The Sunday Times Magazine • 41BBC documentary, which was presented by
Mark Daly. He also claims ten factual
corrections, clarifications and updates have
already been made to the programme. Watt
has lodged an extensive complaint with
Ofcom and describes the programme as a
“sloppy piece of journalism” and a “hatchet
job”. He is preparing a legal case against the
BBC for defamation.
The BBC responds: “We stand by our
journalism and do not accept Mr Watt’s
characterisation of the documentary or
what has happened since broadcast.” It says
the documentary was “fair, accurate and
balanced”, acknowledges only one factual
inaccuracy that has been corrected, and says
it looks forward to putting its case to Ofcom
“should they decide to investigate further”.
Watt also queries how the BBC obtained
two pieces of information that, he insists,
were held only in his private documents.
The BBC revealed that Watt, who made an
estimated £50 million when the private
equity fund TSG invested £100 million in
BrewDog in 2017, put more than £2 million
into a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands. It
also revealed he had £500,000 of shares in
Heineken, a company he has devoted
considerable energy to poking fun at for its
bland suds (though he says his stake was
only £120,000).
Watt acknowledges that buying Heineken
shares was “hands up one of the most
stupid f***ing things I’ve ever done”, part
of an attempt to woo Heineken into doing
some distribution for BrewDog in Europe.
As for the £2 million Cayman investment,
he says he reports and pays full UK tax on
this. Watt wants to know how the BBC
obtained this information and what the
public interest justification for broadcasting
it was. The BBC did not directly address
this question when asked for comment.
Watt’s questions over the source of
damaging material may sound a tad
paranoid, but this is where the BrewDog
story takes a darker turn. He says there have
been more than 20 attempts to hack his
accounts over the past year. This, he claims,
is part of a co-ordinated (and in some cases)
criminal effort to bring him down,
perpetrated by a small group of people who
loathe him. This has led to two legal cases.In Scotland an individual responsible for
allegedly defrauding him has been served
with a civil summons, for the recovery of
£500,000, which Watt says includes money
he was defrauded of in an attempt to halt the
false attacks on his character, plus legal and
investigative costs. In England an application
to bring a private criminal prosecution, for
fraud and malicious communications
carried out against Watt, has been made to a
court in London. This includes an individual
allegedly using sock-puppet accounts online
to spread false and malicious accusations to
Watt’s friends and social media contacts.
Given legal restrictions, there are limits
to how much Watt can comment. He says
this: “I have been subject to a two-year
criminal shakedown. A campaign of
harassment, malicious communication and
blackmail. I have been defrauded of a
significant six-figure sum of money bypeople working together behind the scenes
to attack me with criminal means. Nobody
in their right mind wouldn’t do something
if that was happening to them.”
It was because of these activities, Watt
says, that he hired private investigators.
Not because he wanted to shut down his
“legitimate” critics.
He claims he has seen communication
between some members of Punks With
Purpose and the people involved in the
legal disputes. One former member of
Punks With Purpose also emailed Watt
suggesting that Watt buy some of his
BrewDog shares in order to avoid further
“damaging” headlines about the company,
calling it a “simple business transaction”.
The Sunday Times has seen this
communication, which a spokesperson for
Punks With Purpose says the organisation
had no knowledge of.
Punks With Purpose adds: “There is not,
and never has been, a co-ordinated project
to ‘bring him down’. We have seen no
evidence of one, and certainly have no part
in anything of the sort. Our aim was to raise
an alarm to the culture at the company. If
James Watt feels that staff members coming
forward to detail their traumatic
experiences working for the company is a
personal campaign against him, we believe
that says more about his management style
than anything else.”
All of which leaves us where exactly?
There has been a media pile-on against Watt,
some of it undoubtedly merited, some
unfair. He acknowledges some mistakes but
insists he is far more sinned against than
sinning. The scale and gravity of what was
done to him will be tested by both civil and
criminal authorities, in England and
Scotland, but it’s undeniably true that there
is more to the BrewDog scandal than meets
the eye, or has so far been reported.
Whatever the outcome, Watt’s flaws
could still prove fatal to his enormous
ambitions for BrewDog. His strongest
qualities as a founder — the determination
and unapologetic toughness required to
build a powerhouse from nothing — have
also become significant weaknesses.
They may yet be his downfall, but not
without a brutal fight n“I HAVE BEEN
SUBJECT TO A TWO-
YEAR CRIMINAL
SHAKEDOWN,” WATT
SAYS. “A CAMPAIGN
OF HARASSMENT
AND BLACKMAIL”
Top: Watt and his wife, the illustrator
Johanna Basford, receiving an MBE and OBE
respectively in 2016. The couple have since
divorced. Above: the BrewDog HQ, brewery
and bar in Ellon, AberdeenshireBrewDog beer
is known for its
quirky names
and eye-catching
brandingBREWDOG, ALAMY, REX