BrewDog chief executive James Watt has responded to revelations that he hired a private investigator to track the source of what he describes as a "coordinated criminal campaign of online harassment, defamation, blackmail, significant fraud and malicious communications".
Yesterday, The Guardian reported that Integritas Investigative Solutions approached some of the former employees who featured in the recent BBC documentary into his, and the company's, conduct.
Watt took to LinkedIn to set the record straight, saying that the campaign of harassment began two years ago, when "appalling lies about me" were sent by third parties, "operating through troll accounts", to a large number of his social media connections.
In their own words, they had been working together on "a plot to bring James down".
He confirmed that services of the digital investigative specialists were sought to identify the source of the allegations and "identify the individuals who defrauded me".
As a direct result, and following an order obtained from the High Court based on written evidence, Watt and his team were able to identify those involved.
"The objective of our enquiries was to understand the extent of the campaign against us and to take appropriate legal action to bring it to an end," the post explained, noting that a criminal prosecution for serious fraud and malicious communications is now under way in a court in London.
There are related civil proceedings underway in The Court of Session in Scotland, while there is also a separate police complaint against a founder of Punks With Purpose - the group of employees that put together the open letter that eventually lead to the documentary - for blackmail.
Watt commented no further on the criminal proceedings, but added: "Criticism of our business is fine and often warranted - I fully accept that - colluding in illegal activity to damage me or the business is not."
He concluded: "This was never about money for myself or Martin. Ever. We could have cashed out years ago, never bought the Lost Forest, never signed off a further £70m+ investment this year alone.
"It’s about doing something different and building a business we are proud of and I’m sorry that there are a handful of people on a criminal mission to bring us down."
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