. In some cases, receiverships are powerful, because the receivers aren’t interested in anything BUT running the business. They have no image to nurture, or conferences to speak at, events to host. Their job is overseeing operations, like a functioning and hopefully competent CEO might.

• “Phillip Young, as the court-appointed receiver, will now assume full management and operational control of the company. Young will work to resolve the outstanding financial matters and position the company for a sustainable and successful future. While Young will be responsible for the day-to-day operations, Fawn Weaver will continue to own Uncle Nearest, and both Fawn Weaver and Keith Weaver will remain deeply engaged in the stewardship of the Uncle Nearest brand.”

  Everyone say hi to Mr. Phillip, and offer your thoughts and prayers. He’s got a very big job ahead of him. Also, what’s the under/over on the “misunderstanding” of what stewardship means.

• "My role is to serve as a neutral party, appointed by the court, to manage the company's affairs in a way that benefits all stakeholders," said Phillip Young. "I am confident that working with the dedicated team at Uncle Nearest, we will ensure a smooth transition and maintain the company's reputation for excellence and quality. The receivership is intended to improve relations and stabilize the business, not to make them worse. My team and I are fully committed to this mission."

  Pretty good. No notes. Something to pay attention to though, “My team and I.”

• “Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey remains focused on its core business, its employees, and its loyal customers. The company will provide updates as appropriate throughout this process.”

  We are most interested in the update due on October 1, 2025.

• “For more information about Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey or to read the latest updates on the receivership process, please visit www.unclenearest.com.”

  I mean, one could use that link to read the latest updates, but why go there? They have no cats. (The link was in the release, and currently just takes you to their homepage, and the press section is just a clout collection of links to stories in the media) .

Blogger cat is sorry. Meow. See, it’s not so hard to say “sorry” when you make a lil’ oopsie..

UPDATE 8/25-

Today I’m doing all the things I should’ve been doing in my personal life all week, while I worked on this. Today’s update is me issuing a correction to my post yesterday, so here goes.

• I erroneously reported that Fawn had submitted her affidavit / declaration to the court. I was wrong. She did not submit the document I reported on yesterday to the court. It was emailed to investors.

• While the document is real, it’s embarrassing that I got something wrong that was not opinion based.

• I apologize.

• Somewhere, Mike Senzaki is probably relieved that he isn’t being blamed for this too.

I think we all understand that no caption can add anything here.

UPDATE 8/24-

Today we are going to break down the affidavit that Fawn Weaver submitted to the court just before the receivership was granted. It’s long, and I’m sorry. Before we get to that a couple things. CORRECTION- This was not filed in court. See above.

• I have opinions, which I will continue to post in italics, and sometimes through the cats.

• Invest Fest was an interesting bit of theatre.

• Mike, it must feel like the world is on your shoulders. No, I don’t believe you’re the reason the Buffalo Bills have never won a Super Bowl.

Let’s break it down. Please note that there are some salacious claims that I will not be posting or discussing, as a persons private life is no one’s business but their own. Also, shame on you Fawn.

Here we go.

• “I submit this declaration to clarify and supplement the record following the hearing held on August 7, 2025, where the plaintiff made statements that require correction. The bank claimed that “Fawn Weaver misused loan funds in several significant ways,” which is not only inaccurate, it is a flat-out lie used to smear my good reputation.”

  Accusing a bank, a part of a heavily regulated industry, of lying, is a bold move.

• “The fact is that not a single penny of the loan proceeds from Farm Credit was used to purchase anything other than real estate and whiskey barrels, first through procurement and then by producing our own.”

  I’d like to remind the audience that to claim that not one single penny was used on anything but property/barrels, not even a single packet of Flavor-Aid, is surely a risky statement.

• “Since learning of the fraud committed by our former CFO, I have personally invested over $1.5 million of my own money into Uncle Nearest to ensure the company could continue to grow, even in spite of what has already been uncovered through an internal investigation and what we expect the findings of the third-party investigation to be.”

  Since learning of the fraud, she has spent her own scratch so the company could grow. Weren’t sales going through the roof? Also, if evidence of fraud as claimed, shouldn’t there be law enforcement involvement? It still comes down to who gets to see the books.

• “From the time I founded the company, I did not pay myself a salary for the first year or so. When I began paying myself, it was $90,000 per year plus shares of the company, and to this day, my salary remains $90,000 per year. I have reinvested into the company every penny I have ever earned from it. The reason Uncle Nearest, Inc. owns over $200 million in hard assets, real estate, whiskey barrels, and finished goods, is because every bit of the loan was invested into the business.”

  Reinvested every penny earned, is not the same as reinvesting every penny benefited from. Who pays for the flights, cars, parties, personal security, etc..? Also, how many shares of the company and at what valuation? Steve Jobs famously had a $1 annual salary. He was also paid in shares, and we know he wasn’t living on a dollar a year.. So, were any of those shares traded? Sold? Unknown.

• “The property in Martha’s Vineyard, named Uncle Nearest House on the Vineyard, which the bank approved before it was purchased and which has already proven to be a brilliant investment, becoming an example of this alleged misuse is odd to say the least, given the bank’s involvement and demonstrable support from prior to us purchasing the property.”

  The bank has never claimed that the purchase of the house in Martha’s Vineyard (fun fact Jaws filmed in that town) was not supported, or approved. They didn’t like the collateral being taken from them and mortgaged to another lender. Also, no way to know about whether it was a sound investment or not, it’s probably on page 47 of a fake book called, “Trust Me Bro.”

• “The bank never moved to perfect several real estate properties pledged to Uncle Nearest, Inc., and it was not our job to deliver to them deeds of trust that they never requested. This notion expects that I, as the customer, know what it is the bank is looking for from us, without them stating it.”

  Ignorance of the rules or law, is seldom a good defense. Trust Me Bro.

• “The fair market value of assets owned by Uncle Nearest is approximately $210 million, over double the $102 million owed to the bank, with even the most conservative valuation significantly higher than the debt in question.”

  Is it so hard to say that you overextended yourself and that you’re going to sell some assets and clean up the books? Trick question, we all know the answer.

• “In a distressed receivership, however, that value would drop to between $25–30 million because I am the sole responsible party on the license that allows for the Distilled Spirits Plant (DSP) at Nearest Green Distillery.”

  I’m confused. How does the value drop that much with $210m in assets?

Bartender cat shouldn’t have to wait to collect their tips from the fat cats.

• “Without that license, the location — currently the 7th most visited distillery in the world and ranked #1 worldwide — would revert to farmland worth between $12–14 million. With the current overstock of aged whiskey being liquidated across the country, flooding the market with the additional 57,000 barrels the bank has indicated would result in pennies on the dollar. Most devastatingly, the Uncle Nearest brand itself would become worthless, as whiskey buyers would view the company as having been taken from me — the woman they have watched build it in public view, going city to city speaking to thousands of people and appearing on nearly every major media outlet since 2017.”

  If you put on your propaganda blockers, there’s some truth here. Moving barrels in a distressed whiskey economy would be a problem, no one needs barrels, especially surplus Tennessee whiskey. That there would be a significant haircut on the barrels is absolutely true and they know this because it is alleged they’ve already sold some. But wait, there’s even more truth- The brand itself would become worthless, not because it would be viewed as taken from her (self declared btw), but because it’s true that this brand cannot exist without African-American ownership, and shouldn’t exist any other way. Also, so much flexing.

• “We have also been unable to share the findings of the third-party investigation as it is still an active investigation. In addition, we were not able to share the existence of the third-party investigation with anyone outside of our board, due to the concern of the third-party investigators and legal counsel that premature disclosure — which has now unfortunately occurred as a result of this filing by the bank — could compromise the investigation.”

