Uncle Nearest has been surrounded by controversy since last summer, when the distillery’s main lender filed a lawsuit claiming the founders, Fawn and Keith Weaver, had defaulted on loans worth more than $100 million. In the latest twist in this legal drama, the couple is now suing the former CFO of the distillery, Michael Senzaki, alleging that he abused his position and redirected finances during his tenure.

Uncle Nearest was founded in 2017, and for years it was a soaring success story in the American whiskey industry. The brand is named after Nathan “Nearest” Green, a Black man who is now credited with teaching Jack Daniel how to make whiskey while he was enslaved in the mid-1800s. Brown-Forman, the parent company of Jack Daniel’s, officially recognized Green’s contributions in establishing what is now one of biggest whiskey brands in the world in 2016, and created the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative in 2020 to advance diversity in the industry.

The Weavers had a great deal of initial success with Uncle Nearest. The company, which sourced its whiskey from undisclosed distilleries, opened a brand home in Tennessee in 2019; it also became the fastest-growing whiskey brand to date, reaching a valuation of $1 billion in 2024. A year later, however, things began to fall apart. The lender Farm Credit Mid-America filed its lawsuit against the distillery in July, claiming that in addition to defaulting on loans the company inflated its barrel inventory to use as collateral. The Weavers disputed these claims and said they were “salacious and inaccurate.”

Last August, a judge ordered the distillery to be placed under receivership. And in November, as the distillery faced the prospect of being sold to a new owner, the Weavers filed an emergency relief order with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee to stop this move, claiming that the current state of the spirits industry meant that the price will not accurately reflect the value of the company.

The current lawsuit against Senzaki was filed with the Bedford County Chancery Court. According to The Lynchburg Times, the former CFO was accused of “abusing his position of trust to divert funds, conceal liabilities, and improperly transfer or encumber Weaver’s personal equity interests without her knowledge or consent.” The Weavers alleged the former exec’s plans, which they only became aware of after he left in 2024, involved altering invoices and redirecting funds “to entities he controlled while making legitimate vendor invoices appear fully paid,” while reportedly orchestrating a narrative to blame the couple for the distillery’s financial problems.

Just yesterday, the Moore County Observer reported that the receiver had asked a federal judge to seal the company’s latest second quarter financial report, which could indicate a “key turning point” in this legal drama. We will update you with any other news as it develops.