Dragon's Den star stripped of MBE after judge slams high-flyer as ‘selfish & untrustworthy' over £200k in unpaid bills
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A FORMER Dragon's Den star has been stripped of her MBE after refusing to pay £200,000 in legal fees.
Julie Meyer was slammed by a judge for being "selfish" after she failed to pay her lawyers or attend court hearings.
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Julie Meyer from Dragons Den Online
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Julie starred on Dragon's Den online in 2009
Credit: BBC
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Julie Meyer on Dragon's den Online
Credit: BBC
In 2022, the 58-year-old venture capitalist became embroiled in a legal row with law firm Farrers & Co.
She claimed she had received a poor service and refused to pay £197,000 after they represented her during a case in Malta.
An arrest warrant was issued for the entrepreneur after she failed to turn up to court and provide documents for the case.
Meyer claimed she was unable to travel from Switzerland as she was suffering with conjunctivitis and didn't have a Covid vaccine.
But it was decided her reasoning was insufficient to avoid attending hearings in person.
Meyer was later slapped with a six-month sentence after she was ruled to be in contempt of court.
And last night, the Cabinet Office revealed that the businesswoman had been stripped of her MBE.
Her name appeared on a recently updated list of shamed individuals who have forfeited their honours since 2023.
Disgraced former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells also features on the list, after she was formally stripped of her CBE by the King.
She had already committed to relinquish the gong following fury at her role in the Horizon postmaster scandal.
The document said that Meyer's gong had been taken away after she brought "the honours system into disrepute".
She was awarded the MBE in 2012 for services to entrepreneurship.
Sara Davies breaks silence on shock Dragon's Den exit as star says she struggled to 'juggle' her busy career
Meyer was chosen to star on the online version of Dragon's Den in 2009.
After her appearance on the BBC Two show, she was appointed as David Cameron's Government a year later.
She has previously supported huge tech brands such as lastminute.com and Skype.
Handing her the six-month suspended sentence three years ago, Mr Justice Kerr slammed Meyer as "selfish and untrustworthy".
He added: "I am satisfied there is every prospect that the defendant will continue to flout orders of the court unless coerced into obeying them."
Later the same year, Meyer lost an appeal to overturn her suspended prison sentence.
Three disgraced former submarine captains were also stripped of their OBEs by the King.
Top brass urged ministers to withdraw the prestigious gongs from the trio over sex and bullying scandals.
One had made an X-rated film on HMS Victorious and a second, nominated for an OBE during his misconduct probe, licked a female officer's ear, blew on her neck and punched her on HMS Vigilant.
The third was found guilty of bullying on nuclear-powered attack sub HMS Trenchant.
All three were commanders — James Bond's rank — and led crews of more than 130.
The Navy asked the Cabinet Office Forfeiture Committee to strip the men of their awards and King Charles gave final approval.
Last year, Grime artist Wiley was stripped of his MBE after he posted anti-Semitic comments on social media.
In 2020, he made a string of shocking comments on Twitter, branding Jewish people "too touchy," and saying Israel "is not yours."
The Met confirmed they were investigating the tweets after he was dropped by his manager and banned from the website.
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