  Page 48 of the fictitious book Trust Me Bro, also, as I can’t share the details, watch the shredding of Senzaki later in this very statement.

BEGIN PROPAGANDA ZONE

• “ Uncle Nearest is one of the most exceptional and resilient brands in the American spirits market. As detailed in the letter attached hereto as Exhibit A, written to the leadership at Farm Credit from Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC), the nation’s second-largest spirits distributor, Uncle Nearest is now the #1 bourbon brand in their portfolio, replacing long-entrenched legacy offerings such as Buffalo Trace, Woodford Reserve, and Old Forester in thousands of accounts across the country. RNDC’s leadership has confirmed that Uncle Nearest is among the few brands still showing strong depletion rates despite a challenging market, and is one of the only American whiskey brands with double-digit growth across revenue, volume, velocity, and distribution over the past 52 weeks.”

  Who asked about any of this? The bank didn’t.

• “In every major market in the United States, Uncle Nearest has experienced growth this year. This level of performance would be extraordinary in a strong year for spirits; in the current year, where the overall market is down, it is remarkable. Among the strongest growth markets are Georgia (+54%), Virginia (+54%), Maryland (+49.6%), Ohio (+37.6%), Texas (+33.2%), and North Carolina (+29.8%), followed by Pennsylvania (+24.1%), Florida (+21.6%), New Jersey (+18.5%), and Illinois (+7.1%). Even in more challenging markets, due to being in the midst of distributor changes, we are still seeing growth: New York is up +2.1% and California is up +2.3% through July. What makes this even more extraordinary is that we have achieved this growth after reducing our expenses by 40% between 2024, when we learned about our former CFO’s underreporting of expenses, and today.”

  The Bank didn’t question any of this, other than we’d like to see the books. I have a feeling that she knew this was going to be a public record so it’s another opportunity to flex those trust me bro muscles.

END PROPAGANDA ZONE.

Regal cat, is not adored the way they think they are.

• “Statements made by the plaintiff during the hearing require correction. Specifically a. The plaintiff’s timeline creates the false impression that their diligence uncovered the barrel overreporting. This is untrue. b. The plaintiff also misrepresented the length of time our former CFO oversaw company finances, inflating his tenure and role. c. The pro forma cash flow statements submitted to the court by the bank regarding our company are wholly inaccurate and were prepared in a way that gives the false impression that our company was not nearly as strong as it is, in spite of this challenge we have encountered with Farm Credit due to a misstatement by our terminated CFO, who is under third-party investigation over additional misstatements and internal findings.”

  For those of you keeping track at home, this is the THIRD reference to third party investigations that they cannot share anything about. Also, the bank allegedly inflated Senzaki’s tenure and role, but watch how she will do the same thing about his responsibility later on.

• “These pro forma cash flow statements were further distorted because the bank’s financial advisors—who repeatedly threatened a receivership whenever they wanted to pressure us into performing in a certain way—required that our finance team strip out key parts of our cash flow forecast. Two major removals were: (1) all additional sales from our largest distributor, RNDC, despite their letter (attached as Exhibit A) clearly stating purchases would return to earlier purchase levels, and noting that their temporary slowdown was due to challenges within their own sector, not with Uncle Nearest, as our demand has continued to increase; and (2) all Limited Time Offer (“LTO”) sales, even though LTOs are a core part of our forecast for 2025 and every LTO bottle we release sells out immediately—often before we officially release the cases. Our two most coveted LTOs in over five years are scheduled to release in 2025, alongside six other LTOs, yet the advisors required those projected sales to be stripped out while still keeping all related LTO expenses in our forecasts.”

  Or they just wanted to see the books.

• “ In addition, the bank’s advisors required our Senior Vice President of Finance and Planning to strip out the inventory from our borrowing base certificates that we have through Advanced Spirits, while still including all expenses related to those assets in our profit and loss statements. In other words, our expenses are aligned with the costs of our assets and the sales we expect to generate, but they have removed the assets and the sales those expenses relate to—making our company appear insolvent when that could not be further from the truth.”

• “In June 2023, I hired Felicia Gallagher as Senior Vice President of Finance and Planning, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Management Accountant(CMA), with the goal of evolving our CFO position and strengthening our finance function. My objective, informed by my experience serving on the board of a NYSE publicly traded company and as a member of its audit committee, was to address significant gaps in financial oversight, ensure we were ready for a third-party audit at the end of 2023, and oversee the transition from QuickBooks to NetSuite to implement tighter controls and more accurate reporting.”

  Why is this important? A metaphorical attempted murder is about to take place…..

• “Our Comptroller, hired in late 2020 by our CFO, had reported to him directly. Gallagher’s role created a dual reporting structure: she would work alongside our former CFO but report directly to me. I instructed Gallagher to inform me immediately if she saw anything concerning during the NetSuite transition.”

  Why would that direction be given in June 2023? Oh, 6th Man event was June 8. I think there was a funding round about that time, but I’m sure it’s all unrelated.

• “Toward the end of 2023, Gallagher expressed concern that our CFO, while highly personable, was unable to answer key financial questions and could not provide customary backup documentation. My cofounder, Keith Weaver, and I already had concerns about whether the CFO, who joined early in the company’s tenure, remained the right leader for our finance department given our rapid growth.”

  He’s nice, but out of his league probably, but we will keep him on another 9 months or so, because he’s nice. Nice is good.

Senzaki cat is about to need a drink. Alms for the pour?

Caution you’re entering Dealy Plaza in a convertible territory.

• “In January 2024, we therefore implemented tighter internal controls, including: a. Requiring secondary approval from either Keith Weaver or me for any outgoing wire transfers; b. Having Gallagher work with the CFO to prepare financial statements for both investors and Farm Credit; and c. Assigning Gallagher responsibility for monthly and quarterly financial reporting to Farm Credit.”

  Pay attention here. Quarterly financial reporting to Farm Credit, who claimed that they weren’t getting documents when they were required to be provided.

• The next section of the affidavit is salacious, and of a personal character attack and I will not be reporting that here, but since the self-declared PeoplesCEO, loves scripture- “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" according to John 8:7.

• “As that statement is salacious and potentially headline-grabbing in nature, we have chosen not to include it here unless specifically asked by the Court. Affidavits from five African American women have solidified the statement our CFO made, however, so we do believe it to be admissible alongside the women’s affidavits.”

  We won’t be saying it because it’s salacious, but we said it anyway in court, and here’s a bunch of people that witnessed it. Shame on you. SHAME.

• “In January 2024, we missed the January 2, 2024 payment to Farm Credit and I was livid. Every report I had ever received from our CFO showed a very healthy NOI, EBITDA, and cash flow. I brought our former CFO, Gallagher, and Keith together to help explain to me how this could happen. Keith and Gallagher were also confused. Ou former CFO explained that it was just a temporary lull and gave several reasons why it happened and should not be a point of concern. However, the fact that I had never seen a report that forecasted this sort of lull in cash on hand made me move promptly to have Gallagher begin checking all of our former CFO’s work. At the time, we believed he had been dealing with so many personal challenges — including the deaths of both parents in a short period — that his work had just become increasingly sloppy.”

  A lil’ oopsie, but not the first default. After the first one, wouldn’t you, nah silly question.

• “The move to have Gallagher take over all reporting was less about any suspicion of fraud at the time andmore about what appeared to be a lack of focus, which we attributed to personal challenges in his life. When Gallagher began the reconciliation of the barrel inventory report for Farm Credit, she was able to reconcile the barrels we produced ourselves, but she could not reconcile the “customer procured barrels” shown in our reports. She was transparent with the bank about this and stated she was conducting her own internal audit, noting on the reports submitted beginning in February: “Note: TDG Inventory –Reconciliation complete. Customer Procured Inventory – In progress.”

