million pound mega yachts doug

Billionaire husband of ‘Baroness Bra’ Michelle Mone taking delivery of new £50M mega-yacht to sail away from PPE storm

The billionaire husband of ‘Baroness Bra’ Michelle Mone is preparing to take delivery of a £50 million mega-yacht, sources on the French Riviera say.

Scottish businessman Doug Barrowman – at the centre of a PPE procurement scandal with his wife – sold a 187ft (57m) yacht, Turquoise, in October last year for a reported £17.5 million. A smaller yacht, the Lady M, is now up for sale for £6.8 million.

The 58-year-old is a noted yacht enthusiast and said in a previous televised interview that he felt he had ‘one more boat’ in him, at a budget of £50 million.

Lady Mone added in a separate interview that the two of them hoped to retire and sail the world in 2025.

Sources in Monaco say Mr Barrowman has long planned to purchase and design his own ‘ultimate’ dream vessel and say that ‘Vento’ – currently being fitted out in Turkey – is his new craft.

The 285ft (87m) yacht boasts a hull finished in Tour de France blue, a swimming pool, a helipad that doubles as a basketball court, an outdoor cinema, bar and spiral staircase, plus a beauty salon and beach club.

Yacht broker Glynn Smith, of Ethereal Yachts – who did the deal for Vento – did not deny that the client was Mr Barrowman but said that he was bound by ‘strict confidentiality’ and added that the client ‘wished to remain anonymous’.

The timing of the purchase could be embarrassing, as the National Crime Agency is investigating allegations of fraud and bribery surrounding the firm PPE Medpro.

PPE Medpro, a consortium that Mr Barrowman led, was awarded more than £200 million by the Government to supply medical equipment.

It is currently being sued by the Government for £122 million for ‘breach of contract and unjust enrichment’ over claims that its surgical gowns were unfit for use.

The company denies the allegations and Mr Barrowman says that he is confident that he will win his civil case.

Lady Mone, who founded the lingerie label Ultimo , lobbied Ministers Michael Gove and Lord Agnew for the PPE contracts but initially denied she had connections to the firm. She now admits that was a lie.

Mr Barrowman made more than £60 million profit on the deal, much of which was transferred to an offshore trust of which Lady Mone and her children are beneficiaries.

The National Crime Agency has frozen her bank accounts during the investigation. A string of assets owned by Lady Mone, 52, and Mr Barrowman have been put up for sale, including a home on St Barts, the Lady M yacht and a Cessna private jet.

The couple’s London home and Algarve villa have reportedly been sold. They live on the Isle of Man, which is a tax haven.

In a statement published on Lady Mone’s account on X/Twitter, Mr Barrowman sought to highlight failures from the Department of Health and Social Care.

‘Michelle and I are being hung out to dry to distract attention from Government incompetence in how it handled PPE procurement,’ he said. ‘I understand why the British public feel angry but their anger should not be directed at Michelle or I.’

He added that Medpro’s profit was in line with that made by other PPE providers.

In a Channel 4 documentary, Million Pound Mega Yachts, broadcast in 2015, Mr Barrowman said he had spent around £3 million refitting the yacht Turquoise with London-based H2 Designs.

He added: ‘You have to spend it on something. There’s a limit to the amount of houses you can have and private air travel.’

He added that he and H2 boss Mr Horsfield had spent ‘hours’ talking about the design of the boat and said: ‘I think we’ve got another boat in us really.’

In an interview with the Daily Record in 2020, Lady Mone said: ‘Doug and I dream of getting a yacht and going around the world… At the moment. we’ve got too much on our plate but in five years’ time, I see us doing that.’

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Million Pound Mega Yachts For Sale - Documentary 2020

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Million Pound Mega Yachts Documentary, full episode. Monaco is the playground of the global elite and a favorite of British billionaires. To belong, you must have mansions, jewelry and cars. It's a secret world in which only the wealthiest of the one-percent inhabit. It's the world of the mega-yacht and the superyacht. Monaco boasts more billionaires per square meter than anywhere on the planet. Excitement is growing as 120 of the world's most expensive yachts, all of them for sale, will be on display at the upcoming yacht show. Doug Barron is one of the tycoons looking to sell his mega-yacht, named Turquoise, and possibly purchase another. Let's see if Reuben Nelson, an ex British naval officer turned sales-broker, can persuade these tycoons to spend millions purchasing a superyacht. #superrich #billionaire #best mega yachts #best superyacht #biggest mega-yachts #billionaire #charter mega #inside megayachts #largest mega yachts #largest superyacht #luxury mega yachts #luxury superyacht #mega yacht #mega yachts #megayacht #megayachts #million pound mega yachts #most expensive superyacht #super mega-yachts #super rich #super yachts #superyacht #superyacht tour #superyachts Watch On YouTube

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The host walks around the Monaco Yacht Show and showcases several expensive yachts that are on sale. He also talks to manufacturers and owners, listening to various stories of adventures.

