Brewdog scammer blew £100k on shopping sprees & hols in just FIVE months after claiming she inherited cash from her gran

THE con artist who scammed Brewdog boss James Watt out of £100,000 blew the lot in just five months.

Fraudster Emili Ziem shamelessly told family and pals she’d inherited the cash from her great gran.

And we can reveal the 29-year-old mum frittered the money away on shopping and trips away.

We told this week how she conned beer guru James, 40, out of the money while being behind an online smear campaign.

But she had to invent a reason for her sudden change in fortune to explain to her husband - who she’s now separated from.

A source said: “When she got the cash from James she had to come up with an explanation on where it had come from to tell her husband.

“Emili said she’d been left it in her great granny’s will. She then ditched her job in Edinburgh and lived off it.

“But when James realised he’d been done she knew he’d come looking for it. So she transferred it to a relative who then gave her a £1,000 ‘allowance’ each week.

“It soon ran out though after she went shopping mad and took herself away to hotels. The last money she got from James was in July but by January there was nothing left.

“She is now in Norway to be close to her kids who live with their dad.”

Plotting Ziem first had contact with James in 2020 on Instagram. It’s understood she told him she was separated from her husband.

The couple met up several times while messaging regularly on WhatsApp. But in May 2021, many of James’s friends on the site were sent slurs about him from an account in the name of Laura Keller.

The direct messages said he’d “misled and harassed” women.

He was accused of “abusing his position” with them. Some claims even alleged criminality, which he strongly denied.

Earlier this month Edinburgh’s Court of Session ruled that she had got the money fraudulently by claiming to unmask online trolls for a fee.

But after parting with four lots of £25,000 in Bitcoin, James grew suspicious and drafted in a private detective, who exposed Ziem as being behind the troll account.

He discovered the account was being operated from her Edinburgh workplace and her home address in South Queensferry.

Lord Brailsford ordered Ziem to repay James the £100,000 - which he vowed to give to charity. Plus she was told to pay his expenses which amounted to £500,000.

This was made up of £236,000 for a cyber private detective, £105,000 on other forensic expenses and £172,000 on court costs. But it’s unlikely he’ll ever see any of the money.

He said: “I have suffered considerable distress and anxiety.

“For the past two years I have been the subject of a vicious and relentless campaign of abuse, primarily by troll accounts using Instagram to post and share 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.

“Today, I can say I have taken a huge step towards doing just that.

“At the outset 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 tycoon added: “The court found she was one of the perpetrators and operated an extremely active troll account as part of a network looking to ‘take me down’ - her words.

“She gave me knowingly false information with the sole intention of deceiving me into agreeing to pay her.

“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.”

James set up the firm in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, in 2007 with pal Martin Dickie, 39. It is now a multi-million pound global brand.

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