  CEO cat is so understanding.

• “Her transparency with the bank showed there were 16,329 barrels she had not yet been able to reconcile. The missed payment to the bank was paid on February 1, 2024, curing that default. On July 1, 2024, we submitted a formal request to modify the loan payment schedule because the way it was originally set up made it challenging from a cash flow perspective. We requested that payments be evenly distributed among the months. According to Gallagher, Brian Klatt was very positive during the call and verbally approved making the accommodation. She confirmed the conversation in writing immediately afterward. The next day, however, Klatt responded in writing with a completely different position than he had stated verbally, and the challenges with the bank relationship began at that time and continued to quickly deteriorate.”

  That is a lot of barrels, my napkin math was close, but over.

This is Alphonse Capone, our neighborhood feral cat that we feed. He’s the boss of all bosses, and the inspiration for all the cats you see.

You’re now entering the “it’s not my fault as CEO” zone.

• “I never saw a barrel report being sent to Farm Credit until after the discovery of the overstatement, by Gallagher, not the bank. The 100-page credit agreement from 2022 does not call out any specific number of barrels. Those reports were submitted separately by our former CFO and did not require my review, approval, or signature. Likewise, the drawdowns from the revolver also did not require my review, approval, or signature. Although I approved the limit increase, the amount owed did not increase as a direct result of that approval. I approved the increase in the revolver line of credit based on the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss statements presented to me, which showed both a strong EBITDA and NOI. It was not until Gallagher took over the financial reporting that millions of expenses were included which, for reasons we trust the third-party investigation will uncover, had not previously been reported. Once these omitted expenses were added back, they revealed that our EBITDA was negative — not positive as had been shown on every report prepared by our former CFO. The moment I learned this, I acted to drastically reduce expenses to ensure our adjusted EBITDA was in line with where it should be for a business of our size and tenure.”

  Independent investigation mention count is now at 4.

• “I did not identify the barrel discrepancy earlier because loan increases were always presented to me by our former CFO on a loan-to-value (LTV) basis, not a barrel count. Based on those presentations and the NOI shown in profit-and-loss statements, I believed our cash flow could service the debt without difficulty.”

• “Once Gallagher’s corrected report was submitted, we learned we were over our borrowing base. Our CFO claimed this was a mistake. Keith Weaver informed him the error had eroded all confidence in his reporting. Although we removed him from CFO functions, our major investor had previously insisted he be retained — at a time when I believed it was necessary to elevate the function — so my focus could remain on growing the business rather than handling investor relations. Quickly recalling that conversation, we removed financial oversight from his role but allowed him to maintain an investor relations role. Again, at this time, we did not suspect fraud—just a CFO who had been greatly distracted by personal challenges.”

  Call me crazy here, but we have a CFO that the CEO and Co-Owner had no confidence in, removed him, and left him in front of investors?

• “In October 2024, Farm Credit conducted a field audit of barrels and questioned 19,053 barrels procured through our Master Agreement with Advanced Spirits (“AS”). Under this agreement, Uncle Nearest purchased barrels through AS at a fixed forward price, with our initial payment securing those barrels exclusively for us. The barrels were stored at Tennessee Distilling Group (“TDG”) under the designation “Advanced Spirits c/o Uncle Nearest.” This was a triparty arrangement requiring both AS and Uncle Nearest to authorize TDG before allowing any third party, including Farm Credit, to inspect the barrels. During their audit, Farm Credit reported they could not locate these barrels. Gallagher explained the barrels were present but subject to the triparty access requirement. Farm Credit did not wait for AS’s approval and did not return to inspect them once the access requirements were made clear. Instead, they treated the barrels as absent and recorded a reduction in inventory. In reality, the barrels existed and were contractually secured to Uncle Nearest. Farm Credit’s failure to follow the access protocol and complete their inspection rendered their audit incomplete and inaccurate — consistent with a broader pattern of negligence in their due diligence processes.”

  Again, accusing the bank of lying or negligence is a bold move.

Grabby hands cat should probably just go home already.

• “Gallagher, a seasoned CPA and CMA, objected to the reduction following the October field audit because GAAP requires counting barrels for which we have full responsibility — including storage, insurance, and partial payment to secure exclusivity. Her inclusion of these barrels was consistent with GAAP, and she continues to stand by that decision, as indicated in her affidavit, which has also been filed with this Court.”

  Fair.

• “As the CEO of Uncle Nearest, I take full responsibility for the overall stewardship of this company. While I could not have been expected to identify a fraud of this complexity earlier — a fraud that was deliberately concealed and layered in ways that would have required forensic-level financial investigation far beyond what is customary in the CEO role — I recognize that all matters within this company ultimately fall under my leadership. The moment credible concerns were raised, I acted decisively to strengthen controls, bring in a highly credentialed CPA/CMA, remove the CFO from his financial reporting duties, and ensure full compliance with GAAP standards. And the moment I had proof of a fraudulent act, versus a “mistake” or “sloppiness” on behalf of the former CFO, I also acted decisively within 24 hours, requesting that my cofounder and president/COO, Keith Weaver, engage one of the top global firms specializing in this type of investigation to initiate the process immediately.”

  Which top global firm? What is the proof? If you have the proof, you could submit it to the court!

• “Once the relationship with the bank became untenable, and they threatened receivership, their third-party financial company shared with the restructuring company we had hired — whose core business includes negotiating with banks in situations like this — the amount the bank had approved the assets to be sold for in a receivership situation. In response, we had one of our lead investors — a billionaire with the proven means to close the transaction — make an offer for more than $20 million above what the bank indicated they would approve in a receivership sale to liquidate all assets under the loan agreement. The bank not only rejected the offer outright, but they also refused to provide a counteroffer and instead filed this receivership case with the Court within one business day. These actions reflect my commitment to transparency, accountability, and the long-term strength of Uncle Nearest.”

  It is rumored that the investor group offered $70m to buy out the $108m debt and the bank said “lawsuit.” Probably.

• “This is a strong company with an outstanding brand, unmatched in its category. The facts show our growth, our resilience, and our commitment to doing right by our investors, our customers, and our partners — and they demonstrate our future financial strength, even as we navigate a temporary cash crunch caused by the slowing of distributor purchases as that industry recalibrates — an issue our largest distributor, RNDC, has confirmed is within their tier and is actively working to resolve — and the millions we have already paid in professional fees related to this bank loan and the ongoing third-party investigation into our former CFO. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

  Executed on August 14, 2025.

  _________________________

  Fawn Weaver

  CEO & Cofounder

  Uncle Nearest, Inc.

  And we end the Independent third-party Investigation count at 5. My wrap up below. Can’t believe you read this far, go outside already.

Typing cat is surely developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

Wrap up of the affidavit-

• The statement emphasizes Fawns personal investment, modest salary, and proactive leadership. The “care” for Senzaki is an attempt at humanizing her and undermine the banks accusations.

• She denies the core allegation of misuse of loan funds, and plants the blame firmly on the CFO.

• She argues that the receivership push was misguided, and unjustified.

• She speaks about the strength of the brand and maintains the surprise of not knowing what was going on. She’s surprised, you’re surprised, the bank was surprised, and now the investors are surprised too.

• Terms like “flat out lie”, and “smearing my good reputation” undermine the tone of professionalism that is expected in court affidavits.

• Admitting lack of oversight could invite questions about her abdication of financial oversight (which might be very alarming to investors).

• It’s strange that she continues to mix the defense of the business with Public Relations gobbledygook. Sales figures are so irrelevant to what’s happening.

Thank you for reading, I’m sorry this was such a long read.

Receivership cat will take it from here thank you very much have a nice time in Martha’s Vineyard, oh and also I need those keys too.

