Fawn Weaver, founder and chief govt of Uncle Nearest Tennessee Whiskey, has opened a brand new entrance in a tense authorized saga by submitting a civil lawsuit in opposition to the corporate’s former chief monetary officer.
The criticism, lodged in Tennessee’s Bedford County Chancery Court docket, names Mike Senzaki and his agency, ZMS Methods Inc. It alleges a years-long sample of misconduct that Weaver says weakened the corporate’s funds and broken the founders’ reputations.
Weaver and her husband, Keith, launched Uncle Nearest in 2017, constructing the model across the story of Nathan “Nearest” Inexperienced, the Black distiller credited with educating Jack Daniel how one can make whiskey. The corporate grew shortly, positioning itself as each a spirits enterprise and a corrective to a protracted ignored piece of American whiskey historical past.
On the heart of the brand new go well with is an allegation that Senzaki inflated the worth of the corporate’s whiskey barrel stock, a key metric lenders deal with as collateral. The submitting says the overstatement helped Farm Credit score Mid America prolong about $24 million in extra credit score which may not have been authorized underneath correct figures. The Weavers say the discrepancies emerged by inner stock work in 2024.
Court docket papers accuse Senzaki and ZMS of fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, forgery, conversion, defamation and disloyalty. The criticism additionally claims he rerouted vendor funds to entities he managed and altered documentation tied to invoices and approvals.
The lawsuit says Senzaki used Weaver’s fairness place with out her permission and sought private acquire by transactions that weren’t disclosed to the founders. Weaver has stated she took little money wage whereas constructing the corporate, relying primarily on fairness because the model expanded.
The plaintiffs are in search of compensatory and punitive damages, together with orders geared toward stopping belongings from being moved or hidden whereas the case proceeds. No response to the lawsuit had been filed by Senzaki or his firm as of this week.
The go well with unfolds in opposition to a broader authorized and monetary battle. Farm Credit score Mid America sued Uncle Nearest in 2025 over alleged defaults on greater than $100 million in loans, and a federal decide later positioned the enterprise underneath a courtroom appointed receiver who oversees operations whereas litigation continues. Weaver has publicly defended her management and blamed a lot of the turmoil on the previous CFO’s actions, saying the model will maintain producing and promoting whiskey because the instances transfer forward. Either side declined to remark.
