Scandal-hit Tory peer Michelle Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman are having an £80million fire sale of their luxury Caribbean villa, private jet and superyacht.
It comes as Baroness Mone, 52, revealed her bank accounts had been frozen during a two-year investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) – dubbed ‘Britain’s FBI’ – into allegations of fraud and bribery surrounding the firm PPE Medpro.
PPE Medpro was awarded more than £200million to supply medical equipment during the Covid pandemic and is currently being sued by the Government for £133million over claims its surgical gowns were unfit for use. Baroness Mone has admitted she lied when denying she had any links with the company.
As the scandal continues to swirl, a string of prized assets owned by the lingerie tycoon and her husband through a series of offshore companies are on the market, The Mirror reports. If the assets are sold at their current asking prices it could lead to an estimated loss of around £29million.
Mr Barrowman’s 17,000 sq ft six-bedroom mansion, which he built in 2018, is now apparently one of the biggest homes on the island of St Barts, a popular Caribbean holiday spot for the rich and famous.
The property, which has been rented out to stars including Jay Z and Beyonce for £16,000 a night, has been on sale since 2021 – but the price has now been slashed from £63million to £41million.
Baroness Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman are having an £80million fire sale of their luxury Caribbean villa, private jet and superyacht
The couple are at the centre of a major scandal over the supply of PPE equipment during Covid
Mr Barrowman’s six-bedroom mansion on the Caribbean island of St Barts, was previously priced at £63million but is now on the market for £41million
The yacht Lady M became notorious when Baroness Mone shared a picture of herself in the Mediterranean in 2021. It is worth less than £7million, down from nearly £10million
Another asset on the market is Lady M, the luxury yacht that became notorious when Baroness Mone shared a picture of herself on its deck in the Mediterranean in August 2021 with the caption: ’Business isn’t easy. But it is rewarding.’
The vessel is now worth less than £7million, down from nearly £10million. It is owned by LM Yachts Ltd, an Isle of Man company run by former PPE Medpro director Voirrey Coole.
The couple’s luxury London townhouse was sold last year. The Belgravia home was put up for sale for £23million but the price was gradually reduced to £18.95million. It is not known how much it sold for.
A £7.5million Cessna Citation CJ4 private jet registered to a company in the Isle of Man called Cabbane Limited is now on sale through an American plane broker.
Mr Barrowman is the only shareholder in Cabbane, while its director – Anthony Page – was also director of PPE Medpro.
The couple also sold a £7million villa in the Algarve – according to The Mirror.
A spokesman for Mr Barrowman said: ‘The media’s ridiculous obsession with every tiny detail of Michelle and Doug’s personal life continues to reach desperate levels.
‘They have both been very successful in business for decades, so if the Daily Mirror plans to write about every asset that they own, might be buying or could be selling, its journalists would be writing for a very long time.
‘This is a futile attempt to distract from Doug Barrowman’s robust fightback against the PPE Medpro allegations over the last few weeks.’
The couple have recently launched a PR blitz aimed at restoring their reputation, with Mr Barrowman claiming his family have been ‘treated as a punchbag’ over the ‘lamentable failures’ of ministers.
Baroness Mone – who founded the Ultimo lingerie empire and earned the nickname Baroness Bra – has admitted she lied when denying she had any connections to PPE Medpro. The consortium led by her husband was awarded contracts worth £200million to supply the NHS after she lobbied Michael Gove and Lord Agnew.
Lady M is owned by LM Yachts Ltd, an Isle of Man company run by former PPE Medpro director Voirrey Coole
A £7.5million Cessna Citation CJ4 private jet registered to a company in the Isle of Man called Cabbane Limited is now up on sale through an American plane broker. File photo
The 17,000 sq ft six-bedroom house on the Caribbean island of St Barts, called Villa Neo, was built by Mr Barrowman in 2018
The mansion is one of the biggest on the island of St Barts, a well-known holiday spot for the rich and famous
Mr Barrowman reportedly wanted to sell the Caribbean home because he ‘seldom’ stays there and prefers spending time on his yacht
Overlooking stunning Caribbean beaches, the villa has floor-to-ceiling windows
View over the infinity pool and the distant bay from one of the bathrooms on Villa Neo
She now accepts she was involved in the business and that Mr Barrowman made more than £60million profits, much of which was transferred to an offshore trust of which she and her children are beneficiaries.
The couple are now under investigation by the National Crime Agency over allegations of fraud and bribery, with a £3million payment made into Baroness Mone’s Coutt’s bank account forming part of the probe, it was reported last week.
And the Government is suing PPE Medpro for £122million plus costs for ‘breach of contract and unjust enrichment,’ claiming that protective surgical gowns provided by the firm were unfit for use.
The company denies the allegations and Mr Barrowman has said he is confident he will win the civil case.
In a statement of more than 1,000 words published on Baroness Mone’s account on X, Mr Barrowman sought to highlight failures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
‘Michelle and I are being hung out to dry to distract attention from Government incompetence in how it handled PPE procurement at time of national emergency,’ Mr Barrowman said.
‘I understand why the British public feel angry but their anger should not be directed at Michelle or I [sic].
‘Yes, Medpro made a profit – which was in line with the margins made by other providers of PPE.
‘Yes, Michelle was involved in introducing Medpro to the Cabinet Office.
‘After all, Michelle had 25 years’ experience in sourcing and manufacturing of mass-produced goods and knew first-hand the logistical challenges of sourcing, supplying and delivering large amounts of product at short notice.’
Mr Barrowman said it was ‘simply unacceptable’ that Britain’s ongoing Covid inquiry would not review PPE procurement until 2025, after an expected general election.
The couple’s townhouse in London’s affluent Belgravia was put up for sale last year for £23million but later reduced to £18.95million
The living room had original artwork, with one depicting Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, above the sofa, and one of her heroines, Marilyn Monroe, far right
The property underwent ‘extensive’ renovations after the couple bought it in 2011
Luxury home boasts a cinema, media room, gym, swimming pool and spa facilities such as a jacuzzi and steam room
One of the opulently decorated six bedrooms in the couple’s Regency home
And he called for the resignation of the most senior civil servant in the DHSC, Sir Chris Wormald, alleging the department had taken action against the couple only when it was under increased scrutiny over its expenditure on PPE equipment, much of which was written off.
‘The stark reality is that DHSC has brought this claim against Medpro at a time of increased scrutiny of how it overspent by so much and when questions were being asked as to why the government was writing off £9billion of PPE out of the £13.1billion spent,’ he said.
‘How on earth did the UK government manage to purchase five years of PPE when it was only supposed to build up four months of stock? Yet no one has been held accountable at DHSC.’ Mr Barrowman claimed he and his wife had tried to settle the dispute but had been told to increase the offer before the Government would ‘call the dogs off’.
Baroness Mone denied for years she was involved in the company and did not declare any link to PPE Medpro on the House of Lords’ Register of Interests.
But leaked documents from HSBC revealed Mr Barrowman had been paid £65million from the company’s profits, with £29million transferred to an offshore trust linked to Mone and her children.
She subsequently admitted lying to the Press but insisted that she could not ‘see what we have done wrong’ and compared her treatment to Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has since called for her to be expelled from the House of Lords following the admissions.
A DHSC spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on ongoing legal cases.’
MailOnline has contacted Baroness Mone for comment.
The peer has launched a PR fightback in a bid to restore her reputation
Baroness Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman on BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg