Henderson Family In Court Fight Over Proceeds From Angel’s Envy Sale To Bacardi

Cecilia Henderson, widow of Lincoln Henderson—the former master distiller at Brown-Forman and Angel’s Envy—is suing their son, Wesley, because she says he has “effectively stolen” her share of the proceeds from Angel’s Envy’s sale to Bacardi. A few weeks before he died in September 2013, Lincoln Henderson finalized a will leaving his entire estate to Cecilia, his wife of nearly 50 years. However, in the lawsuit, filed earlier this week in Kentucky’s Jefferson Circuit Court, Cecilia Henderson claims that Wesley Henderson hasn’t given her any of the proceeds from her late husband’s interest in Angel’s Envy, the Bourbon brand that Bacardi acquired for an undisclosed sum in March.

Angel’s Envy was launched in 2010. The Bourbon brand was developed by Lincoln and Wesley Henderson, who had a stake in the brand’s owner, Angel’s Share Brands, via their jointly-owned company, Spirited Holdings. According to the suit, after Angel’s Share Brands took on several additional investors in the interim, Spirited Holdings (in which Lincoln and Wesley each had a 50% interest) owned 8%-10% of Angel’s Envy at the time of the Bacardi deal. However, instead of turning over half of the proceeds from the Hendersons’ share of Angel’s Envy, Cecilia Henderson maintains in the suit that “Wesley Henderson is currently using or plans to use the benefits of 100% ownership of Spirited Holdings—including benefits from the Bacardi acquisition—for his own use and enjoyment.”

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Tagged : Angel's Envy, Bourbon, Brown-Forman, spirits, whiskey

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