UPDATE 8/23-

I had intended today’s update to dissect the mind boggling affidavit that Fawn Weaver had submitted to investors where she essentially accused CFO Senzaki of just about everything including making sure that the Buffalo Bills never won a Super Bowl, but the judge had other plans and went ahead and assigned the receiver, so that will be the majority of the update today, and the affidavit will have to wait until Sunday.

Before we get started a couple of things-

• To everyone that’s contacting me, please be patient with my late responses, I promise I’ll get to you, your stories are important, and I want to hear them, but I’m stretched perilously thin.

• A clarification about what I wrote about the still being a “prop.” The still itself is a REAL still. It COULD work. It won’t without the infrastructure I mentioned it needing, but words matter, and the word prop could be interpreted as fake. It’s not fake, it just cannot make whiskey as it stands.

• To the Angel on my shoulder, I couldn’t keep doing this without you. Thank you for your guidance, counsel, and support. CHEERS!

• The receivership document is 18 pages long. I know the last few updates have been lengthy, and this document is filled with so much legalese, so I’ll post the highlights today because I desperately need to touch grass. Reminder, my commentary will be italicized.

Here are some quick hits if you don’t have the time to dive in a bit deeper.

• The Receiver may initiate bankruptcy proceedings. Which is good, because that’s his specialty.

• The Receiver can sell receivership property. Which is good for the bank.

• The Receiver is authorized to foreclose on any receivership assets with notice, and not needing court approval.

• The Receiver is authorized to Investigate and initiate new legal actions to recover Receivership Assets or their proceeds if held unlawfully by any party including Uncle Nearest or its affiliates. If I was someone who did something dumb, this would be my oh shit moment.

• The Receiver is authorized to contact anyone and obtain any documents or information he deems necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the receivership. This means any NDA will be undone when speaking with the receiver. It does not mean you can go ham on socials.

• Fawn and Keith Weaver may continue to market the brand and manage branding activities, but only under the Receiver’s supervision. I always feel like, somebody’s watching meeeeeeee

Receivership cat is going to have a lot of "one more thing” questions to ask.

I’m going to summarize a lot here since the documents are so wordy. You can get the more detailed stuff below, but I’d pour another pint of cold brew before you do. It's.ok to have another cup of cold brew in the summer.

• Management of Uncle Nearest Operations: The Receiver is authorized, empowered, and directed to direct and cause Uncle Nearest and the Subject Entities, and each of their officers, directors, partners, managers, agents, servants, employees, representatives, attorneys, and all persons in active concert or participation with them who receive notice of this Order by personal service or otherwise, to continue to manage all of the ordinary course operations of Uncle Nearest and the Subject Entities. For the avoidance of any doubt, this means Fawn and Keith Weaver may continue to market Uncle Nearest products and manage the Uncle Nearest brand, subject to the Receiver’s supervision.” This is the “Fawn and Keith go sit in the corner and let the adults work” provision.

• Keys: The Receiver shall have exclusive (except as such access may be designated by the Receiver) access to all keys, lock combinations, passwords, access cards and other means to access locked areas or devices relating to the Receivership Assets, including all lockboxes and locked drawers and cabinets. The Receiver is authorized to make copies of such keys, passwords, access cards, and other means to access locked areas or devices relating to the Receivership Assets for his use in the administration of the Receivership Assets and the receivership estate. Remember the scene in the first Terminator movie where the Terminator says, “Your clothes, give them to me, NOW!.” This reminds me of that.

• Quarterly Reports: The receiver must provide quarterly reports to Uncle Nearest, the lender, and the court. These reports need to detail how the receiver has spent money, including payments made for receivership activities and expenses for Uncle Nearest, the Subject Entities, and the Eady Road Property. The reports must also describe the receiver's overall activities and the financial and operational status of Uncle Nearest. The first report is due on October 1, 2025. This is called “save the date” because we will at long last have a look at what’s Real and what’s Fawn Real.

• No Fiduciary Relationship: Nothing in this Order shall be construed such that the Receiver is considered to be in a fiduciary relationship with the Plaintiff, any of the Defendants, the Subject Entities, or all of them collectively.

IYKYK

The court has ordered-

• “Appointment of Receiver: Phillip G. Young, Jr. of Thompson Burton, PLLC is hereby appointed as receiver (the “Receiver”) of Uncle Nearest2 (including the Subject Entities, as defined below) and the Receivership Assets (as defined below). The Receiver does not have any interest materially adverse to the receivership estate and the appointment of the Receiver is in the best interests of the receivership estate and its stakeholders.” This man is not a clown.

• “ Each of the parties’ proposed candidates was well-qualified to serve as receiver in this case. The Court chose Mr. Young based on: (i) his extensive restructuring and bankruptcy experience, including regularly serving as a receiver and representing both debtors and creditors; (ii) his familiarity with relevant Tennessee and Sixth Circuit law as a practicing Tennessee attorney; (iii) his physical proximity to Uncle Nearest’s operations which will enable greater oversight with minimal additional costs; and (iv) Defendants’ representations as to Mr. Young’s intent to collaborate with Fawn and Keith Weaver to preserve customer goodwill while fulfilling the receivership’s objectives.” Fawn Weaver will likely spin this as a W since it was their pick. Receivers are charged with doing things by the book, and are not likely to fall under the spell of a master of flimflammery.

• “The Receivership Assets: The “Assets” include (i) all of Uncle Nearest’s assets, including proceeds, wherever located, including but not limited to, all of Uncle Nearest’s: (a) right, title and interest in any property, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of whatever kind and description, wherever situated, including, without limitation, the Nearest Green Distillery Real Property, property leased or occupied by Uncle Nearest, all rents, litigation claims, accounts receivable, computers, all media on which information is stored electronically, vehicles, equipment, inventory, furniture, furnishings, licenses, permits, books, records, documents and intellectual property; (b) rights (including rights to payment and distributions), title, and interest, whether now owned or hereafter acquired in, under and to any entity (including, but not limited to, Domaine D’Anatole, Inc., Domaine D’Anatole, S.A.S, UNAH, Inc., S1 Organic Vodka, LLC, UN House MV, LLC, Uncle Nearest Ventures, LLC, and the Nearest Green Historical Preservation & Culture Fund, including any rights of control, ownership, distribution, and participation (collectively, the “Subject Entities”)); (c) cash and any bank and brokerage accounts; (d) any other property in which the Lender is granted a security interest pursuant to the Security Agreement and/or UCC-1 financing statements recorded against Uncle Nearest in favor of the Lender; and (e) claims and causes of action of any type, whether in equity or in kind, in contract or pursuant to a promissory note or any other enforceable agreement, in litigation, via settlement, or pursuant to any form of insurance policy or coverage (collectively, “Causes of Action”); and (ii) the Eady Road Property, in each case, including proceeds therefrom.” In short, ALL OF IT, even the things you think we don’t know about. All of these are now under the control of the Receiver

• Order Governs the Receivership Assets: It is the intent of the Court that this Order applies to all Receivership Assets and that this Order encompasses the receiver powers including but not limited to the power to sell receivership property. You don’t need a dude with a laptop to explain this to you.

• Cooperation by Defendants: Uncle Nearest, the Subject Entities, and each of their officers, directors, partners, managers, agents, servants, employees, representatives, attorneys, and all persons in active concert or participation with them who receive notice of this Order by personal service or otherwise, shall immediately deliver to the Receiver: (a) any and all Receivership Assets in the possession or under the control of any one or more of them; (b) all of Uncle Nearest’s past records, including, without limitation, accounting records, tax records, disbursements, banking records, and any other books and records for the period from July 22, 2022, through the date of this Order; (c) all of Uncle Nearest’s past records, including, without limitation, accounting records, disbursements, banking records, and any other books and records requested by the Receiver for periods beyond the period prescribed in (b) above; (d) copies of all material contracts to which Uncle Nearest is a party and all operating agreements and/or organizational documents, including corporate bylaws or similar governing documents, for Uncle Nearest and any Subject Entity; and (e) copies of any complaint filed against, or written demand or claim issued to, Uncle Nearest or any Subject Entity. The date July 2022 precedes the missing barrels, so they want to look at everything that led up to that. This is called painting a picture and the picture is probably that dude that splats paint on the floor.

