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Wisconsin’s most celebrated craft brewer, New Glarus Brewing is being sued by some of its original investors and CEO Deb Carey is claiming she was “blindsided.”
Here’s the deal…
On August 20, a lawsuit was filed in Wisconsin against New Glarus Brewing and its CEO Deborah Carey by minority shareholders Karin Eichhoff, Steven Speer, and Roderick Runyan alleging that Carey and her husband, Dan Carey have, “bullied minority shareholders while misrepresenting and withholding information so the Carey family can gain more financial power.”
Those are ugly charges and not only is Deb Carey claiming she was blindsided by the shareholders’ actions, she plans to countersue the plaintiffs for slander.
“The Careys, Speer and Eichhoff’s now-deceased husband, Dierk, were friends in Fort Collins, Colorado in the early 1990s when they came up with the idea for New Glarus Brewing,” according to Wisconsin Public Radio. “Dierk’s family owned property outside of New Glarus, and the group decided to locate the brewery there. Runyan was also an initial investor.”
The lawsuit specifies that New Glarus Brewing’s net income has historically been between $15 million and $20 million annually.
The suit alleges that Deb Carey has been funneling brewery profits into a family foundation as well as into launching a distillery solely owned by the Careys, and in doing so have lowered the company’s overall profit and the value of their shares.
The lawsuit also claims that Carey kept over $100 million, $40 million of which is in cash, and spent large sums of money on personal items.
New Glarus beer is currently only sold in Wisconsin, and Carey told NBC 15 that the lawsuit is “an attempt to bully her into expanding beyond the state” to bring in more cash for shareholders….
“I have been very open about only selling in Wisconsin. I’ve built a very profitable business on this business model, and I am sorry they feel they should have more money in their lives. But I’m not a slave to our investors. My commitment is to make world class beer and to take care of the people at the brewery, and that’s where this has brought us today, and their bully behavior won’t change that.”
In her interview with WPR Deb Carey said that the plaintiffs’ original investments of around $25,000 are now worth about $10 million.
“I’ve made these people very wealthy,” Carey added, “and to have lies said is flat out stunning.”
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(All image credits: New Glarus Brewing Co.)
