An app promoted by Sarah Ferguson received over £1 million in taxpayer funds before collapsing prior to launch, according to official documents.
vVoosh, founded by Manuel Fernandez, a close associate of Ms. Ferguson, who served as an investor and “ambassador,” aimed to provide users with tools to “Find, Plan, Share, Live, and Remember all the things you love to do – and those you’re yet to try.”
Neither Ms. Ferguson nor Mr. Fernandez have responded to requests for comment at this time.
The company entered administration last month, a development that is likely to raise renewed scrutiny of the former Duchess’s judgment and her business dealings.
Over its lifespan, vVoosh secured approximately £9 million in funding, including more than £1 million via UK government research and development tax credits, administrator’s documents reveal.
Teams in the UK and India were contracted to develop the app, but it never launched, resulting in a lack of revenue for continued development.
Development stalled after an Indian contractor threatened legal action.
The administrator’s report cites a “breakdown in communication between the current directors/major creditors and the founder [Mr. Fernandez], who ceased communication following [his] resignation as a director earlier in the year.”
According to the report, a former director owes the company £324,609. This is believed to be Mr. Fernandez, the only director to have left the company since 2019.
Land Registry documents indicate that Mr. Fernandez sold his North London residence for £1.3 million last summer and is believed to have left the UK.
vVoosh also owes £50,000 to La Luna Investments, one of Ms. Ferguson’s companies, which held just under 1% of vVoosh’s shares.
Records show the firm had more than 60 other shareholders, largely based in Essex and London, with a small number of American addresses also listed.
Administrators have indicated “significant uncertainty” regarding the potential returns for creditors upon the company’s liquidation.
Mark Guzy, an American investor, has injected over £400,000 into the company to maintain “certain essential services” and protect the value of the software platform, vVoosh’s primary remaining asset.
Originally, vVoosh intended to allocate 10% of its profits to a charitable foundation.
Sources confirm that the Charity Commission has initiated the process of removing the vVoosh Charitable Foundation from its registry due to inactivity.
The foundation’s reporting is more than four and a half years overdue.
HMRC declined to comment on the tax credits. Mr. Guzy and other vVoosh directors have also declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Mr. Fernandez denied allegations of misappropriating funds from the firm, according to The Times.
He informed the newspaper that this allegation would be “disproven in the course of legal proceedings.”
Ms. Ferguson, 66, lost her Duchess title when her former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, relinquished use of his Duke of York title over his links with Epstein. He has since been stripped of the title of prince as well.
Last month, it was reported that a cryptocurrency mining firm had agreed to pay her up to £1.4 million to serve as a “brand ambassador.” That firm also failed, allegedly costing investors millions. Its co-founder denied misconduct and has stated he is working to repay backers.
In September, a number of charities dropped her as a patron or ambassador after a 2011 email surfaced in which she called convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein her “supreme friend” and appeared to apologize for her public criticism of him.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr. Fernandez attended school in Billericay, Essex, and served as a soldier in the Royal Anglian Regiment.
He subsequently held senior sales positions at several technology companies before founding vVoosh in 2010.
He and the then-Duchess were frequently photographed together in 2015 and 2016, including attending Sir Bob Geldof’s wedding. However, she denied rumors of a romantic relationship, stating that they were merely “good friends.”
Correction 6 December: An earlier version included financial figures for vVoosh charitable foundation, taken from the Charity Commission website, but the charity never traded.
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