BrewDog boss wins James Watt £600,000 after suing ex-lover Emili Ziem

BrewDog chief James Watt has been awarded £600,000 after he was scammed out of thousands of pounds by an ex-lover who was secretly orchestrating an online trolling campaign.

The beer tycoon, from Aberdeen, told how he was ‘harassed, defrauded and defamed’ by former girlfriend Emili Ziem, 29, in a ‘vicious’ smear attack.

Ziem conned Mr Watt, 40, out of more than £100,000 by claiming she could help identify culprits who were falsely accusing the businessman of harassing women and other criminal matters.

In reality, she was operating a fake social media profile spreading many of the lies.

Brewdog chief James Watt has been awarded £600,000 after he was scammed out of thousands of pounds by an ex-lover who was secretly orchestrating an online trolling campaign

Emili Ziem, 29, conned Mr Watt, 40, out of more than £100,000 by claiming she could help identify culprits who were falsely accusing the businessman of harassing women and other criminal matters

Following a hearing at the Court of Session, Ziem has been ordered by judge Lord Brailsford to pay back the sum, plus half a million pounds in damages and expenses.

In a post on his LinkedIn profile yesterday, Mr Watt said: ‘For the past two years I have been the subject of a vicious and relentless campaign of abuse, often by troll accounts posting and sharing appalling lies about me (often direct to family and friends) – lies that were then amplified all over the internet.

‘It has taken a significant personal toll and been a massive distraction. I needed to do all I could to bring the campaign to an end.

‘I want to say I didn’t go to court lightly, but I have been harassed, defrauded and defamed, and it has deeply affected me, my family and my business. I had no choice.’

The couple first met through Instagram in 2020 and began meeting up and communicating regularly.

In May 2021, Mr Watt’s friends began to receive disparaging messages about him from an account in the name of Laura Keller.

The messages accused him of ‘abusing his position’ with women and even made claims of criminality, which Mr Watt strenuously denied.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Watt was contacted by model and bioprocess engineer Ziem, who claimed she was at a party where she had heard an ex-girlfriend of his talking about a vendetta to ‘bring him down’. She promised to make friends with individuals said to be involved in exchange for £25,000 worth of Bitcoin for each name she revealed.

In January, Mr Watt was the subject of a BBC Disclosure programme, The Truth About BrewDog, which set out to examine complaints from staff about the founder’s behaviour towards women and the company’s corporate culture. Mr Watt said: ‘I hope the outcome of this case provides some context and begins to tell a slightly different story to what you may have read about BrewDog’

Mr Watt said: ‘Miss Ziem said she could help me identify the people responsible for spreading false and malicious lies via troll accounts and asked for payment to do so. I was desperate to stop this horrific abuse, so I paid up.’ The scammer claimed to have identified four names and received the corresponding payments.

But Mr Watt became suspicious and hired private investigator Michael Roberts, who he paid £236,000 to look into the Laura Keller account.

Mr Roberts used his digital forensics skills to unmask Ziem as being behind the Keller account.

Mr Watt said: ‘She was, in fact, a key part of a network involved in a campaign to do as much damage to me and my business as possible, spreading false and defamatory information with the objective of destroying me personally and damaging our business.’

In January, Mr Watt was the subject of a BBC Disclosure programme, The Truth About BrewDog, which set out to examine complaints from staff about the founder’s behaviour towards women and the company’s corporate culture. Mr Watt added: ‘I hope the outcome of this case provides some context and begins to tell a slightly different story to what you may have read about BrewDog.’

He also pledged to donate the full sum he is due to charity if payment is received.

Ziem said she had been advised not to comment while a separate action raised in England over the same incident remains ongoing.