The cats are out of the bag, and the house of cards is on FIRE. CEO- I know, let’s go hunt wabbits that can save us.

To the current employees of Uncle Nearest- Every one of us is thinking of you right now. We know what this all means to you and what you’re going through. While the Fat Cats’ partying and fronting grabs all of the attention, we think of you and your families trying to make it through another day.

UPDATE 8/22-

I’m working on some angles, and I’m sorry these are taking time. Please bear with me. Today we are going to tackle some things from the Q1 2025 investor report below, and it’s lengthy. Before that some questions and thoughts.

• There is no $1.1 billion valuation from Forbes. The NY Times and Forbes reporting on the lawsuit are now referring to the $1.1 billion as “SELF-DECLARED VALUATION.” All of my research on the origins of this valuation came to two articles that referred to Forbes making the claim, but were merely mentions of it by reporters for Forbes, who apparently took Fawn’s words and printed it. It’s incredible to me that so many things that have been said about the SELF-DECLARED PEOPLES CEO were just made up and repeated without verification.

• The still at the distillery doesn’t work. There are no pipes under the building. There is no adequate water/sewage infrastructure that could allow the still to operate. It’s a prop. A dummy. Investor/bank money went to this very expensive copper topped toy that couldn’t function if they wanted it to. The story of why it isn’t working has been changed repeatedly over time. First it was they didn’t have the water rights, then a surveyor fucked up (I’m guessing they couldn’t pin this on Senzaki the CFO), then they don’t have the power infrastructure, by the time the still was in place, it became the still wasn’t being used because it couldn’t meet the production demands. Any angel investor savior numbskull buying this dumpster fire would have to have capital left over from their fleecing to install pipes/power/water/sewage etc… and assorted other infrastructure improvements to make the thing push out one single drop. CLARIFICATION- The still COULD work with the infrastructure built out, my use of the word “prop” was not meant to imply it wasn’t a real still. It is, it just doesn’t work, and can’t as it sits.

• The HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge was probably bunk. The concept was you would go to a bar/restaurant and order an Uncle Nearest Old Fashioned, scan a QR code, or the bar would tally it, or use the # with your picture of the drink, and $1 would go to the HBCU fund with a $1 million cap. This doesn’t pass the smell test. There was no infrastructure to track this information. Who reported this to UN? Did anyone collect this information and tally it up? Many of us have been to a bar on a Friday or Saturday night when it’s elbow to elbow and inevitably we’re standing next to someone with just a bit too much stink water on their necks. I’m expected to believe that if I go to the bartender who is inevitably in the weeds praying for a shot or canned beer order, and ask for an Uncle Nearest Old Fashioned, that they will collect my data and alert Uncle Nearest that they now owe a dollar to an HBCU? PLEASE. No one was collecting this information, and no one was tasked with collecting this information. Marketing ploy? Sure, and probably ok if the intention is to deliver that $1 million anyway. The question is, DID THEY? The whispers are that they did not, but these are whispers. I’m trying to find out.

• With so much malarkey out there about this brand, I find it hard to trust literally anything about it anymore. I’m looking at everything. Every claim made isn’t a lie of course, but in my experience serial liars and narcissists will lie about the smallest and most insignificant things (like our whiskey doesn’t cause hangovers) so I was surprised that I found something that is in fact true. The Guinness Book of World Records actually does recognize the world’s longest bar as belonging to Uncle Nearest at their Humble Baron establishment. I wonder if Death & Co. got paid for designing it.

• In their latest reporting Forbes was presented with financial data. Let’s break it down below.

Sixth man is a sportsball reference and in this case the investors are the sixth man. This is from the Q1 2025 investor deck.

Traveller, wow. Just wow and whyyyyyyyyyy?

Woodford Reserve not bad for a hot summers day.

I’m pretty sure they won 28 medals for this ranking. A world record probably.

I’ve asked where the money has gone. I’m still asking. Here’s a look at some of it, and it’s under the assumption that the documents created by Uncle Nearest, are factual.

1. Balance Sheet vs. Cash

•    Assets of $188M don’t mean $188M was spent well.  A huge portion sits in inventory ($67M+) and fixed assets ($77M+ land, buildings, equipment). Cash has collapsed to ~$2.5M projected — meaning most prior cash infusions were converted into things you can’t quickly turn back into cash.

•    Liabilities of $135M show that a large part of spending was debt-funded, not generated from operations. Translation: They borrowed heavily, and much of that went into inventory build-up + property build-out instead of maintaining liquid runway.

2. Signs of Overspending

•    Payroll growth: exploding from $2.5M → $12.2M annualized, even while cash is thin.

•    Marketing growth: from $195K → $7.5M. That’s venture-scale marketing without venture-scale cash.

•    Tourism build-up: projecting $3M revenues from tours, but that probably required tens of millions in visitor-center construction + promotion.

These don’t “lose” money so much as trap it in slow-return projects.

3. Phantom Revenues

•    Counting “Square One Vodka” and “Premium Cognac” as if they’re active revenues obscures the fact that these lines may have already absorbed development, branding, or launch costs — without producing real sales yet.

•    That’s money out the door with no near-term inflow.

4. Debt Service Spiral

•    Interest expense is already $13M annualized. That’s money leaving every year just to service prior borrowing.

•    If you track where the big holes are, debt service + capital expenditures + inventory lock-up = most of the “disappeared” cash.

5. What’s Missing in Disclosure

•    No clear schedule of CapEx by project (how much was spent on land, buildings, plant upgrades, visitor center, etc.).

•    No cash flow bridge over time (e.g., how did $X of equity + $Y of debt get allocated across operations, inventory, and CapEx).

•    Without that, you can’t fully trace where the money went — you only see where it sits now.

Bottom Line

•    The money didn’t vanish — it calcified into hard assets, inventory, and interest expense.

•    The problem is that those assets don’t produce enough liquid return to service debt and fund operations.

•    That’s why cash is nearly gone despite “assets” looking big.

•    And yes — inflating revenues with products not for sale + overstated projections suggests they’re masking cash burn rather than explaining it.

1. Liquidity vs. Assets

•    Assets reported: $188M

•    Cash on hand: ~$12M (dropping to $2.5M projected).

•    Majority of “assets” are tied up in inventory, receivables, and fixed assets — not liquid.

•    If forced into liquidation, asset values would be heavily discounted → they’d still fall short of covering the $134M liabilities.

They present as “equity positive” but in reality are cash-starved and liquidity constrained.

2. Revenue Recognition Issues

•    Square One Vodka ($10M projection) and Premium Cognac ($2.5M projection) are listed as revenue lines, but these products are not yet for sale.

•    Under accounting standards, you can’t recognize revenues for products not sold — these should be future potential, not booked revenues.

This is misleading, bordering on misrepresentation.

3. Aggressive/Unrealistic Growth Assumptions

•    Distillery Tours: $381K actual → $3M projected (8x increase). No clear operational plan to justify that scale of visitor growth.

•    Marketing & Promotions: Jumps from $195K → $7.5M. That’s a 38x increase, outpacing revenue growth, with no guarantee of ROI.

•    Payroll: Grows 5x ($2.5M → $12.2M). Indicates spending like a mature multinational, not a company with liquidity stress.

Growth assumptions appear inflated to show an “explosive expansion” story.

