Michelle Mone made headlines amid claims she profited from a company she recommended for a Covid contract. She was appointed to the UK House of Lords in 2015 as a Conservative member.
Scottish Baroness Michelle Mone recently made headlines for the potential misappropriation of UK public funds during the COVID crisis. One company, which she lobbied for, won £203m worth of public contracts, via the UK government’s VIP fast track for companies with political contacts. It is suspected that she improperly pocketed a large percentage of that money. However, one of her previous controversies revolves around her troublesome security token, EQUI.
In the past, Mone has described herself as “one of the foremost experts in cryptocurrency and Blockchain”. ”– a bold claim backed by little evidence. According to The Guardian, her critics have described her as “more glamor than substance.”
Former Conservative Party Prime Minister David Cameron appointed her, and she officially sits in the unelected upper house as a fellow Conservative. However, she did make a name for herself as the founder of the lingerie company Ultimo.
Due to the recent controversy related to COVID, as of December 7, Mone has announced that she will be taking a “leave of absence” from the House of Lords. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “shocked” to read the allegations against the baroness.
Michelle Mone’s EQUI Token
Mone’s story involves an overconfident, PR-based businessperson, relatively new to the ICO (initial coin offering) model.
With her entrepreneur boyfriend (now husband) Doug Barrowman, Baroness Mone launched their Ethereum-based security token EQUI in 2018, meant to give inexperienced investors access to early-stage tech companies.
However, in the build-up to a spectacular failure, the so-called “British Bitcoin” was promoted in the country’s leading right-wing broadsheet as a way to “encourage more women to invest in tech.”
A Failed ICO
Under the name EQUI Capital, the couple planned for their ICO to raise $80 million. However, by March 30, 2018, they had apparently only raised $7 million.
After extending their fundraiser to the end of June, the lack of confidence seems to have been contagious and the couple failed to raise much more.
Having met with failure with their ICO, they seemed determined to continue their business adventure through other means. EQUI Capital said that “Everyone has found the ICO World of Business to be a very strange place to do business with some very alarming things.”
In addition, they claimed that related investors had pledged $6 million of the funds raised. When considering their initial goal, this paints the picture of a deeply failed ICO, to say the least.
Despite recent mounting controversies, Mone had been the subject of multiple glowing profiles about her rags-to-riches story.
While she became a regular subject of celebrity and business magazines in the run-up to her peerage, she doesn’t appear to have any discernible cryptocurrency experience, despite her claims.
By Audy Castaneda
