Failed Sarah Ferguson-backed app took £1m taxpayers’ money

A lifestyle app backed by Sarah Ferguson received more than £1 million from taxpayers but collapsed before launching any products, according to documents filed this week.

vVoosh was founded by Ms. Ferguson’s close friend Manuel Fernandez, an investor who once described himself as the company’s “ambassador.”

It promised to give users “the power to find, plan, share, experience and remember the things you love to do and haven’t tried yet.”

Ms. Ferguson and Mr. Fernandez did not respond to requests for comment.

vVoosh was brought into administration last month and its failure will raise further questions about the former duchess’s judgment and business dealings.

appeared last month cryptocurrency mining the firm had agreed to pay him up to £1.4 million for acting as a “brand ambassador”; This firm also failed, allegedly costing investors millions. Its co-founder denied wrongdoing and said he was working to repay backers.

Many charities in September I left him as boss or the ambassador, after an email from 2011 revealed that she called sex offender Jeffrey Epstein her “great friend” and appeared to apologize for her public criticisms of him.

Manuel Fernandez, 57, went to school in Billericay in Essex and was a soldier in the Royal Anglian Regiment, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He later held senior sales roles at a number of technology companies before founding vVoosh in 2010.

He was regularly photographed with the duchess in 2015 and 2016 and they attended Sir Bob Geldof’s wedding together, but the Duchess denied rumors they were a couple, saying they were just “good friends”.

vVoosh has raised nearly £9 million over the years, including more than £1 million from the UK government through research and development tax credits, according to documents filed by the executive.

He paid teams in the UK and then India to work on the app, but he never launched it and so had no income to fund further development.

Progress on implementation stalled after the Indian contractor threatened legal action.

The administrator’s report states there was a “breakdown in communication between existing administrators/major creditors and the founder” [Mr Fernandez]Interrupting the following communication [his] Resigned as director earlier in the year”.

The report states the company owes £324,609 to a former director. This is believed to be Mr Fernandez, the only executive to leave the company since 2019.

He sold his North London home for £1.3 million last summer and is believed to have left England, according to land documents.

Meanwhile, vVoosh owes £50,000 to one of Ms Ferguson’s companies, La Luna Investments, which holds just under 1% of the company’s shares.

Ms Ferguson, 66, lost the title of duchess after her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor gave up using the title of Duke of York because of his links to Epstein. He has since also been stripped of his title of prince.

Documents show the firm has more than 60 small shareholders; most of these have addresses in Essex and London, but there are also a few American addresses.

Administrators said there was “significant uncertainty” about how much money the company’s creditors would get back when it was wound up.

Mark Guzy, one of the firm’s American backers, has invested more than £400,000 in the company to protect “certain core services” and preserve the value of its software platform, the company’s main remaining asset.

vVoosh originally intended to share 10% of its profits with a charity.

According to information obtained by the BBC, the Charity Commission has started the process of removing the vVoosh Charity Foundation from the register of charities on the grounds that it is not operating.

More than four and a half years have passed since the reporting. Its latest accounts from 2019 show its gross income was £1.28 million, but it spent just £18,240 on charitable activities.

HMRC refused to answer questions about tax credits. Mr. Guzy and other executives at vVoosh declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Mr. Fernandez denied taking money from the firm, according to the Times.

He told the newspaper that the allegation would be “debunked during legal proceedings.”