Dear Jeff, I'm glad to see you back after the challenges of the past couple of years. I've been meaning to write to you. Your insights and advice have been missed, and among the many potential advisors out there, your personality and interests resonate with me the most. I wish you all the best for 2024 and beyond.
I was one of your Day One subscribers through Legacy Research. While I also subscribed to Luke Lango and Teeka Tewari's offerings, it was your advice that I valued the most. Thanks to your guidance, I made several investments on platforms like Wefunder and Republic. Unfortunately, I was also one of the victims of the Brownstone Mining scam, which was a painful experience. The way you so quietly exited from the platform you built left me wondering about the details. Legacy Research has been unhelpful and opaque, despite my “Lifetime” level investment in their services, which is disappointing given that many of us novice investors could use assistance in navigating both the good and the bad in the financial world. Could you please provide some clarity on what really happened?
I had a lengthy and detailed exchange with the individuals behind the scam, who did an excellent job impersonating you. At one point, it even seemed like "you" were joining me and some Silicon Valley friends on an adventure in Baja. There's some macabre humor in that. The exchange was sustained and entirely believable at the time. I believe you must have insights into who the perpetrators were, their location, and how they gained access to your clients. For the sake of our ongoing relationship, which I hope will be profitable in the years to come, I genuinely want to understand what transpired.
Additionally, I thought you might find it interesting that Elon Musk invited me to SpaceX to discuss my artwork one-on-one. My artistic endeavors often connect me with high-level individuals in Silicon Valley. In the fall of 2024 I'll be unveiling my latest work, exploring AI and its potential for consciousness thru the lens of Zen Buddhism. […] I would like to invite you to attend.
I look forward to hearing from you and suggest that a Zoom call would be an excellent way to further our conversation.
Thank you. I harbor no hard feelings and wish you all the best as you move forward. Sincerely. — C.L.
Hello C.L., thank you for writing in and sharing your experience with me.
What you experienced infuriates me, and unfortunately it is not the first time I have heard about scams like this.
First and foremost, I have never and will never make direct contact to any of my subscribers individually for the purpose of soliciting funds for any investment opportunity.
In my last role at Legacy Research and Brownstone Research, I often wrote in The Bleeding Edge, my daily e-letter at the time, to remind my subscribers of this, and I will continue to write about it at Brownridge Research.
By ensuring my subscribers that I will never ask them directly and individually for funds for an investment opportunity, it is the only way that I know how to protect my subscribers.
If my subscribers know that I will never do that, they will know that if someone pretending to be me is soliciting funds, my subscribers will know it’s a scam.
As for my departure from Legacy Research and Brownstone Research, it was unfortunately not in my control.
On June 9, 2023, I was told I no longer needed to research/write any more. That was it.
The most painful part for me is that I lost my connection to my subscribers. We were working through the tough bear market together.
That stretch between November of 2022 through the second quarter of 2023 encompassed some of the longest hours I’ve ever worked to try and make sense out of what was happening in the markets, how they were being manipulated, and when we would come out of the mess.
It’s always great to be working in healthy market conditions. But my perspective is that it is even more important to be present and working hard when things are tough.
My plan was to continue to do that. And my subscribers at the time knew that I had developed a forecast that the markets would pick up strongly in the second half of 2023.
As we now know, that’s precisely what happened. And ironically it started about the exact same time that I was told to stop researching/writing. Funny how things like that happen.
I had to wait until after my last official day in August 2023 before I could start publishing again.
However, I had to start from scratch, which is exactly what I did when I launched Brownridge Research — my now wholly independent research firm where there is no one else to call the shots but me. I’m deeply grateful to subscribers like you that searched for me and found me.
As for what you described regarding the Brownstone Mining scam, I’m afraid I can’t offer any insights. Your feedback was the very first time I heard about this.
From what you wrote, it sounds like they used a lot of social engineering to make it seem real.
I’ve actually driven a few hundred miles through Baja in high-performance dune buggies several years back. Seems like they already knew this.
Imposters and scammers appear to be everywhere. I’ve heard of direct solicitations like the one you experienced, as well as fake accounts on social media where thieves try to scam through direct messages.
For clarity, here are the only real accounts that I manage:
Website: https://www.brownridge.com
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/BrownridgeJB
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brownridgeresearch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brownridgeresearch/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefferybrown/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brownridgeresearch
That’s it. Anything else is fake.
Some of the above accounts have limited followers, as we’re just getting started.
I wasn’t able to use social media in my last position, but I can now build.