4. Interest & Debt Servicing

•    Interest expense: Already $3M/quarter → projected to $13.7M annually.

•    Debt burden ($105M+) remains massive.

•    Operating cash flow isn’t sufficient to cover interest without new financing.

They look like they’re betting on future fundraising or refinancing rather than true operating sustainability.

5. Working Capital Pressure

•    Accounts Receivable: $28.5M actual → $30M projected. Very high relative to revenue. Suggests cash collection issues — customers aren’t paying quickly.

•    Inventory: $67M actual → $69M projected. Enormous amount locked in stock. If demand doesn’t materialize, that’s a stranded asset.

Liquidity trapped in AR + Inventory leaves little room to maneuver.

6. Equity Picture

•    Reported “equity” of ~$53M → projected $66M.

•    But this is book equity, not cash.

•    Retained earnings show a massive accumulated deficit: -$83M improving to -$70M.

This suggests years of losses, propped up by paid-in capital, not operational profitability.

7. Cash Flow Mismatch

•    Cash from operations = $9.2M in Q1 2025 (strong on paper).

•    But most of that is driven by one-off “other inflows” ($8.5M).

Without that, operations would barely be breaking even.

Bottom Line

•    Solvency risk is masked by inflated asset valuations.

•    Liquidity is dangerously thin despite “big assets.”

•    Revenue lines include products that don’t exist yet.

•    Growth assumptions (tours, marketing, payroll) are overstated and unrealistic without concrete proof.

•    Debt burden + interest is unsustainable on current cash generation.

•    Equity cushion is accounting smoke, not real safety.

This paints a picture of a company that is over-leveraged, under-liquid, and dressing up projections to look like explosive growth — while actually facing serious short-term cash strain.

ALSO about those $21 in missing barrels:

1. Balance Sheet Implications

•    If barrels worth $21M are missing, then either:

◦    They were included in “Inventory” ($67M+) but aren’t physically there, which means the asset line is overstated by $21M,

◦    Or they’ve already been written off quietly, which would’ve burned through more equity/cash than is visible.

Either way: the $188M “assets” number is misleading if it still counts those barrels.

2. Cash Flow Implications

•    If those barrels were financed (via loans, vendor credit, or cash), then money has already been spent — but the value they’re supposed to represent no longer exists.

•    That means: the hole is deeper than the balance sheet suggests. Instead of being $55M short of covering debt, it could be closer to $75–80M.

3. Operational / Governance Signal

•    Barrels don’t just “go missing” — that’s either:

◦    Poor controls (leakage, theft, miscounts),

◦    Or strategic obfuscation (claiming they exist for collateral or valuation purposes).

•    Either explanation undermines the credibility of the entire financial snapshot.

Bottom Line (with barrels included)

•    The gap isn’t $55M — it’s worse, likely in the $75M+ range once you strip out missing inventory.

•    It explains even less about “where the money went,” because part of it literally went into product that can’t be accounted for.

•    That loss compounds the liquidity crisis: not only is cash near-zero, but the asset base backing the loans is shaky.

Lastly, it looks like she built image, when she could have built infrastructure.

Accountant cat is having a severe case of the WTF’s.

UPDATE 8/21-

Before we begin with the frequent updates for today, there’s something I want to say. I promise there will be updates and I’ll get to them shortly. Yes, the motion to compel mediation was denied. And you can read it below., but first.

When I started writing the first piece on the lawsuit, I had intended to lay a foundation of what was happening, so I could then tell the story I still haven’t been able to write.

The story I had intended to write, was about the people that were impacted, and have suffered by coming into contact with Fawn Weaver and Uncle Nearest (sad that the two are now forever inextricably connected).

This story, and my writing about it, has taken on a life of its own.  I’m no longer the captain of a ship trying to make my way to port.  I’m adrift in the ocean, being taken where the winds and currents of this story direct me.

I hate that I’ve fallen into this space, I’m not a full-time reporter, I’m a hobbyist at best.

I feel a responsibility to those folks that have shared some incredibly heartbreaking experiences.

These stories include abuse, being taken advantage of, wicked people perpetrating wicked acts on unsuspecting people that believed so deeply in a thing greater than themselves.

Some invested their own money.  Some invested their labor.  All gave more because they believed! All have invested their heart into something bigger than themselves at great cost to their financial, emotional, and mental health.  Many have had to go through therapy to repair damage to themselves and their relationships, some have had extreme medical episodes and in one case, tragically, a loss of life.

I would like to write these stories but this isn’t the time, nor is it my place. What they went through and experienced are stories that belong to them and are theirs alone to tell when they are ready. These people have been incredibly generous with their time, and these conversations have given me ideas on where to look.

I will continue to try to shed light on the disturbing things going on at Uncle Nearest, and the leadership that built it, owns it and runs it.

The people I’ve spoken with feel they have been wronged by the Weaver’s/Uncle Nearest.  Every single one of them are still dealing with the ramifications of their having crossed paths with the Weavers’s.

Most have been resilient enough to get through it, but none have emerged unscathed.

Thank you for reading,

- Mickey Pinstripe

The denial for mediation is below.

Stress? What’s that? Titanic cat was built for this. Titanic cat also designed a new hover life boat, would you like to invest?

The motion to compel mediation has been denied. Here are the details from the court documents. A reminder that my thoughts are italicized.

• “On 8/7 the Court held a hearing on Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion for the Immediate Appointment of Receiver. At this hearing, Defendants’ counsel orally requested that the Court order the parties to mediate. The Court declined to entertain this request.” Told them once… this is known as foreshadowing.

• “A little more than a week later, and specifically after the Court issued its Memorandum Opinion and Order grating Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion, Defendants filed the instant Motion to Compel Mediation.”

• “Defendants represent that “Uncle Nearest, together with a group of high net-worth and well-funded investors represented by Holland & Knight LLP (the ‘Investor Group’), have made multiple, good faith attempts over the last month to pursue a commercial resolution of the claims in this case, including repeated requests to Plaintiff that the Parties ad the Investor Group participate in mediation.” I wonder if we will ever know who these high net-worth fat cats are.

• “They further represent that while Plaintiff has previously expressed some interest in mediation, the parties have been unable to agree to mediate this case.” You own me money. Pay me. No. Fine.

• “Finally, Defendants assert that ordering the parties to mediate at this time—and particularly before the appointment of a receiver—would protect the parties’ interests and conserve judicial resources.”

• “Plaintiff opposes Defendants’ Motion, arguing that mediation would be premature, impose unnecessary expense, and distract from selection of a receiver. Plaintiff further notes that it knows little about the Investor Group, including whether it “has the resources or willingness to consummate a transaction” to Plaintiff’s satisfaction. Finally, Plaintiff is concerned that mediation discussions would not be kept confidential given that Defendant Fawn Weaver has publicly discussed and alluded to this case and the issues herein despite the parties’ Agreed Order. “ Gag orders only work if you wear the gag up over your nose. Didn’t we all learn this with masking during Covid?

• “The Court finds Plaintiff has the better argument. In particular, the Court agrees with Plaintiff that the parties should be focused on the impending selection of a receiver rather than mediation. As the Court discussed when granting Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion, a receivership is necessary to protect Plaintiff’s interests given the circumstances underlying this case.”

• “Every day a receiver is not appointed is another day Plaintiff is being denied relief it has already demonstrated an entitlement to. Furthermore, Plaintiff’s opposition to Defendants’ Motion seriously calls the utility of a court-ordered mediation into question.”

• The judge references “‘The court cannot require any party to settle a case,’ Lockhart v. Patel, and it does not appear that Plaintiff is open to settling its dispute with Defendants, at least at this time.”

• “Consequently, a court-ordered mediation would likely have little more effect than delaying the appointment of a receiver.” Delay IS the point.