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Travel Documentary hosted by Cyril Nri , published by Channel 4 in 2015 - English narration

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Million Pound Mega Yachts Documentary about the Monaco Yacht Show, where over 100 of the largest yachts on the water are up for sale, with billionaire buyers competing to own the most extravagant vessels. The programme follows those who make, buy and work on these craft, including a Soho businessman planning to sail around the world, a broker with 25 years experience looking to sell a £130 million yacht, and a billionaire installing a crystal chandelier in his floating palace.

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Billionaire husband of Michelle Mone lines up a £50MILLION mega-yacht

• Lady Mone has stated that the pair hope to retire and sail the world in 2025
• Husband, Doug Barrowman made more than £60 million profit on a PPE contract deal with the government 

The billionaire husband of 'Baroness Bra' Michelle Mone is preparing to take delivery of a £50 million mega-yacht, sources on the French Riviera say.

Scottish businessman Doug Barrowman – at the centre of a PPE procurement scandal with his wife – sold a 187ft (57m) yacht, Turquoise, in October last year for a reported £17.5 million. A smaller yacht, the Lady M, is now up for sale for £6.8 million.

The 58-year-old is a noted yacht enthusiast and said in a previous televised interview that he felt he had 'one more boat' in him, at a budget of £50 million.

Lady Mone added in a separate interview that the two of them hoped to retire and sail the world in 2025.

Sources in Monaco say Mr Barrowman has long planned to purchase and design his own 'ultimate' dream vessel and say that 'Vento' – currently being fitted out in Turkey – is his new craft.

The 285ft (87m) yacht boasts a hull finished in Tour de France blue, a swimming pool, a helipad that doubles as a basketball court, an outdoor cinema, bar and spiral staircase, plus a beauty salon and beach club. 

It is being fitted by London-based H2 Designs, who previously worked with Mr Barrowman on a refit of Turquoise and of the Lady M. Vento is due to be delivered to its new owner this year.

Jonny Horsfield, the boss of H2, did not return requests for comment about the owner of the new yacht.

Yacht broker Glynn Smith, of Ethereal Yachts – who did the deal for Vento – did not deny that the client was Mr Barrowman but said that he was bound by 'strict confidentiality' and added that the client 'wished to remain anonymous'.

Mr Barrowman's office and lawyer, and Lady Mone's office, did not return requests for comment.

The timing of the purchase could be embarrassing, as the National Crime Agency is investigating allegations of fraud and bribery surrounding the firm PPE Medpro.

PPE Medpro, a consortium that Mr Barrowman led, was awarded more than £200 million by the Government to supply medical equipment. 

It is currently being sued by the Government for £122 million for 'breach of contract and unjust enrichment' over claims that its surgical gowns were unfit for use.

The company denies the allegations and Mr Barrowman says that he is confident that he will win his civil case.

Lady Mone, who founded the lingerie label Ultimo, lobbied Ministers Michael Gove and Lord Agnew for the PPE contracts but initially denied she had connections to the firm. She now admits that was a lie.

Mr Barrowman made more than £60 million profit on the deal, much of which was transferred to an offshore trust of which Lady Mone and her children are beneficiaries.

The National Crime Agency has frozen her bank accounts during the investigation. A string of assets owned by Lady Mone, 52, and Mr Barrowman have been put up for sale, including a home on St Barts, the Lady M yacht and a Cessna private jet.

The couple's London home and Algarve villa have reportedly been sold. They live on the Isle of Man, which is a tax haven.

In a statement published on Lady Mone's account on X/Twitter, Mr Barrowman sought to highlight failures from the Department of Health and Social Care.

'Michelle and I are being hung out to dry to distract attention from Government incompetence in how it handled PPE procurement,' he said. 'I understand why the British public feel angry but their anger should not be directed at Michelle or I.' 

He added that Medpro's profit was in line with that made by other PPE providers.

In a Channel 4 documentary, Million Pound Mega Yachts, broadcast in 2015, Mr Barrowman said he had spent around £3 million refitting the yacht Turquoise with H2.

He added: 'You have to spend it on something. There's a limit to the amount of houses you can have and private air travel.'

He added that he and H2 boss Mr Horsfield had spent 'hours' talking about the design of the boat and said: 'I think we've got another boat in us really.'

Mr Barrowman's yacht Turquoise featured in the Sky drama series Riviera in 2017. It was seen in one of the episode's opening sequences as the setting for an orgy, and was then 'blown up' via special effects. Mr Barrowman made a cameo appearance.