For anyone who uses any of these platforms, you can “follow” and in time, I’ll gear up with content and interesting posts.
C.L., I really enjoyed looking at your website. Interesting tech/science infused artwork with the occasional Japan influence. Incredible that you received the invite to sit down with Musk. Amazing.
Having lived in Japan for 20 years, Zen Buddhism always resonated with me. And I always enjoyed my trips to Kyoto. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve visited. I went many times for personal travel, and even more times for business. Several key customers of mine were based in Kyoto or had a division in Kyoto like Nintendo, Kyocera, Panasonic, Omron, among others.
As you know well, it is remarkable how different the culture and language are in Kyoto compared to other parts of Japan.
I miss Japan terribly. Life has me in the U.S. for the time being. But in time, I hope to find a better balance between the two countries.
今年もよろしくお願いいたします。
Hi Lindsey, I am lifetime member of Palm Beach Research and Brownstone Research, also I registered and joined the Jeff’s new company, Brownridge Research. I also have some investment in IPO companies in Republic.com as Day One investor, which was recommended by Jeff originally and that is the place I came cross Jeff’s email address (JeffBrownstone@proton.me) and I asked Jeff to help me in some investment issues, which he kindly accepted to do so. And since September 2022, we are in contact with emails to date.
But in December 2023, I received emails from Jeff which did not made any sense to me. So the thought came to my mind, am I in contact with Jeff Brown or is someone using Jeff’s email address? Naturally I did ask some questions, which indicated that I am not sure the person I am communicating with is Jeff Brown. And since that email, I received no reply and postmaster@outlook.com is telling me that recipient address is rejected and the address does not exist.
I was hoping that I did not damage my relation with Jeff by doubting him, however since my last email to Jeff I did not get any reply. But a few days later, I did get a phone call with a U.S. number, with a person with name of Rico from one of the cryptocurrency exchanges, asking me questions about my issues that only Jeff and myself knows about it.
This person was looking for more details from me, which I refused to answer and I have not heard from them again so far.
So my reason for this email is to ask you kindly if you could mention my name to Jeff, and ask him does he know my name… and was he himself in contact with me all that period of time by email. If the answer is no, then I have given lots of my details to a scammer.
Please let him know that his email address is been used to scam people. I am sure he would like to find out about it. I have no other way to contact Jeff himself except by email, and for some reason my emails to Jeff are not delivering, so I decided to ask you to help me and I hope you don’t mind. I really appreciate your help. Looking forward to hear from you. Best Regards. — Ali R.
Hello Ali, I appreciate you taking the time to write in and ask about what you experienced.
I’m afraid that you have also been scammed by an imposter. This is the very first time that I have heard about this. And the e-mail address that you provided (JeffBrownstone@proton.me) is not affiliated with me at all.
As I wrote in my response to C.L. above, I have never and will never contact any of my subscribers personally, directly, and individually for the purpose of soliciting funds for any investment opportunity.
And I have never and will never contact any of my subscribers for the purpose of providing any kind of individualized investment advice.
It is important to state that my role is as an independent, conflict-free researcher, analyst, and publisher. I am not a financial advisor. I am not a broker/dealer. I do not give individualized investment advice.
My research is generally available to anyone who is interested in receiving it. And when I answer questions in my weekly Ask Me Anything (AMA), it is for the purpose of providing insights, analysis, and thoughts for all subscribers.
The only way to reach me and my team is through the Brownridge website and domain (www.brownridge.com) and our official contact e-mail address: contact@brownridge.com. You may also see emails from noreply@brownridge.com and jb@brownridge.com.
My team and I do read all of the feedback that comes in. I wish I could reply to each one, but there is simply too much. We do however try to pick out the issues/topics that are resonating with a large number of subscribers.
Ali, it is terrible to hear about your experience. I’m glad that you became quite suspicious. And to just be clear, this is the first time that I heard about you and your experience with the scammer. I was never in contact with you, and unfortunately I have no insights about who is behind the scam.
If anyone reaches out directly to any subscriber claiming to be me and soliciting funds, you will know it is a scam immediately.
I strongly advise avoiding any attempts at contact, which might include phone calls, e-mails, or direct messages from any platform.
The only place to “hear” from me is through official channels like my website, e-mails from Brownridge Research, or through official social media channels which I listed above in my response to C.L.
Any subscriber can also find links to those social media channels at the bottom of my website at www.brownridge.com (just scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll see the social media logos in the lower right).
Hopefully, we can all learn from and avoid these kinds of scams in the future.