• “For the foregoing reasons, Defendants Motion is DENIED” Note that all-caps and bold is on the document. And also, now they’ve been told twice.

ADDENDUM-

• “1 The Court finds it troubling Mrs. Weaver has publicly discussed matters arguably covered by the Agreed Order, [see Doc. 29 at ¶ 2], and even gone so far as to make light of her obligations under it. See Fawn Weaver (@Fawn.Weaver), Instagram (Aug. 15, 2025), https://www.instagram.com/fawn.weaver/reel/DNYqTLNJW8S/; Fawn Weaver (@Fawn.Weaver), Instagram (Aug. 17, 2025), https://www.instagram.com/fawn.weaver/reel/DNb1WkIs-Q0/. Nevertheless, the Court presumes Mrs. Weaver did not intend to engage in any potentially proscribed conduct and will take no further action at this time. That said, the Court will recommend that Mrs. Weaver confer with counsel prior to making future public statements to ensure that her conduct does not run afoul of the Agreed Order.” I don’t know why, but I’m reminded of a scene in the original Top Gun where it’s said that “The Russians don't take a dump son, without a plan.”

The Surgeon General warns that busses are harmful to CFO cat’s and should be avoided at all times. Also, how does a “fraud” get discovered, but you don’t run that bus over CFO cat until 20 months later?

UPDATE 8/20 #2-

• Unpaid taxes don’t mean anything. Unless they do.

I got a lot of problems, unpaid taxes aren’t one of them. Also, does this look like the tax bill of a billion dollar company?

UPDATE 8/20-

Court today. Could be news, could not be news. In the meantime hello to the LSA folks.

• The Business License for Nearest Green Distillery has been revoked due to delinquent filing of the annual business report which was due 6/10/25. Prior to that, there were no delinquencies.

• The Business License for Uncle Nearest Inc. has been revoked due to delinquent filing of the annual business report which was due 6/10/25. Prior to that, there were no delinquencies.

• The Business License for the Humble Baron has been revoked due to delinquent filing of the annual business report which was due 6/10/25. Prior to that, there were no delinquencies.

• The Business License for Shelbyville Grand LLC (Keith Weaver) has been revoked due to delinquent filing of the annual business report which was due 6/10/25. This is their second delinquency, the first being in 2022.

• The Business License for Nearest Green Historical Preservation & Culture Fund has been revoked due to delinquent filing of the annual business report which was due 6/10/25. This is their second delinquency, the first being in 2019.

• There is one that they updated only slightly not on-time, in July 2025. Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC. It was marked delinquent the same date 6/10/25 as all of the others, but this one they submitted for.

• With all these delinquencies maybe the bank was on to something about their lack of timely reporting. Look at me defending a bank? What is wrong with me? Who am I anymore?

• Tennessee uses annual reports to verify TAXES. The information in these filings is used by TDR to verify tax obligations. Businesses are required to report their GROSS receipts and other financial details, which are crucial for tax assessments.

• You may be asking why this is important. I was too. Listen, I’m not a tax person (don’t worry I pay mine) so I have no expert insights to offer here, but what I’ve gathered is that while the case is about loans unpaid, the company is likely going to be buried by taxes. Do they report the insane sales numbers they claim and pay TAXES on those claims to save face? Or do they post the actual numbers to reduce their tax burden? Well, they don’t have the money to pay the loans, or their contractors (who mostly only accept cash due to their delayed payments and declined cards), so where is the scratch for taxes going to be found? Under the couch cushions? If they lied about the sales numbers this year, they’re porked. If they’re telling the truth, they’re porked anyway, and lose face about the claims made. Do they even have to pay taxes if they aren’t profitable? Do I need to call HR Block?

• A likely result of receivership is a forensic accounting. With so many LLC’s in so many places, it’s going to take a team to crack this apart and see where all that investor money went.

While the CEO quotes proverbs, the bank sits at the Tipsy Cat Bar, opting to not interrupt their enemy while they continually step on rakes. .

UPDATE 8/19-

While we all wait for more information out of the courts on 8/20, here are some other things that are related.

• A federal judge has ruled that sex discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims brought by former employee Garcelle N. Menos against Uncle Nearest, Inc., and its co-founder and CEO, Fawn Weaver, will proceed to a jury trial. You can read this complaint here.

• The accused harasser was allegedly known to employees as handsy, frequently and relentlessly inappropriate, a messy drunk, and a lout. It is alleged that he was not terminated because he knows where a body or two might be buried. Unsurprisingly Fawn comes off in her response to the plaintiff as callous, lacking empathy, and annoyed by her having secured legal representation. You know, caring boss things. Do you know why people secure legal representation? Usually because they fear they have no other recourse. Question for the audience, what $1 billion company doesn’t have an HR department? Uncle Nearest of course. Also, not really a $1b company that we can tell outside of them claiming it and Forbes saying it before all of this legal stuff.

Random Thoughts-

• I’m struck by the contrast in the legal filings between the parties. The banks lawyers seem to have a very good grasp on how things work in court, and the Weaver’s filings have been, soft, amateurish, and silly. The public persona that the Weaver’s are keeping, portray a power couple playing 4d chess, but their court performance leans more towards Candyland. There is so much “trust me bro” going on that it’s now at the point where it has become foolish to trust what they say, and everything they’ve said.

• I’m questioning if Forbes ever did provide a valuation of $1 billion or if it was simply self-declared. So far all links in articles that I’ve explored that are referencing this claim refer back to one or two articles and there’s no source for the actual valuation claim that I can find other than “Forbes said so.” If I can find the original source, and I am exploring this, I will update this segment.

• I’ve got questions about the HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge.

• Are there any pipes under the still? Will it ever produce a single drop?

• Did the UN Venture Fund actually help any small businesses?

• Is Senzaki really at fault or was he doing what he was directed to do?

• Does RNDC really have a backlog of UN inventory, and is the goal of operation #cleartheshelves a ploy to move that inventory and get the distributor to buy more? The bottles on shelves are rather meaningless, as that money has already been paid to UN. Getting stores to clear out inventory, and having them clear out existing distributor inventory, and having the distributor ORDER more is what’s important.

• Are there really a bunch of new sucker investors that won’t do their due diligence and at least look at the court documents?

• They claim to have never taken VC money but in my research a few of their early investors were in fact VC’s. Altrus Capital, East Chop Capital, Hybridge Capital Management, Strand Equity, CB3 Holdings. Note that Strand Equity no longer includes UN on their portfolio page.

• If they’re having trouble paying their loans, what about TAXES? Capone went down for that.

For my next trick watch me pull a new group of made up investors out of my hat.

UPDATE 8/18-

The bank filed their objection to mediation. Here’s their stuff.

• The plaintiff, Farm Credit Mid-America objects to the motion to compel mediation.

• They feel the parties should be focused on the selection of a receiver. I mean, the judge did order exactly this for 8/20.

• They reiterate that the Court has found the appointment of a receiver as necessary to protect their interests.

• They remind the court that the decision wasn’t taken lightly.

• They suggest that UN should be focused on the selection of a receiver. I mean, when has UN acted on suggestions? Don't blink or something something.

• They claim that UN is attempting to delay receivership by this request. Delay, deflect, deny, distract.. anything to avoid accountability or responsibility for literally anything.

• The bank claims that UN failed to disclose that they’ve been negotiating for the last 18 months without resolution.

• Not until last week was counsel for the purported group of high net-worth investors identified, and UN has still not disclosed to the bank the members of this newly formed “investor group.” Banks don’t take flimflammery seriously. Nor should anyone else really, but there are suckers, and then there are suckers.

• The terms of their latest settlement offer are unclear, and due to all the other distracting and unsupported communications, the bank is requesting that all future offers be in writing and signed by all involved parties. The bank essentially said no more smoke and mirrors plz, k-thx-bye.