Producer Paul McGuinness, formerly U2's manager, told GQ magazine that Mr Barrowman had insisted on drinking Dom Perignon while the other actors and extras had sparkling apple juice. 'He loved being on the show.

'He didn't see why he had to drink coloured water and we certainly weren't going to tell him what he should drink,' McGuinness said.

In an interview with the Daily Record in 2020, Lady Mone said: 'Doug and I dream of getting a yacht and going around the world… At the moment. we've got too much on our plate but in five years' time, I see us doing that.'

Inside £10m yacht linked to Michelle Mone as luxury vessel is put up for sale

Michelle Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman face a National Crime Agency investigation

• 17:18, 25 SEP 2022
• Updated 08:09, 26 SEP 2022

A yacht linked to Scottish underwear tycoon and Tory peer Michelle Mone has been put up for sale for £10.25 million. The sale of Lady M is listed months after a multi-million-pound refit to the 130ft vessel, which the 50-year-old socialite regularly features on her social media pages.

The boat, which was refurbished in May, features a deluxe cream-coloured interior and four cabins as well as room for six crew report the Express.

READ MORE - Jilted bride goes ahead with wedding anyway after spending her entire life savings

It comes as Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman face a National Crime Agency investigation after the peer recommended PPE Medpro during the pandemic, a firm with connections to her husband - with the pair denying any wrongdoing.

The House of Lords commissioner for standards launched into Baroness Mone in January following a complaint by the Labour peer George Foulkes.

The group was awarded two contracts worth £200 million to supply surgical gowns and other items during the pandemic in 2020 which proved useless after the goods failed an inspection. The Department for Health is in dispute with PPE Medpro over millions of surgical gowns which it bought for £122m in 2020.

Once it became public last year that she had referred PPE Medpro to the Cabinet Office using the "VIP lane", Baroness Mone admitted she made the “very simple, solitary and brief step” but insisted “did not do anything further in respect of PPE Medpro”.

But in leaked Whatsapp messages Mone was allegedly asked what size of gowns were required under the Department of Health deal and replied: “We are just about to take off in the jet. The sizes are in the order. We are waiting for the official PO [purchase order], this should come in today.”

Mone’s lawyers said she could not be expected to comment on “unknown and unattributable WhatsApp messages allegedly sent 19 months ago”.

Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox

Sources told the Guardian newspaper that Barrowman, an offshore entreprenuer on the Isle of Man, was "part of the financial consortium that backed" PPE Medpro. But his lawyers said the allegations were “largely incorrect”.

Four properties linked to the firm, including a £25 million Isle of Man bolt hole were raided by the NCA in April. No arrests were made during simultaneous raids in London and the Isle of Man but officers seized documents and electronic devices.

Set up by Mr Barrowman in 2017 – with his wife as a trustee – it donates to the Prince’s Trust, but has not lodged any donations in its accounts.

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Bra queen Michelle Mone finds love again with billionaire tycoon who has a superyacht and fleet of FIVE Ferraris

• Michelle Mone has found new love with one of Britain's wealthiest men
• Mr Barrowman featured on Channel 4 show Million Pound Mega Yachts
• He owns homes around the world and has a luxury car collection
• He made his fortune in private equity and property development 

By Patricia Kane For The Scottish Mail On Sunday

Published: 19:44 EDT, 3 December 2016 | Updated: 20:25 EDT, 3 December 2016

View comments

Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone has found new love with one of Britain's wealthiest entrepreneurs, who recently appeared on a TV documentary with his £50million super yacht.

Baroness Mone, who was made a Tory peer and Government business tsar last year, has been romantically linked with Scots billionaire Doug Barrowman after the pair were spotted arm-in-arm last week.

Mr Barrowman, 51, who featured on Channel 4 documentary Million Pound Mega Yachts last year, owns homes around the world and has a luxury car collection which includes five Ferraris.

Meeting of true minds: Michelle Mone, left, has apparently fallen for fellow Scot Doug Barrowman (right), who owns a super yacht, a classic car collection, a private jet and a global property portfolio

He appeared on the show with his 183ft super yacht Turquoise – one of two that he owns - which has a crew of 13, as well as an outdoor cinema, a grand piano in the lounge and hand-made silk carpets.

Originally from Rutherglen, near Glasgow, Mr Barrowman made his fortune in private equity and property development. He relocated from Cheshire in 2008 to the tax haven of the Isle of Man, where he now lives in a £120 million home, which also featured on the Channel 4 show.

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News of the romance between the tycoons comes four months after Baroness Mone called time on her relationship with her former partner, golf professional Stefan Soroka. Friends blamed her split from the Barbados-based golfer on work commitments which made it difficult for them to spend time together as a couple.

There is no danger of a repeat situation, however, as Mr Barrowman, who has been married previously, has a private jet. Last year, as a 50th birthday present to himself, he flew the aircraft from the Isle of Man to Girona for lunch at El Cellar de Can Roca, the world's best restaurant, before flying back home again.

The multi-millionairess peer, dubbed Baroness Bra after being elevated to the House of Lords by David Cameron, sold her lingerie company Ultimo last year and now divides her time between London and travelling the world, speaking to young entrepreneurs.

Originally from Rutherglen, near Glasgow, Mr Barrowman made his fortune in private equity and property development

Multi-millionaire Doug Barrowman's 183ft super yacht, Turquoise

Mr Barrowman, 51, featured on Channel 4 documentary Million Pound Mega Yachts last year

In October, she joined forces with F1 legend and president of charity UK Youth Nigel Mansell to launch Social Superstore, an online retail venture. It was at the inaugural shareholders' meeting that she met Mr Barrowman, a fellow investor, for the first time.

Last night, Baroness Mone, who has three grown-up children with former husband and business partner Michael Mone, declined to comment – but friends confirmed the relationship.

One said: 'Michelle couldn't be happier. It's like a fairy tale. She feels as if she has finally met her match in business and in love.'

Mr Barrowman, a keen supporter of the Prince's Trust charity, which he donated £2 million to last year, recently described himself in an interview as coming from 'quite a humble background', where it was 'quite hard to get your first toe, never mind your first foot, on the ladder in business life'.

His first entrepreneurial venture was aged 20, setting up paintball sites in Scotland, before spending three years at private equity fund 3i, learning the foundations for acquiring businesses in his own right.

Baroness Mone was made a Tory peer and Government business tsar last year

Mr Barrowman – who is chairman and founder of the Knox Group, with assets of £1.25 billion – has admitted that the scale of his success can be overwhelming.

Referring to Turquoise, which cost him £50 million to buy and redesign three years ago, he said: 'It was a dream of mine to own a boat like that and she turns heads wherever she goes but it's a major operation to get into any harbour and a lot of responsibility on the captain and its 13 crew.

'Once we came into Bonifacio, in Corsica, where you have to reverse half a mile down the channel. Turquoise was bigger than the buildings on either side and there were hundreds of people lining the streets to see her coming in. That's quite surreal seeing that happen.'

Last night, a spokesman for Mr Barrowman declined to comment on his romance with Baroness Mone. 

Share or comment on this article: Bra queen Michelle Mone finds love again with billionaire Doug Barrowman

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Lynch Yacht Sinking Off Sicily Proves as Baffling as It Is Tragic

As bodies were recovered, the authorities and experts wondered how a $40 million, stable and secure vessel could have sunk so quickly.

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By Emma Bubola and Michael J. de la Merced

Emma Bubola reported from Porticello, Italy, and Michael J. de la Merced from London.

Two months after being cleared in a bruising legal battle over fraud charges, the British tech mogul Mike Lynch celebrated his freedom with a cruise. He invited his family, friends and part of his legal team on board his luxury sailing yacht, a majestic 180-foot vessel named Bayesian after the mathematical theorem around which he had built his empire.

On Sunday night, after a tour of the Gulf of Naples, including Capri, and volcanic islands in the Eolian archipelago, the boat anchored half a mile off the Sicilian coast in Porticello, Italy. It chose a stretch of water favored by the Phoenicians thousands of years ago for its protection from the mistral wind and, in more recent times, by the yachts of tech billionaires. The boat was lit “like a Christmas tree,” local residents said, standing out against the full moon.

But about 4 a.m., calamity unfolded. A violent and fast storm hit the area with some of the strongest winds locals said they had ever felt. Fabio Cefalù, a fisherman, said he saw a flare pierce the darkness shortly after 4.

Minutes later, the yacht was underwater. Only dozens of cushions from the boat’s deck and a gigantic radar from its mast floated on the surface of the sea, fishermen said.

In all, 22 people were on board, 15 of whom were rescued. Six bodies — five passengers and the ship’s cook — had been recovered by Thursday afternoon, including that of Mr. Lynch, an Italian government official said, adding that the search was continuing for his daughter.

It was a tragic and mystifying turn of events for Mr. Lynch, 59, who had spent years seeking to clear his name and was finally inaugurating a new chapter in his life. Experts wondered how a $40 million yacht, so robust and stable could have been sunk by a storm near a port within minutes.

“It drives me insane,” said Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which in 2022 bought the company, Perini, that made the Bayesian. “Following all the proper procedures, that boat is unsinkable.”

The aura of misfortune only deepened when it emerged that Stephen Chamberlain, 52, a former vice president of finance for Mr. Lynch’s former company and a co-defendant in the fraud case, was killed two days earlier, when he was hit by a car while jogging near his house in England.

Since June, the two men had been in a jubilant mood. A jury in San Francisco had acquitted both on fraud charges that could have sent them to prison for two decades. There were hugs and tears, and they and their legal teams went for a celebratory dinner party at a restaurant in the city, said Gary S. Lincenberg, a lawyer for Mr. Chamberlain.

The sea excursion was meant as a thank-you by Mr. Lynch to those who had helped him in his legal travails. Among the guests was Christopher J. Morvillo, 59, a scion of a prominent New York family of lawyers who had represented Mr. Lynch for 12 years. He and his wife, Neda, 57, were among the missing.

So, too, was Jonathan Bloomer, 70, a veteran British insurance executive who chaired Morgan Stanley International and the insurer Hiscox.

The body of the ship’s cook, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered. All the other crew members survived. Among them was Leo Eppel, 19, of South Africa, who was on his first yacht voyage working as a deck steward, said a friend, who asked not to be identified.

Since the sinking, the recovery effort and investigation have turned the tiny port town of Porticello, a quiet enclave where older men sit bare-chested on balconies, into what feels like the set of a movie.

Helicopters have flown overhead. Ambulances have sped by with the sirens blaring. The Coast Guard has patrolled the waters off shore, within sight of a cordoned-off dock that had been turned into an emergency headquarters.

On Wednesday afternoon, a church bell tolled after the first body bag was loaded into an ambulance, a crowd watching in silence.

The survivors were sheltering in a sprawling resort near Porticello, with a view of the shipwreck spot, and had so far declined to comment.

Attilio Di Diodato, director of the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, said that the yacht had most likely been hit by a fierce “down burst” — when air generated within a thunderstorm descends rapidly — or by a waterspout , similar to a tornado over water.

He added that his agency had put out rough-sea warnings the previous evening, alerting sailors about storms and strong winds. Locals said the winds “felt like an earthquake.”

Mr. Costantino, the boat executive, said the yacht had been specifically designed for having a tall mast — the second-tallest aluminum mast in the world. He said the Bayesian was an extremely safe and secure boat that could list even to 75 degrees without capsizing.

But he said that if some of the hatches on the side and in the stern, or some of the deck doors, had been open, the boat could have taken on water and sunk. Standard procedure in such storms, he said, is to switch on the engine, lift the anchor and turn the boat into the wind, lowering the keel for extra stability, closing doors and gathering the guests in the main hall inside the deck.

12 guests occupied the yacht’s six cabins. There were also 10 crew members.

Open hatches, doors and cabin windows could have let in water during a storm, according to the manufacturer.

Open hatches, doors and

cabin windows could

have let in water

during a storm,

according to the

manufacturer.

Source: Superyacht Times, YachtCharterFleet, MarineTraffic

By Veronica Penney

The New York Times attempted to reach the captain, James Cutfield, who had survived, for comment through social media, his brother and the management company of the yacht (which did not hire the crew), but did not make contact.

So far none of the surviving crew members have made a public statement about what happened that night.

Fabio Genco, the director of Palermo’s emergency services, who treated some of the survivors, said that the victims had recounted feeling as if the boat was being lifted, then suddenly dropped, with objects from the cabins falling on them.

The Italian Coast Guard said it had deployed a remotely operated vehicle that can prowl underwater for up to seven hours at a depth of more than 980 feet and record videos and images that they hoped would help them reconstruct the dynamics of the sinking. Such devices were used during the search and rescue operations of the Titan vessel that is believed to have imploded last summer near the wreckage of the Titanic.

After rescuers broke inside the yacht, they struggled to navigate the ropes and many pieces of furniture cluttering the vessel, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for Italy’s national firefighter corps.

Finally, as of Thursday morning, they had managed to retrieve all but one of the missing bodies, and hopes of finding the missing person alive were thin. “Can a human being be underwater for two days?” Mr. Cari asked.

What was certain was that Mr. Lynch’s death was yet another cruel twist of fate for a man who had spent years seeking to clear his name.

He earned a fortune in technology and was nicknamed Britain’s Bill Gates. But for more than a decade, he had been treated as anything but a respected tech leader.

He was accused by Hewlett-Packard, the American technological pioneer that had bought his software company, Autonomy, for $11 billion, of misleading it about his company’s worth. (Hewlett-Packard wrote down the value of the transaction by about $8.8 billion, and critics called it one of the worst deals of all time .) He had been increasingly shunned by the British establishment that he sought to break into after growing up working-class outside London.

He was extradited to San Francisco to face criminal charges, and confined to house arrest and 24-hour surveillance on his dime. In a townhouse in the Pacific Heights neighborhood — with security people he jokingly told associates were his “roommates” — he spent his mornings talking with researchers whom he funded personally on new applications for artificial intelligence. Afterward, he devoted hours to discussing legal strategy with his team.

