Weaver pushes back in message to investors

Founder says $20M share sale was reinvested in company, approved by board

8:13 a.m. Feb. 3, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Fawn Weaver, the founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, sent a detailed email to investors and Sixth Man stakeholders late Monday night, Feb. 2, disputing conclusions contained in a court-filed affidavit by the court-appointed receiver and defending her personal integrity amid the ongoing receivership case.

The message came hours after the Receiver filed a brief in federal court seeking to expand the receivership to include several related entities, citing what he described as commingled finances and intercompany transfers totaling millions of dollars.

In her email, Weaver said she reviewed the Receiver’s affidavit immediately upon its filing and intends to address its conclusions “point by point at next week’s hearing and in additional filings over the coming days.” However, she said one issue required an immediate response.

“My integrity matters too much to me to let it sit even overnight,” she wrote.

Denial of Personal Financial Gain

At the center of the dispute is a $20 million transaction referenced in the Receiver’s filings. Weaver stated unequivocally that neither she nor her husband, Keith Weaver, personally benefited from Uncle Nearest funds.

“I want to be absolutely clear,” she wrote. “Neither Keith nor I have ever personally gained anything monetarily from Uncle Nearest.”

She said the Receiver and his team did not ask about the transactions cited in the affidavit and that, had they done so, she would have provided the same documentation now being submitted to the court.

According to the email, the $20 million referenced by the Receiver came from the sale of her personal shares, with all proceeds reinvested directly into Uncle Nearest.

“Not a single penny was kept by me,” she wrote. “That infusion is why the company had substantial cash on hand at the end of Q1 2025.”

She added that she has “never sold a share of Uncle Nearest without immediately putting the proceeds into the company. Not once.”

Board Approval and Transaction Structure

Weaver said the transaction was reviewed and approved in advance by the company’s board and its four major shareholders to avoid dilution.

“I received written approval, and the transaction was done transparently and with full knowledge and consent,” she wrote.

Weaver also addressed the Receiver’s focus on Grant Sidney Inc., an entity named in the court filing. According to the email, both a money market account and a Grant Sidney account were established solely for the purpose of facilitating the transaction during tense negotiations with the company’s bank.

“The sole purpose of setting up the Grant Sidney account was that we were in the midst of intense negotiations with the bank, which had taken a very aggressive posture,” she wrote. “Every advisor advised that given that posture, we should not give the bank access to this capital investment while negotiations were ongoing.”

Weaver characterized the account as a temporary pass-through used to ensure Uncle Nearest could meet payroll and critical obligations, after which remaining funds were wired directly to the company.

Detailed Accounting of Funds

In an effort to counter the Receiver’s conclusions, Weaver said she was sharing the “entire unredacted transaction history” related to the $20 million.

“Nothing filtered. Nothing omitted,” she wrote.

Weaver emphasized that none of the funds went to her, her husband, or any entities connected to them personally.

“None of the funds went to Grant Sidney,” she wrote. “None of the funds went to me.”

The email included a list of 18 transactions between February and May 2025, detailing payments for payroll, vendor obligations, bottles, barrels, debt payments, and deficit funding, including more than $7.3 million for barrel purchases and $4.4 million paid to Farm Credit.

• 2/5/25 Genesis Global for Uncle Nearest payroll $467,852.73
• 2/6/25 Genesis Global for Uncle Nearest payroll $391,145.23
• 2/6/25 Marabou, Inc. for payment related to our Cognac film $600,000
• 2/7/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for vendor payments $600,000
• 2/10/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for vendor payments $1,000,000
• 2/11/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for vendor payments $1,000,000
• 2/20/25 Genesis Global for Uncle Nearest payroll $497,678.27
• 2/20/25 Berlin Packaging for Uncle Nearest bottles $1,000,000
• 2/28/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for payment to Farm Credit $4,400,000
• 2/7/25 S1 Organic Vodka for vendor payments for our vodka company $200,000
• 3/7/25 Domaine d’Anatole for vendor payments for our Cognac company $250,000
• 3/27/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for vendor payments $500,000
• 3/28/25 Domaine d’Anatole for vendor payments for our Cognac company $500,000
• 4/1/25 Genesis Global for Uncle Nearest payroll payments $386,651.77
• 4/8/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for vendor payments $732,637
• 4/14/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for barrel purchases $7,395,900
• 4/15/25 Uncle Nearest, Inc. for barrel purchases $103,294.43
• 5/15/25 Nearest Green Distillery, Inc. for deficit funding $8,400

She stated that all transactions were recorded in Uncle Nearest’s accounting system and supported by paid invoices.

Payroll Issues and CFO Departure

Weaver also explained why multiple payments were made to Genesis Global for payroll, citing the discovery of approximately $2 million in unrecorded payroll liabilities following the departure of the company’s former chief financial officer.

“No one in the company outside of the former CFO, and possibly one or two individuals he hired, was aware of this at the time,” she wrote.

Commitment to Investors and Legal Process

While calling the Receiver’s filing “personally harmful and hurtful,” Weaver said she remains committed to respecting the legal process and advocating for investors.

“My priority has always been, and will always be, Uncle Nearest, our team, our customers, and our Sixth Man,” she wrote.

Weaver disclosed that she was repeatedly advised to pursue Chapter 11 reorganization, a move that would have eliminated the existing cap table.

“I chose not to take that path,” she wrote. “Instead, I chose the harder road … because I believed then and still believe now that protecting our investors and preserving the opportunity for you to be made whole mattered more than taking the easier option.”

Weaver also revealed that she and her husband are personally funding ongoing legal expenses and have placed nearly all of their non-Uncle Nearest real estate assets, including their personal residence, up for sale.

“We are at peace with this decision because finishing the mission we set out to accomplish means more to us than holding on to those assets,” she wrote.

Next Steps

The Receiver’s request to expand the receivership remains pending before the court, with a hearing expected Feb. 9. Weaver said she plans to contact investors directly in the coming days and answer questions now that independent investigation findings are no longer constrained by litigation posture.

“My focus in this case remains singular,” she wrote, “protecting our investors and working to return Uncle Nearest to the growth trajectory it demonstrated prior to the receivership.”