• Uncle Nearest has admitted that its solvency is questionable. Uncle Nearest does not have the financial wherewithal to fund any sort of settlement. They’d need years of #cleartheshelves probably.

• The bank suggests any mediation discussions will likely not be kept confidential. Despite the court order, the CEO (Fawn Weaver) continues to make comments about the litigation and the company’s strategy and is encouraging others to do the same. She has publicly invited others to reach out to her privately so she can further discuss the litigation. Proverbs 86:47- Whoever talks first, last and loudest is often lying, PRETTY sure that’s in some bible that exists only in my head. That the bank submitted links to Fawn Weaver’s IG reels, is pure solid gold.

It doesn’t take a haggard one-eyed street cat that’s smoking cigarettes to know that this company is poorly run.

UPDATE 8/17 Part 2-

• The Weavers filed a motion to compel a confidential mediation prior to receivership emplacement. Radical transparency my left foot.

• This motion was meant to bring the bank to the table to discuss the manner of a new investor group taking on the debt.

• The investors group is being represented by Holland & Knight LLP.

• The unnamed investors are a group of “high net-worth and well-funded investors.” Also, high-falutin’, fat cats, titans of industry, and straight up ballers, probably.

• The goal of the mediation is to work toward a commercial resolution to the litigation.

• The Bank has expressed a willingness to mediate.

• The mediator recommend by the defendants is on the court approved list of mediators.

• The judge has NOT yet granted this motion, with the order that ALL individuals with binding settlement authority attend the mediation IN -PERSON. Including the new investor group and/or its representatives. (this means Fawn can’t sell whiskey, or call in sick, or send her husband to take his lumps for her).

Spinning a mediation as your master plan can cause headaches in cigarette smoking cats.

UPDATE 8/17-

Here are some interesting background things from the Receivership hearing. I have the court documents. Wheeeeeee!

• The cumulative result of these documents is that Farm Credit holds a security interest in almost all of Uncle Nearest’s property.

• On July 26, 2023, the Credit Agreement was amended for the sixth time. This amendment, unlike those that preceded it, stated that Uncle Nearest had committed multiple “Events of Default.” Farm Credit nevertheless agreed to waive these Events of Default and further increase Uncle Nearest’s revolving loan limit to $67 million “in reliance upon Uncle Nearest’s representations as to its success and strategic growth.”

• On December 23, 2023, Farm Credit waived additional Events of Default in the parties’ seventh amendment to the Credit Agreement. But while Farm Credit was willing to waive these Events of Default, it was not willing to let Uncle Nearest avoid additional scrutiny.

• The parties then engaged in a series of negotiations that ultimately resulted in an April 15, 2025, Forbearance Agreement. Under the Forbearance Agreement’s terms, the parties agreed there were multiple outstanding Events of Default, but Farm Credit promised not to exercise its contractual rights relating to these defaults for the duration of the “Forbearance Period” provided that certain conditions were met. Importantly, the Forbearance Period automatically terminated on the occurrence of a new Event of Default.

• Shortly after the parties executed the Forbearance Agreement, Uncle Nearest began triggering new Events of Default by, among other things, failing to make multiple loan payments, including a $10 million paydown. As a result, Farm Credit filed suit, seeking to recover the more than $108 million Uncle Nearest owes in outstanding loans. This is some masterclass of business acumen. Negotiate a forbearance period, and then default AGAIN?

• The Court will begin its analysis by looking to Uncle Nearest’s solvency and whether there is adequate security for Farm Credit’s loans as these are “the most important factors in evaluating whether to appoint a receiver.” . Starting with solvency, the Court directly asked Defendants’ counsel whether Uncle Nearest was solvent.. And although counsel was unable to definitively answer this question, he indicated that Uncle Nearest’s solvency was in question and that the business is experiencing cash flow problems.

• Turning to whether there is adequate security for Farm Credit’s loans, the Court finds there is not. The lack of certainty surrounding Uncle Nearest’s solvency itself supports the conclusion there is not adequate security.

• It is undisputed that Uncle Nearest’s revolving loan was increased by $24 million because of Senzaki’s misrepresentations concerning Uncle Nearest’s barrel inventory. Given that this $24 million was supposed to be secured by the illusory whiskey barrels, that these barrels do not exist strongly suggests that the loans are not adequately secured, particularly where almost all of Uncle Nearest’s other assets are already encumbered. Accordingly, this factor weighs in favor of a receivership.

Tarks bar, It’s where you go to wash the taste of bullshit out of your mouth.

UPDATE 8/16-

• Fawn Weaver has posted another propaganda piece. No, I will not blindly quote it, you can watch it your damnself.

• She acknowledges that she’s under a gag order, but knows she can make some points anyway. 2 points, she wants shared “since lies spread faster than truth.” Lies, always about everyone lying. Someone is lying, but not everyone. Probably some ONE.

• What are those points?

• 1- “Keep clearing the shelves.” She spends a ton of time talking about sales figures that are frankly unverifiable. I’m not saying the sales percentage growth is not true, what I’m saying is that without documentation, you can say that you sold eleventy-million bottles all you want. Which, is part of why we’re here. If I sell 10 bottles last month, and 20 this month, that’s a 100% increase!! Share the cases moved, percentages are meaningless without that. Going through the list of states and showing the increase in percentages is fluff.

• 2- “Don’t believe the fake news. Some reports claimed she no longer owns/runs the company.” No, I’m sorry, no one is saying she doesn’t OWN the company. They are saying that a receivership would remove her from management of the company. Using the “fake news” nonsense to deflect things that are ACTUALLY happening is utterly stupid, and utterly effective if you read the comments on her socials. We are fully in propaganda saturated territory here.

• She plugs her book. She keeps saying god built her for this etc.. on and on. She may in fact end up keeping the company and making it the grand success she claims it is, but it’s ALL about her. Did you know you can order her book off of the Uncle Nearest website? Yeah, I’m not linking that either.

The Drunken Whiskers is where you go when your quota for swallowing bullshit has reached max capacity (unlike a certain still that still isn’t doing anything).

UPDATE 8/14-

• On 8/14 the Judge overseeing the lawsuit set the date of 8/20 for both parties to submit their receivership recommendations.

• An email was obtained (I have not seen the email, but if you have a copy, send it along) with the Weaver’s addressing their investors. You can read the original reporting here.

• The email states that “Both the bank, and the financial advisors working with them, as well as the restructuring company engaged on our side, spent the past three months urging us to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.” Sounds like everyone thinks Chapter 11 is a good idea.

• The Weavers continued, “While that approach might have been more straightforward for us personally, and would allowed us to control the narrative in the press, we chose instead to risk receivership. A Chapter 11 might have benefitted us, but it would not have benefitted you.” Oh, apparently there’s a better idea against all advice and only one person can save us. Sounds oddly familiar.

• The Weavers instead rejected the recommendations, and are now focused on putting together investors to purchase the loan from the bank, which she said has not been willing to “come to the table.” Other than finally resorting to a lawsuit, yeah the bank isn’t keen on another new razzle dazzle. Wait what? NEW INVESTORS? The current ones are probably nervously chewing their own fingers off, and I know, let’s get more investors!

• They continue with “The judge was not aware of this when the ruling came down, but we will update him in the coming days, before he makes a final ruling on the 20th.” Fawn Weaver said she would be meeting with new investors on purchasing the loan. “We will continue working to move this loan from the current bank to a new note holder” she said. How was the judge not made aware of this new dazzling information, when the opportunity was there to make it known? Oh right, selling whiskey, couldn’t attend, had to wash hair my mom took my keys dog ate my homework…. also, really? Who would throw cash money at this giant hole in the ground?