Receiver: Uncle Nearest owner ‘attempting to try case in court of public opinion’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Receiver seeks to throw out much of Weaver’s filing as previously inadmissible.
- Receiver says Uncle Nearest is insolvent and owes over $200 million.
- Receiver says Weaver publicized testimony and flouted a nondisclosure agreement.
The receiver handling the troubled whiskey and bourbon brand Uncle Nearest said founder Fawn Weaver is attempting to try the case in the court of public opinion, against the order of the federal judge.
Phillip Young Jr. said in a March 5 filing that despite the orders of U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. not to play to the social media and the public, Weaver uploaded portions of her testimony and pleadings to a website, FawnWeaver.com, but not the full court record or the testimony from the receiver or the lender.
The judge had said anyone involved in the case or their counsel using the hearings “as a public relations campaign” may be sanctioned.
“It has become clear that (Fawn Weaver’s filing last week) was intended for social media consumption, not to guide this Court in making its decision. This past week, Fawn Weaver has openly, and in defiance of this Court’s orders, discussed the Response, the hearing, and her version of the facts of this case on Instagram, in a “Follow the Case” link on fawnweaver.com, and at a CIAA conference this weekend in Baltimore, Maryland,” the receiver said in his filing.
In Baltimore, the receiver said, Weaver “openly discussed her opinion of the testimony offered at the hearing and even flouted that she intentionally violated a non-disclosure agreement she had entered into with the receiver regarding the dissemination of cash flow projections.”
“This is clearly an attempt to try this case in the court of public opinion, which the Court explicitly forbade in its Order setting these hearings,” the receiver argued.
Weaver’s company, Uncle Nearest and its Nearest Green Distillery, was placed in the receiver’s hands last fall after Kentucky lender Farm Credit sued, saying Weaver and her husband, Keith, had defaulted on more than $100 million in loans.
Since then, the receiver has been piecing together the finances from incomplete records and now says Uncle Nearest is insolvent and actually owes more than $200 million.
To get the full scope of the business, the receiver has asked to expand the receivership to include several other Weaver-owned entities, which the Weavers are opposing.
In a separate filing Thursday, the receiver pointed out that filings actually support the receiver’s point that the businesses were interwoven and commingling money, such as an $800,000 equity investment from one in Uncle Nearest.
“Even the responses of the Related Entities support their inclusion into this receivership action,” the receiver said in his filing.
Young also urged the court to “disregard” much of the latest filing from founder Fawn Weaver.
Young said that much of the latest submission had already been ruled inadmissible at a Feb. 9 hearing on Weaver’s request to dump the receiver and hand the struggling whiskey and bourbon company back to her.
Atchley is expected to rule this month on both the receiver’s and Fawn Weaver’s requests, as well as a motion to sell a house on Martha’s Vineyard that Uncle Nearest is carrying on its books.
