Aaron Timmer Brown – the fraudster involved in Wine.Pop

Aaron Timmer Brown (aka Tim Brown) in his bike correspondent days

as a partner in Cyclismas

(above and below)

Episode 7 Highlights

 Aaron Timmer Brown now in Catalonia as Tim Brown –

wine expert and figure behind the Wine.Pop app
+ founder of Catalunya Wine
twitter – @CatalunyaWine; facebook: @CatalunyaWine 

The jovial and enthusiastic Sinisa Curavic

 – the public face of Wine.Pop
Sinisa was very shocked to discover Aaron Brown's past yesterday

Aaron Timmer Brown, the man who trousered the Paul Kimmage Fund * is now a figure behind the recently launched app – Wine.Pop. For someone who was frequently on camera during his biking correspondent days, Aaron Timmer Brown is now curiously camera shy. I searched the promotional videos for Wine.Pop in vain for a glimpse of Aaron – or Tim Brown as he now calls himself. 

In 2014 Tim Brown or Timmer Brown set up Catalunya Wine – the 'Aaron' had conveniently gone AWOL.....too easily found on Google, especially if you add Timmer?

a) The Paul Kimmage Fund
Of course Aaron Timmer Brown has good reason to shorten his name to Tim Brown and to be reticent – almost reclusive. He has a Massachusetts Superior Court judgment against him for wrongfully appropriating the Paul Kimmage Fund. On 27th February 2015 he was ordered to pay a total of $84,925.22 including costs.  Since then, at a rate of 12% interest, this judgement has increased to a total sum of a little over $100,000 and will continue to increase at a rate of $27.92 a day.

The Paul Kimmage Fund was set up in 2012 and some 30,000 people donated around $92,000. Of this some $65,000 is unaccounted for and this led to the court case in Massachusetts and the judgment against Aaron Timmer Brown. 

Kimmage hit for damages, while Timmer Brown enjoys good life in Catalonia
On 27th May 2016 Paul Kimmage was fined 12,000 Swiss Francs plus costs by a Swiss Court, who found that he had libelled Hein Verbruggen, who was the only one of the original claimants in the libel case to continue the action. Shane Stokes reported in The Irish Times that Kimmage had been 'Left vulnerable after a legal fund to support him was stolen'. 

b) Maintenance (child support/alimony) to Jennifer Brown in Nova Scotia, Canada 

Covering letter 28.6.2011 from Nova Scotia Department of Justice
on support payments owed by Aaron Brown

 Maintenance Enforcement Program of Nova Scotia
Department of Justice

Recipient: Brown, Jennifer, 
Payer: Brown, Aaron

 

As of 22nd June 2011 maintenance payments due from Aaron Brown to Jennifer Brown totaled $77,031.01. Brown is due to pay $1700 a month. During the period 17.6.2009 and 22.6.2011 he paid a grand total of $248, so the debt rose from $38,178.01 to $77,031. It is not known what the current level of debt on these maintenance payments now is.

c) Video – Grapes of Catalunya

Four wineries – La Cooperativa Agrícola de Garriguella, Saó del Coster, Terra Remota and Bodegas Torre del Veguer –  paid a monthly retainer to Brown to be featured on a video (Grapes of Catalunya) that was due to appear in January 2016. The video has not appeared, although a few clips can be found on the net including this introduction to the project on Vimeo. The associated website disappeared and it can now be bought for $12.99. 

I trust the four wineries involved thought a few video clips was money well spent.....    

 

d) Wine.Pop

Wine.Pop home page 

 Tim Brown, marketing director – Wine.Pop tel: 34 667 155 803

Wine.Pop Facebook group of Ambassadors, who

seek to persuade wineries/producers to sign up to Wine.Pop

for a promised 10% on all sales 

The Wine.Pop app is the latest wine venture to involve Tim Brown (aka Aaron Timmer Brown) where he is marketing director. This app started life as ArteBacchus developed by Tomas Volts.

 ArteBacchus has transformed into WinePop... (26th September 2016)

Wine.Pop has signed up a number of Ambassadors to persuade producers/wineries to sign up to the Wine.Pop app. In return they are promised 

10% on all sales, for the sign up and for all the bookings coming through the booking system, which is due to be released in November. Ambassadors' 10% fee is fixed and they will be receiving this fee for as long as the winery continues to be a member of Wine.Pop. Ambassadors are able to offer producers a discount for the first year as long as the sign up fee doesn't go below 110€. 

Payments are made through Fact Advertising & Consulting, AG Neugutstrasse 52, CH-8600 Dübendoff/Zurich.   

Yesterday I contacted several of the Ambassadors outlining Mr Brown's history in respect to the Paul Kimmage Fund and the non-payment of Maintenance. They were shocked as clearly Brown has been careful to hide his past from them – hence the disappearing 'Aaron' and 'Timmer'.    

I am told that Wine.Pop is a 'serious project and that Tim has nothing to do with the day to day running, and certainly not with the finances. He is only doing marketing.' However, given Brown's past history Wine.Pop will surely be crippled, while Aaron Trimmer Brown is in any way involved.
 

Questions to Aaron Timmer Brown:   
Yesterday I sent a series of questions (see separate post) to Brown. This was his response – sent 5.11.16 4.31 pm: 

'Dear Jim Budd,

 Thank you for your email. I will say your email contains inaccurate and false information.

I won’t be able to give you a proper response by your deadline, but will review this in detail on Monday.

Sincerely,

Tim Brown'

 
I look forward to receiving his more detailed response, which I will post on this blog.

I expect that I will be posting further on Aaron Timmer Brown and Wine.Pop and trust that Mr Brown's many friends and admirers will appreciate being informed of his latest ventures.      

* I should declare that I was a small contributor to the fund but was not involved in the class action. Clearly I contributed to assist Paul Kimmage's legal defence and not to line the sticky pockets of Mr Aaron Timmer Brown.