Despite his persistent claims of innocence, even those close to Mr. Lynch had believed his odds of victory were slim. Autonomy’s chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was convicted in 2018 of similar fraud charges and spent five years in prison.

During Mr. Lynch’s house arrest, his brother and mother died. His wife, Angela Bacares, frequently flew over from England, and she became a constant presence in the San Francisco courtroom during the trial.

After he was finally acquitted, Mr. Lynch had his eye on the future. “I am looking forward to returning to the U.K. and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field,” he said.

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting from Pallanza, Italy.

Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome. More about Emma Bubola

Michael J. de la Merced has covered global business and finance news for The Times since 2006. More about Michael J. de la Merced

The National

16 superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs

Western sanctions over moscow's invasion of ukraine led to many luxury vessels being detained in europe.

23 March, 2022

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Inside £10m yacht linked to Michelle Mone as luxury vessel is put up for sale

Michelle Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman face a National Crime Agency investigation

• 15:23, 25 SEP 2022
• Updated 16:51, 25 SEP 2022

A yacht linked to Scots underwear tycoon and Tory peer Michelle Mone has been put up for sale for £10.25 million.

The sale of Lady M is listed months after a multi-million-pound refit to the 130ft vessel, which Glasgow-born Mone, 50, regularly features on her social media pages.

The boat, which was refurbished in May, features a deluxe cream-coloured interior and four cabins as well as room for six crew.

READ MORE: John Swinney urged to follow Kwasi Kwarteng with 'new era' income tax cuts for Scots

It comes as Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman face a National Crime Agency investigation after the peer recommended PPE Medpro during the pandemic, a firm with connections to her husband - with the pair denying any wrongdoing.

The House of Lords commissioner for standards launched into Baroness Mone in January following a complaint by the Labour peer George Foulkes.

The group was awarded two contracts worth £200 million to supply surgical gowns and other items during the pandemic in 2020 which proved useless after the goods failed an inspection. The Department for Health is in dispute with PPE Medpro over millions of surgical gowns which it bought for £122m in 2020.

Once it became public last year that she had referred PPE Medpro to the Cabinet Office using the "VIP lane", Baroness Mone admitted she made the “very simple, solitary and brief step” but insisted “did not do anything further in respect of PPE Medpro”.

But in leaked Whatsapp messages Mone was allegedly asked what size of gowns were required under the Department of Health deal and replied: “We are just about to take off in the jet. The sizes are in the order. We are waiting for the official PO [purchase order], this should come in today.”

Mone’s lawyers said she could not be expected to comment on “unknown and unattributable WhatsApp messages allegedly sent 19 months ago”.

Sources told the Guardian newspaper that Barrowman, an offshore entreprenuer on the Isle of Man, was "part of the financial consortium that backed" PPE Medpro. But his lawyers said the allegations were “largely incorrect”.

Four properties linked to the firm, including a £25 million Isle of Man bolt hole were raided by the NCA in April. No arrests were made during simultaneous raids in London and the Isle of Man but officers seized documents and electronic devices.

The yacht is also said to have links to PPE Medpro as it is owned by a firm registered on the Isle of Man called L M Yachts, whose director is Anthony Page. Mr Page works for Knox House Trust, part of Mr Barrowman’s Isle of Man-based Knox Group which also owns PPE Medpro, reports the Daily Mail.

In March, AML Tax (UK) Ltd, also part of Knox Group, was fined £150,000 for withholding records needed to calculate tax bills.

The Charity Commission recently opened a compliance case into the Barrowman Foundation.

Set up by Mr Barrowman in 2017 – with his wife as a trustee – it donates to the Prince’s Trust, but has not lodged any donations in its accounts.

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Luxury yachts and other myths: How Republican lawmakers echo Russian propaganda

Two senior Republican lawmakers, the chairs of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, say their colleagues are echoing Russian state propaganda against Ukraine.

Researchers who study disinformation say Reps. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, are merely acknowledging what has been clear for some time: Russian propaganda aimed at undermining U.S. and European support for Ukraine has steadily seeped into America’s political conversation over the past decade, taking on a life of its own.

McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck News he thinks “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

Turner, chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN that anti-Ukraine messages from Russia are “being uttered on the House floor.”

For the past decade, since Russia’s first military incursion into Ukraine in 2014, Moscow has spread propaganda and disinformation in a bid to undercut U.S. and European military support for Ukraine, according to U.S. and Western officials.

Some of the arguments, distortions and falsehoods spread by Russia have taken root, mostly among right-wing pro-Trump outlets and Republican politicians, researchers say, including that Ukraine’s government is too corrupt to benefit from Western aid and that the Biden family has alleged corrupt ties to Ukraine.

