Uncle Nearest receivership expanded to include company that hid Jay-Z loan
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- Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. expanded the receivership to include Grant Sidney Inc.
- The opinion said Uncle Nearest was insolvent with over $208 million in debts.
- The opinion said Weaver moved $20 million from Jay-Z’s MP-Tenn into Grant Sidney.
A federal judge in Tennessee is expanding the receivership operating troubled Uncle Nearest whiskey and bourbon brand to include the company that was involved in hiding a $20 million loan from media mogul Jay-Z.
In a 62-page opinion and order issued on May 26, U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley Jr. said the receivership for the distillery should stay in place and be expanded to include Grant Sidney Inc., the holding company that founder Fawn Weaver used to conceal a loan made last year by Jay-Z’s investment company MarcyPen.
MarcyPen is a venture capital firm formed in late 2024 and owned by Jay-Z, Jay Brown, Larry Marcus and Robbie Robinson, along with D’Rita Robinson. Jay-Z is a rapper, businessman and record executive married to Beyoncé.
The order does not include additional companies that the receiver had sought to include but said one or more of the six additional entities, including “world’s longest bar” Humble Baron inside the distillery, could be added later.
Atchley further ordered receiver Phillip G. Young Jr. to “promptly investigate whether and to what extent Grant Sidney Inc. holds any assets that rightly belong to Uncle Nearest Inc., Nearest Green Distillery” or other entities already subject to Atchley’s original order.
The receiver must report the results of that investigation within 60 days.
Grant Sidney owns, among other things, at least 30% of the outstanding shares of Uncle Nearest and may have been used to improperly divert other assets of Uncle Nearest, the court said, referring to a $150,000 investment in LS Cream Liqueur made in 2021.
History of the legal case
Uncle Nearest and Nearest Green were placed in receivership in August 2025 after Kentucky lender Farm Credit Mid-America sued Weaver, her husband Keith, and the company, alleging that they had defaulted on more than $100 million in loans.
Since December, the Weavers have been fighting to regain control of the company, which they allege has been damaged by the receivership, citing declining sales.
In March, Fawn Weaver attempted to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the company, but the case was tossed out after the bankruptcy judge found that only the receiver has the authority at the moment to seek bankruptcy protection for Uncle Nearest. Weaver has appealed that ruling.
Atchley is expected to rule in June on a request to sell a contested property on Martha’s Vineyard that was purchased using Farm Credit funds.
Where Uncle Nearest stands financially
According to the court opinion issued Tuesday, Uncle Nearest was and is insolvent, with more than $208 million in debts, including more than $120 million Farm Credit now says is owed.
The company’s financial situation remains precarious, the court said.
The court said other debts include the $20 million owed to Jay-Z’s company, $45 million owed to Advance Spirits loaned on filled whiskey barrels and more $21 million in other debts, including sales taxes.
Atchley said in his opinion that he did not find Fawn Weaver’s sworn testimony credible, including her claim that Uncle Nearest’s enterprise value exceeds $300 million.
He said the company appears to be worth between $50 million and $125 million.
More on secret Jay-Z loan
The judge said that he found, for the purposes of his memorandum opinion and order only, that Uncle Nearest under Fawn Weaver appeared to have engaged in fraudulent conduct related to the secret Jay-Z loan, which was made through a company called MP-Tenn LLC.
According to the court documents, money from MP-Tenn was deposited in a bank account Uncle Nearest opened just to receive the funds, then the funds were moved to a separate Grant Sidney account by Weaver because she “did not want the funds to be ‘snatched’ by Farm Credit and she needed to ensure Uncle Nearest could continue financing its operations during forbearance negotiations with Farm Credit.”
During those negotiations, the court said, the Weavers claimed the money was a loan from Grant Sidney, rather than a third party, as they now acknowledge. Given the claims made in the negotiations, “there is only one reasonable conclusion: Uncle Nearest — under Fawn Weaver’s leadership — concealed its dealings with MP-Tenn from Farm Credit and misrepresented the $20 million MP-Tenn loaned Uncle Nearest as an infusion of Grant Sidney’s own funds,” the court said, finding that the standard for fraudulent conduct had been met.
Weaver had claimed that she structured the deal to avoid tax liability. The judge also said in a footnote that he made no finding on whether that crossed the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion.
Meanwhile, the court said claims the Weavers have made that conduct by Farm Credit and the receiver approaches a fraud on the court are baseless, saying the examples presented “fail to demonstrate that either Farm Credit or the receiver have acted improperly during this litigation.”
