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Fawn Weaver, founder and chief executive of Uncle Nearest Tennessee Whiskey, has opened a new front in a tense legal saga by filing a civil lawsuit against the company’s former chief financial officer.
The complaint, lodged in Tennessee’s Bedford County Chancery Court, names Mike Senzaki and his firm, ZMS Strategies Inc. It alleges a years-long pattern of misconduct that Weaver says weakened the company’s finances and damaged the founders’ reputations.
Weaver and her husband, Keith, launched Uncle Nearest in 2017, building the brand around the story of Nathan “Nearest” Green, the Black distiller credited with teaching Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. The company grew quickly, positioning itself as both a spirits business and a corrective to a long overlooked piece of American whiskey history.
At the center of the new suit is an allegation that Senzaki inflated the value of the company’s whiskey barrel inventory, a key metric lenders treat as collateral. The filing says the overstatement helped Farm Credit Mid America extend about $24 million in additional credit that might not have been approved under accurate figures. The Weavers say the discrepancies emerged through internal inventory work in 2024.
Court papers accuse Senzaki and ZMS of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, forgery, conversion, defamation and disloyalty. The complaint also claims he rerouted vendor payments to entities he controlled and altered documentation tied to invoices and approvals.
The lawsuit says Senzaki used Weaver’s equity position without her permission and sought personal gain through transactions that were not disclosed to the founders. Weaver has said she took little cash salary while building the company, relying mainly on equity as the brand expanded.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, along with orders aimed at preventing assets from being moved or hidden while the case proceeds. No response to the lawsuit had been filed by Senzaki or his company as of this week.
The suit unfolds against a broader legal and financial battle. Farm Credit Mid America sued Uncle Nearest in 2025 over alleged defaults on more than $100 million in loans, and a federal judge later placed the business under a court appointed receiver who oversees operations while litigation continues. Weaver has publicly defended her leadership and blamed much of the turmoil on the former CFO’s actions, saying the brand will keep producing and selling whiskey as the cases move ahead. Both sides declined to comment.
