Former Dragons’ Den star Julie Meyer has been stripped of her MBE after being found in contempt of court over a long-running dispute involving almost £200,000 in unpaid legal fees.
The 58-year-old US-born venture capitalist, awarded the honour in 2011 for services to entrepreneurship, was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence after repeatedly failing to submit documents or attend hearings.
According to the Cabinet Office’s latest list of forfeitures since August 2023, Meyer lost the honour for “bringing the honours system into disrepute”. She is one of only two women on the list, alongside former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, who forfeited her CBE over the Horizon IT scandal.
Meyer, who became one of two new Dragons on an online version of the BBC Two show in 2009 and served as an enterprise adviser to then–Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010, became embroiled in a legal battle with Farrers, the law firm that once represented Queen Elizabeth II.
The dispute began in 2022, when a warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to attend a High Court hearing on 14 February. Meyer argued she could not travel from Switzerland due to conjunctivitis and her unvaccinated status against Covid-19, but a judge ruled her medical evidence was insufficient.
Farrers claimed she owed partner Julian Pike £197,000 for work carried out in a Maltese court case. Meyer disputed the bill, claiming the services were worth only £50,000.
Mr Justice Kerr described Meyer as “a selfish and untrustworthy person”, adding: “I am satisfied there is every prospect that the defendant will continue to flout orders of the court unless coerced into obeying them.”
Once celebrated for her role in championing entrepreneurship, Meyer’s reputation has been tarnished by the legal dispute and subsequent contempt ruling. The loss of her MBE marks a significant fall from grace for the entrepreneur, who had been seen as a rising figure in UK business circles during the early 2010s.
