BRIBERY - INVESTDRINKS RECOMMENDS....

Jim Budd is certainly an avid wine lover and drinker. He even comments on his site, ..'I certainly can not afford to drink all the wine I NEED TO test...'

Would a man who NEEDS to drink wine to test but can not afford, possibly take bribes from companies wishing to avoid negative comments?

Further still would they want to get listed on his recommended list?

Take for example 'Bordeaux Wine Investments', recently added on to his recommended sites after having very little history and charging prices that are just as high if not higher than most investment companies out there. Why else would they have been added, what reasons could he possibly give?

As a strong example of biased behaviour Berry Brothers & Rudd has never been commented on by Jim, yet the prices are astronomical, often 20-30% higher than smaller companies. Either he is afraid they have the money to sue, or he gets plenty of benefits.

Jim asks for money politely and 'anonymously' on his site. But as anyone knows due to money laundering laws, you can not have an anonymous payment made, the company payment of course shows up on paypal. Payment made, Jim kindly decides what level of courtesy they should receive.

A man with good morals? I certainly don't think so!

Jim Budd - An insight into the reputation

Jim Budd’s cavalier attitude towards wine investment is the main reason he is demonised amongst the vast majority of professionals within the wine industry. However, what is more concerning is the attention he is receiving from people who are new to the industry, people who are being misguided due to their supposed ignorance. Jim Budd is a man who holds no weight in the wine industry. Due to his disturbing past and obsessive nature his opinions are disregarded, and he is viewed as a laughing stock. I do not want to go into too much detail with regards to the disturbing allegations made in connection with Mr Budd, but it must be stressed that he is a danger to society. As someone who champions virtues such as honesty, transparency and lucidity it seems some what puzzling that Mr Budd is happy to receive back-handers. Moreover, Mr Budd is very keen for open debate which is another ‘commendable’ trait. But surely the essence of open debate is to respond to questions, rather than dismiss them simply because you are not aware of the complex procedures involved, or you cannot accept that you are wrong. Mr Budd is a confused man, a man that is devoid of reason and sanity. His principles on the face of it seem respectable but are masked by an underlining obsession to target newcomers to the industry even though; they work under the same pretence as those who have been in the industry for years, the same people that Mr Budd ironically recommends.

Lawyers working at Freshfields have discussed with certain companies about legally dismantling his work online, but the cost amounts to a minimum of 100k. Other companies and solicitors have discussed this and said the same. It seems very unfair that young companies can not be protected by the laws of this company without a huge money bag.

Defamation & Harassment

Jim Budd is no stranger to defamation, in 2001 he was presented with a court injunction forcing his service provider to take down material about several companies. He then moved his base to Canada where the laws are more relaxed. Although he had reported on some genuinely fraudulent companies, which the police dealt with, he has always presented the fact that he hates wine investment, because he thinks wine should be enjoyed by people that understand and love it, not just for the rich and famous. Most people understand that they can't always have the things they want (we learn this as kids), Jim certainly doesn't understand this.

He used to attack companies like Bordeaux Index and Farr Vintners, stating that they were 'barrow boys from Essex', ex-traders from the City. This may well be true but they are now two of the biggest companies in Europe for wine. It also seems rather odd that Jim thinks that a persons background should prevent them from working within an industry.

Jim has been printing stories about companies on his blog for quite some time. He recently started attacking some new companies who were powerless to prevent his defamation.

One story below was given to us by a popular wine company:

"Jim has defamed our family name, harrassed our loved ones by e-mail for information, stolen letters, faked client information and put fake information on the internet which he has refused to take down. We can not understand why he has attacked us".

It seems Jim has been slightly put out by a lack of money offers or free wine from the above company, or perhaps it was the fact that they argued so vehemtly with him.

Aliases & Corrupt Processes

Often noticed in the industry, companies will send out material and give out detailed information to 'APPARENTLY' interested investors. These people will call, e-mail and discuss at length the wine investment market. Then magically they will disappear!

Jim Budd then appears in a puff of magic, through of course the anonymous internet, discussing and mutilating their material. And 'BY ASSOCIATION' of being on his website, you WILL loose business and suffer rumours at his hands. There is nothing you can do. The problem is that for investors who see his site, even if they think he seems a bit eccentric, they will not want to take the risk. Would you?

This is a miscarriage of justice in business that should be dealt with by the government, where internet laws are changed back or altered. I hope that we can bring about enough awareness through this site to counter a little of the corrupt damage he has done.

LIST OF ALL FINE WINE COMPANIES

TEMPLAR VINTNERS

DITTON WINE TRADERS

PREMIER RED FINE WINE

ASTON LOVELL

MORGAN ASTON FORD

BERRY BROS

FARR VINTNERS

BORDEAUX WINE COMPANY

FINE WINE VINTNERS

BIBENDUM

CORNEY & BARROW

FINE AND RARE

JUSTERINI & BROOKS

Cult Wines Ltd

Farr Vintners

Goedhuis & Co

Magnum Fine Wines

Morgan Classic Wines

Roberson Wine

Seckford Wines

Wilkinson Vintners

BAD APPLES CREATE A MONSTER

There have of course been fraudulent companies in this market, just like boiler rooms in the stock market and many other areas of investment. The police deal with these, and useful forums that allow open discussion allow people to list possible dubious companies. A man like Jim Budd behaves like a law unto his own, and escapes the law because of foreign internet hosting rules even when inventing out and out lies.

Some famous cases of companies that have been fraudulent include:

NOUVEAU WORLD WINES
FINBOW
CITY VINTNERS

Narrow Minded and Short sighted.....

Second article Narrow Minded and Short sighted.....

Jim Budd’s motivation for his work must be questioned. Working under a confused ethos which is narrow minded can be extremely dangerous particularly as a journalist. Very rarely do you hear of Mr Budd praising the work of wine investment companies, his focus is consumed by the negative. The hard work that many bona fide companies put in, the lengths that they go to in order to satisfy their clients is never mentioned. Mr Budd looking in from the outside (hideaway in Canada) simply continues to invent problems and victimise people. Of course, there are concerns about the industry and this has been highlighted by the recent arrest of key figures at Nouveau World Wines but it is not the job of Mr Budd to harass companies, formulate unfounded comments and manipulate the facts. Mr Budd is so short sighted that he will advise people not to work with certain companies, whilst the companies that he gives his stamp of approval to are more than happy to do so.