Russia, in keeping with traditional propaganda techniques, seeks to make its case and tarnish Ukraine through a mixture of outright falsehoods, half-truths, inferences or simply amplifying and promoting arguments already being made by American or European commentators and politicians, researchers say.

The propaganda is sometimes spread covertly, through fake online accounts, or openly by Russian officials and state media. As a result, the origin of some allegations or criticisms is often opaque, especially when a certain accusation or perception has gained wide acceptance, leaving no clear fingerprints.

Early in the war, a false story boosted by Russian propaganda — that the U.S. had helped Ukraine build biological weapons labs — gained traction on right-wing social media and was touted by then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Russia also is conducting a parallel propaganda campaign in Europe. Belgium’s prime minister said Thursday that his government is investigating alleged Russian bribes to members of the European Parliament as part of Moscow’s campaign to undermine support for Ukraine. Czech law enforcement officials last month alleged that a former pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament, Viktor Medvedchuk, was behind a Prague-based Russian propaganda network designed to promote opposition to aiding Ukraine.

Here are some examples of Republican lawmakers using arguments often promoted by Russian propaganda:

Buying yachts

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with members of Congress behind closed doors in December to appeal for more U.S. help for his country’s troops, some lawmakers raised questions about Ukraine allegedly buying yachts with American aid money.

Zelenskyy made clear that was not the case, according to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a strong supporter of arming Ukraine. “I think the notion of corruption came up because some have said we can’t do it, because people will buy yachts with the money,” Tillis told CNN. “[Zelenskyy] disabused people of those notions.”

Where did the yacht rumor come from?

Pro-Russian actors and websites promoted a narrative alleging Zelenskyy bought two superyachts with U.S. aid dollars. One Russia-based propaganda site, DC Weekly , published a story last November that included photos of two luxury yachts, called Lucky Me and My Legacy , which it alleged were bought for $75 million.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal opponent of military aid to Ukraine, in November retweeted a post about the alleged yacht purchase from the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russian-based propaganda outlet directed by Russia’s intelligence services, according to the Treasury Department. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the organization, accusing it of spreading disinformation and interfering in U.S. elections.

Another outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, also made a similar claim.

In a December interview with former President Donald Trump’s White House adviser Steve Bannon, Vance claimed that members of Congress wanted to cut Social Security benefits to provide more aid to Ukraine, and that money would allegedly be used for Zelenskyy’s ministers to “buy a bigger yacht.”

“There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty. Why? So that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?” Vance said. “Kiss my ass, Steve. It’s not happening.”

The tale of Zelenskyy’s luxury yacht, however, turned out to be totally false . The yachts cited in the DC Weekly article remain up for sale , the owners told The Associated Press.

Two academics at Clemson University, disinformation researchers Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren, found that DC Weekly ran numerous stories copied from other sites that were rewritten by artificial intelligence engines. The articles had bylines with fake names along with headshots copied from other online sites. DC Weekly appeared to be a Russian effort to launder false information through a seemingly legitimate news site as part of an attempt to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine, according to the researchers .

Asked by reporters about Vance’s comments, Tillis said: “I think it’s bullshit. ...If you’re talking about giving money to Ukrainian ministers — total and unmitigated bullshit.”

Greene’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Vance’s spokesperson said the senator was making a rhetorical point about how he opposed sending U.S. assistance to what he sees as a corrupt country, but was not asserting the yacht stories online were accurate.

Vance’s office referred NBC News to an earlier response to the BBC on the same topic:

“For years, everyone in the West recognized that Ukraine was one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Somehow everyone forgot that just as we started sending them billions of dollars in foreign aid.”

Enabling ‘corruption’

Russian state media for years has painted Ukraine as deeply corrupt, and has argued that the U.S. and its allies are wasting money and military hardware by assisting such an allegedly corrupt government.

“This is absolutely a line that they have pushed, and then once it appears in the Western ecosystem, other [Russian] media picks it up and it gets recycled back,” said Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

This line of argument has gained traction partly because Ukraine does face a genuine corruption problem.

Russia’s effort to focus attention on corruption in Ukraine reflects a long-established propaganda method of using facts or partial truths to anchor a broader assertion or accusation, sometimes making a leap in logic, Schafer and other researchers said. Russia’s message amounts to: Ukraine is corrupt, therefore U.S. and Western aid will be stolen and wasted.

Schafer said it was ironic for Russia, a country mired in corruption and kleptocracy, to be leveling accusations about corruption.

Republican Rep. Mary Miller has said she strongly opposes more assistance for Ukraine because it amounts to sending cash to “corrupt oligarchs.”

