BrewDog boss hired private investigators to gather evidence of alleged smear campaign

theguardian.com:

The boss of BrewDog, James Watt, hired private investigators to obtain information about people whom he believed were taking part in a smear campaign against him and repeatedly accused one woman of being involved until she blocked him on social media.

According to multiple sources and evidence seen by the Guardian, private investigators who said they were working for Watt approached people to gather evidence about those who he appeared to believe had maligned him.

One subject of their inquiries, Rob MacKay, an ex-BrewDog employee, had appeared in a BBC documentary, The Truth About BrewDog, which made claims about the company’s workplace culture and Watt’s personal behaviour as an employer, including towards women.

A former colleague of MacKay’s says he was visited at work by two ex-policemen working for a company called Integritas Investigative Solutions.

“They said they’d been hired by James Watt and were serious crime investigators,” the former colleague said.

“They said they’d been hired by James’s lawyers to build a case. They asked me how well I knew Rob, how I found working with him and how did it compare to experiences in BrewDog.”

The men left a business card for Integritas.

Integritas investigators also approached a friend of a female former acquaintance of Watt asking for details of their discussions, evidence reviewed by the Guardian indicates, after Watt became convinced that she was involved in online allegations about him that appeared on social media.

The woman, who asked not to be named, also received multiple messages from Watt himself, in which he told her he had “extensive evidence from multiple sources of what you and others have been doing” and warned she could face legal action.

Despite her repeated denials,