Mone’s ex-husband denies £24m payout
Estranged husband disputes truth of their marital settlement
MICHELLE Mone’s former husband has dismissed media reports inflating her personal wealth.
Businessman Michael Mone broke his silence after his wife was appointed as Britain’s start-up czar amid government claims of her “well-documented business success”.
The couple’s small but highprofile lingerie firm MJM International suffered substantial losses in its last year as the Mones went their separate ways.
That year tabloids declared Ms Mone had bought out her husband for £24 million, suggesting the business was worth about £50m.
Business sources have, however, indicated that the true figure was less.
Mr Mone said: “I have never received £24m or anything like it. Such reports were completely untrue.”
His ex-wife’s new career as a television personality and motivational speaker is based on suggestions that she is a successful multi-millionaire.
This week she was given an unpaid appointment to lead a UK Government review of how to boost new business creation in Britain’s poorest neighbourhoods.
In 2013, as her business struggled and was in the process of being sold off, Ms Mone gave a tabloid interview under a headline saying she was £24m poorer.
However, she has never publicly stated this figure – the source of much of the recent media talk of her wealth. Her spokesman declined to say whether she she had sought correction for such tabloid stories.
But in her book My Fight to the Top – previously dismissed as a “work of fiction” by Mr Mone – she refused to say how much she paid her ex-husband. “All I will say is that the papers reported that it was £24m and that wasn’t true,” she wrote.
In her book Ms Mone confirmed the business owned by her and her then husband was going under before a controlling stake was sold to Sri Lankan investors.
It comes after Scottish business leaders, such as Douglas Anderson of Gap Group, and Conservative sources questioned whether Ms Mone – also tipped to be made a peer of the realm – is a suitable person to lead the review.
This is both because they do not believe she is a successful businesswoman and because not all of her publicity has been positive.
Yesterday The Herald reported that MJM International had made use of employee benefit trusts or EBTs, a tax avoidance loophole now being closed.
The Herald has attempted to identify where Ms Mone’s wealth lies and has been unable to do so.
The sale of her Glasgow flat was completed this week. Bought for £780,000 in 2013, she sold it for £1m. The property is mortgaged.
A £2m Mayfair flat in London – in which she was photographed by Hello! Magazine – was rented.
Mr Mone, meanwhile, suggested he may have more to say in the future.