“We do a lot, per se, in the shadows”

Hi,

Earlier this week I wrote about the mysterious case of Andrew Thorn in “The $100,000 money drop that went bad”. Thorn was the man behind The Safety Warehouse, who organised a giant money drop in central Auckland that contained fake money, leaving people upset and injured.

We exchanged a number of Instagram DMs — in which he told me “you’re not a big deal” (true) and “It’s parasites like you that use lies to up your own status” (not true).

Negative feedback isn’t all that uncommon doing what I do. After my Lonely story last week I received a bunch of feedback including “you’re a wormy piece of shit”. People get angry when you call them out.

Anyway, I blocked Andrew on Instagram because I didn’t really want to keep speaking to him. So he came at me on Facebook instead:

At first I thought it might have been a troll account, but this was the man himself: Andrew Thorn. I checked, and this was the same face I recalled from the pretend money he’d printed.

I became increasingly curious as to who Andrew Thorn was. After all, if he kept wanting to talk to me online, I figured I should know who I was talking to.

A vodka empire.

Digging into his business ventures before The Safety Warehouse, I came across Andrew Thorn’s Vodka Plus. The website for Vodka Plus seemed like your bog standard online storefront, but clicking through to try and buy some vodka — I was out of luck. It was all sold out.

Curious as to what was going on, I jumped over to the Companies Register and discovered that Vodka Plus Limited is being removed:

“The Registrar of Companies has initiated action to remove the company from the register and public notice was given. The objection period has lapsed and the Registrar will continue with the removal process unless an objection has been received.”

I was curious as to why it was being removed, so I dug around and found a decision from three years ago from the Christchurch District Licensing Committee that may provide some clues. And “Decision No. 60B [2017] 1102” makes for interesting reading.

I will summarise as best I can. It appears Andrew Thorn was the sole director of Vodka Plus. He claimed people were being vindictive against him, and that all he wanted to do was set up an online store to sell alcohol.

“Andrew Thorn gave evidence on behalf of the company as the sole director and owner of Vodka Plus Limited and described himself as the CEO of the company for all of New Zealand.

He was not represented by Counsel and read an opening statement to the Committee. This was brief and he said that he had been going through a rough time and people known to him had been vindictive. VPL was going to be selling a premium grade RTD via a remote website based business.”

But there were a few problems with his application to sell booze. Some of them were little things. It was pointed out that he’d put his address on the application form, but it turns out it wasn’t his address, it was his parent’s house:

“The applicant was asked questions concerning the address on the application form, as to the location of the licensed premises. He replied that it was his mother and father’s address but he does not live there. When questioned why he had put this address he replied that as this was going to be a total internet operation all the transactions would be automated through a website. For that reason he did not see that a physical address was important to the application.”

To get a liquor licence, as well as a home address, you need a valid bar manager. So Andrew Thorn claimed he had one: Kristin Thomson.

The Inspector opened her cross examination by asking the applicant [Andrew Thorn] who Kristin Thomson was. This person was listed on the application as the sole holder of a general manager’s certificate. It was put to the applicant ‘did he know this person and if so what was the person’s sex’. Mr Thorn replied ‘she is a female’.

But there was a problem with this story.

The Inspector put to him that she had rung the person Kristin Thomson and had found out that in fact Kristin is a male. The applicant was asked how he got this person’s name and he said he was given the details including the manager’s certificate number by a friend of the family but had never met Kristin.

Things were not looking good for the future of Vodka Plus trading online.

Police also gave some other evidence in the case, including a clanger where Thorn was alleged to have skipped out on paying for some diesel at a gas station.

“The constable on the 18 July 2016 rang and spoke to Mr Thorn, who said he had already paid for the diesel. The constable then checked with the service station to be told the diesel had not been paid for […] The constable informed him prosecution would be considered if not paid.

Again on a later date […] he was spoken to by the Police on unrelated matters and when questioned about the diesel it had still not been paid for. He then admitted the theft of the diesel and he told police that if he was given a warning he would make prompt payment. On the same date the diesel was paid and this was confirmed by the service station and no charges were laid.

Anyway, at the end of the hearing, Andrew Thorn didn’t get his application to sell alcohol.

“After hearing all the evidence on the balance of probabilities is of the view that this application should be declined. Mr Thorn as sole director of Vodka Plus Limited has shown himself to be unsuitable to be the holder of a section 40, Off-licence.”

We don’t control the wind.

From there, it appears Andrew got into the events game, with a new company called Silverback Events.

Events were varied with names likes “Dash for Cash”. Dashing for cash seems to be a recurring theme at his events.

But Andrew had a dream. A bigger, louder dream. And he moved into promoting music events.

He came under fire towards the end of 2018 by putting some kind of dance party on in Christchurch’s “Red Zone”, the area affected by the Christchurch earthquakes. The event featured “DJs from New Zealand and across the world as well as flame dancers and a laser show.”

According to reports, it was very noisy which annoyed some locals who lived nearby:

Silverback Events event manager Andrew Thorn said the event was a huge success, but he acknowledged there had been noise complaints.

He said he had been in regular contact with noise control throughout the night. The noise limit was breached by a small amount but they adjusted the speakers and turned down the bass accordingly, Thorn said.

“We don’t control the wind.”

The following year, this advertisement popped up for another music event. The promo video for a DJ called Anger Fist is truly stressful, and resembles some kind of angry flashmob.

But Andrew had clearly got a taste for music events, and this year he was set to put on his biggest yet.

“We do a lot, per se, in the shadows.”

Future Rock Fest was set to be big. It was to take place in February 2020 at Spark Arena, which is the place you play in New Zealand if you are big. Rihanna has played there. Guns n’ Roses. Fleetwood Mac. You get the idea.

And now Andrew Thorn’s Silverback Events was set to pull off something truly huge.