“With Zelensky coming to DC this week to ask for more money, I will continue to vote AGAINST sending your tax $$ to corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine for a proxy war that could have ended in ‘22,” Miller wrote in a post on X in December.

The Illinois lawmaker also echoed another assertion that often appears in Russian media, that the Biden administration allegedly undermined efforts by Russia to avoid war with Ukraine.

 “A peace deal was on the table that [Ukraine] and [Russia] were both ready to sign, but Biden said NO,” she wrote.

There was in fact no proposed peace agreement that Russia and Ukraine were prepared to sign before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to U.S. and European officials. As Russian troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Western governments urged Russia not to invade and warned there would be economic and diplomatic consequences.

Reuters has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a possible deal to avert a war that had been discussed with Kyiv by Russia’s envoy to Ukraine. The Kremlin said the report was inaccurate and has said Russia tried for years to arrive at an understanding with Ukraine.

As for corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy has vowed to tackle the problem, sacking senior officials in some recent cases. But some civil society groups have criticized his approach and Ukrainians say corruption is the country’s second-most serious problem, after the Russian invasion, according to a poll conducted last year.

In an annual survey, Transparency International said Ukraine made progress toward addressing the issue and now ranks 104th out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index , climbing 12 places up from its previous ranking.

Ukraine is not alone among countries that receive U.S. and other foreign aid but struggle with corruption. Supporters of assisting Ukraine argue it would undermine America’s influence in the world and its humanitarian efforts if Washington withheld foreign aid from every country where there were reports of corruption.

Miller’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Biden family and Ukraine

Republicans have repeatedly alleged that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter have corrupt ties to Ukraine, and that they sought $5 million in bribes from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma to protect the firm from an investigation by Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

There is no credible evidence for the allegations. A key source for the accusations against the Bidens is a former FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who was arrested in February on federal charges of fabricating the bribery claims. Smirnov says he was fed information by Russian intelligence.

Republicans had heavily promoted Smirnov’s allegations against the Bidens, seeing them as crucial to a planned impeachment effort against the president that has since fizzled .

“In my estimation, that is probably the clearest example of Russian propaganda working its way into the American political system,” said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council.

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona cited the false bribery allegations in expressing his opposition to providing assistance to Ukraine.

“In exchange for … bribe money from Ukraine, Joe Biden has dished out over $100 billion in taxpayer money to fund the war in Ukraine. I will not assist this corruption by sending more money to the authoritarian Ukrainian regime,” Gosar said in a statement in October.

Gosar’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Dan De Luce is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 

Syedah Asghar is a Capitol Hill researcher for NBC News and is based in Washington, D.C.

Ferretti Yachts and Riva to attend Moscow Boat Show 2013

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Written by Zuzana Bednarova

To be represented by Premium Yachts, Ferretti Yachts and Riva , two prestigious brands of the Ferretti Group, will be present at the Moscow International Boat Show 2013, displaying motor yacht Ferretti 530 as well as Riva Iseo yacht tender.

Luxury motor yacht Ferretti 530

Luxury yacht Ferretti 530 was very keen to undertake in collaboration once again with AYT – Advanced Yacht Technology, Ferretti Group Engineering Division and Studio Zuccon International Project . The compact dimensions, 16 meters long and almost 5 meters wide, allow the 530 yacht to deliver grand Italian luxury and cruising immersed in such comfort until now unheard of in a yacht of this size.

Ferretti 530 yacht boasts three revolutionary innovations: the full beam master cabin with chaise longue and two large open view windows that make it a real suite at sea level bathed in light, tones and the natural essences of teak. Moving the galley from the center to the aft section creates a unique open space that includes the saloon, galley, cocktail bar and the dining area, the cockpit area continues thanks to the tilting window. The roll bar free sky lounge and the spoiler allow the 530 a sporty appearance combined with elegantly formal lines.

Ferretti 530 Yacht - Interior

Riva , the iconic Ferretti Group brand, presented a new model at the historical Lake d’Iseo shipyards in July 2011. Featuring elegance and ease of transportation as its distinctive characteristics, Iseo superyacht tender , a 27 foot runabout, is destined to become a must-have for those who love cruising on both lakes and the sea, and, most importantly, design enthusiasts. It is also perfect for anyone wishing to enhance their yacht with an exclusive tender that will never go unnoticed.

Riva Iseo superyacht tender

Due to its ease of manoeuvrability and size, Iseo yacht tender is also ideal as a tender for large yachts. Innovative and elegant, it can also guarantee comfort in bad weather conditions. Besides the electrohydraulic bimini top, it was also designed with a waterproof, automobile-style soft top which protects those on board against water and the wind during cruising.

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "Ferretti Yachts and Riva to attend Moscow Boat Show 2013".

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