By Katie Northcott, News Director
Fawn and Keith Weaver, co-founders of Uncle Nearest, Inc., a well-known whiskey brand based in Shelbyville, have sued former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Michael Senzaki.
The suit was filed on Monday, Dec. 29. The Weavers have consistently alleged that Senzaki committed fraud during his time at the company in court filings related to an over $100 million lawsuit was filed against the company in July.
The Weavers summarized their complaint against Senzaki in the suit’s preliminary statement:
Exercising exclusive control over Uncle Nearest’s financial reporting systems, Senzaki knowingly suppressed expenses, concealed material liabilities, and falsified the company’s true financial condition as a part of the conspiracy set forth in this
Complaint. As part of this scheme, and without the knowledge or consent of the Weavers, Defendants wrongfully hypothecated and pledged Ms. Weaver’s equity interests based upon false pretenses and material misrepresentations, thereby exposing Plaintiffs to liabilities they neither approved nor incurred.
The Weavers said that Senzaki shifted the consequences of his fraudulent activity from himself to the Weavers.
When the fraud began to unravel, Defendants and their Co-Conspirators intentionally manufactured and disseminated a false public narrative—including the claim that Uncle Nearest had simply overextended itself —to conceal their own misconduct, shift blame to the founders, and legitimize the consequences of the fraud. That narrative was knowingly false, was created at Defendants’ behest, and caused Plaintiffs profound reputational, financial, and personal harm, independent of and apart from any privileged litigation activity.
The complaint was filed in the Bedford County Chancery Court. Find the full complaint attached below.
The suit comes after the Weavers requested that Judge Charles Atchley, Jr. terminate the company’s receivership and order that all third parties remain stayed. The filing came on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
Uncle Nearest was placed under a receivership after Farm Credit Mid-America, a creditor, sued the company for over $100 million. Phillip Young, Jr. was named the receiver and has been managing the company since September to try to pay back Uncle Nearest’s debt without filing bankruptcy. He filed an optimistic quarterly report at the beginning of October.
After his quarterly report, Young asked to expand his receivership to other companies apparently owned by the Weavers. The Weavers have pushed back on the receivership since Young began exploring this expansion.
The most recent filing argues that the receivership is doing more harm than good by disrupting the company’s growth and damaging its reputation beyond repair. Fawn Weaver referenced a table estimating the company’s growth over the past calendar year.
That filing is attached below. For Peterson Media Group’s most recent reporting on the Farm Credit v. Uncle Nearest Lawsuit, click here.
The post Uncle Nearest Founders Sue Former CFO, Allege Fraud appeared first on Thunder Radio.
