‘The People’s CEO’ no more

Receiver terminates Fawn and Keith Weaver’s involvement as he prepares Uncle Nearest for sale

3:45 p.m. July 11, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Among the whirlwind of activity surrounding Uncle Nearest and Nearest Green Distillery, one significant change has flown under the radar: Founder Fawn Weaver is out as “The People’s CEO,” her self-proclaimed moniker.

The court-appointed receiver overseeing the embattled whiskey company says he terminated Fawn and Keith Weaver’s employment and involvement with Uncle Nearest effective June 1.

Receiver Phillip G. Young Jr. disclosed the decision in his fourth quarterly report, filed Friday, July 10, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Young said he has since worked to restrict the Weavers’ access to company facilities and computer systems. Their personal property was returned to them or their representatives, he said.

“While this decision was not made lightly,” Young wrote, “it has resulted in significantly less confusion among employees and vendors, and has made business operations significantly smoother.”

The Weavers confirmed receiving termination notices in a joint answer filed three days earlier in Farm Credit Mid-America’s lawsuit against Uncle Nearest.

Their attorneys said Fawn Weaver received a notice of termination from the receiver “on or about June 1, 2026.” Keith Weaver received a similar notice, although the filing added that he “was not an employee.”

The filings agree on the central point: The receiver ended both Weavers’ involvement with the company they founded.

They are less clear about Keith Weaver’s technical employment status. Young referred to terminating the Weavers’ “employment and involvement” collectively, while their filing maintains that Keith was not an employee.

The terminations did not dismiss the Weavers from the federal lawsuit. Both remain individual defendants in the case.

A forgotten story becomes a company

Fawn Weaver’s path into the whiskey business began in 2016, when she became interested in the story of Nathan “Nearest” Green.

Green was a formerly enslaved distiller whose contribution to Tennessee whiskey had long remained outside the national spotlight. Jack Daniel’s and others now recognize him as the first known Black master distiller and credit him with teaching a young Jack Daniel the craft.

Weaver began interviewing Green’s descendants and researching records, photographs, artifacts, and family accounts connected to his life.

What began as a research and book project grew into a business.

The Weavers founded Uncle Nearest in 2016. Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey debuted in 2017, built around placing Green’s name and contribution at the center of the story.

Green’s descendants became part of the brand’s public identity. His great-great-granddaughter, Victoria Eady Butler, became Uncle Nearest’s master blender and one of its most visible representatives.

National attention follows

The first phase of Nearest Green Distillery opened Sept. 14, 2019, along U.S. Highway 231 in Shelbyville.

The campus was designed as both a working whiskey operation and a destination devoted to Green’s history, with additional buildings and attractions planned as the property developed.

Uncle Nearest quickly attracted national attention. By 2022, Food & Wine described it as one of America’s fastest-growing whiskeys. The brand had expanded into all 50 states and 12 countries, while its bottles accumulated dozens of medals and industry honors.

Its appeal went beyond what was in the bottle.

Uncle Nearest entered the market with a compelling American story: a Black distiller whose influence had long sat at the edge of whiskey history, a descendant carrying his legacy forward, and a Black woman leading a company in an industry traditionally dominated by white men.

For years, the public story was one of remarkable growth.

Behind it, financial strain had been building.

Trouble moves into public view

Farm Credit later alleged that Uncle Nearest had been in default under its loan agreements since as early as January 2024.

The Weavers acknowledge in their joint answer that some interest and principal payments were not made on the precise dates listed by the lender. They dispute Farm Credit’s broader description of those events as continuous or escalating defaults and deny many of its allegations about the company’s financial reporting, collateral, and business practices.

By spring 2025, the dispute could no longer be contained behind the scenes.

Uncle Nearest and Farm Credit entered into a forbearance agreement April 15, 2025. The agreement temporarily held off enforcement while the company was expected to meet financial, reporting, and restructuring requirements.

It did not produce a lasting resolution.

The Weavers admit that Uncle Nearest did not repay its revolving loan on its stated maturity date, July 22, 2025. They dispute the accuracy, enforceability, maturity, and collectability of several amounts Farm Credit says were outstanding.

Farm Credit filed suit six days later, alleging more than $100 million in outstanding principal and asking the court to appoint a receiver to protect its collateral.

The Weavers deny many of the lender’s allegations. Among other things, they contend that a major reduction in the company’s borrowing base resulted from Farm Credit directing the reclassification of whiskey inventory, not from false reporting by Uncle Nearest.

The court appointed Young as receiver Aug. 22, 2025. He and his consultants assumed control of the company’s financial and operational decisions.

The founders had lost control of the business, but they remained associated with it until the receiver ended their employment and involvement June 1.

The relationship breaks down

Young’s quarterly report places the terminations against the backdrop of months of increasingly bitter litigation between the receiver and the Weavers.

He said lawsuits, appeals, and attempts to stop or delay court-approved actions had consumed receivership resources, confused employees, vendors, and distributors, and threatened efforts to preserve the company’s value.

The disputes included appeals challenging the receivership, attempts to block the sale of the company’s Martha’s Vineyard property, and Fawn Weaver’s unsuccessful effort to place the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Young did not identify one incident as the trigger for the terminations. He said the decision followed “a variety of factors” addressed throughout his report.

The report gives Young’s account. It does not include a response from the Weavers to his contention that removing them reduced confusion and made the company easier to operate.

The Weavers’ joint answer confirms the termination notices but does not address Young’s explanation for issuing them.

Young also says his ongoing forensic investigation could lead to legal claims against Fawn Weaver, Keith Weaver, former Chief Financial Officer Michael Senzaki, or entities they controlled. No such claims have been filed, and the investigation remains underway.

The company moves toward a sale

Young says Uncle Nearest remains insolvent but continues operating through Farm Credit funding, reduced expenses, and professional fees that have remained below budget.

He is negotiating an agreement to sell substantially all the core assets associated with Uncle Nearest. The transaction could be presented directly to the receivership court or completed through a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Young expects to file notice of a proposed sale within 30 to 60 days.

Nearly a decade after Fawn Weaver turned Nearest Green’s story into a historical mission, a national whiskey brand, and a sprawling Shelbyville destination, she is no longer its chief executive or part of its operations.

Keith Weaver is out, too.

The June 1 notices did more than end their formal roles. They cut the founders off from the company just as the receiver prepares to sell what they built.