MICHELLE Mone hasn't had a great time this year. From a police raid on her home, and revelations surrounding her role in the UK Government's VIP fast-lane, the Lady has raised a lot of questions and provided very few answers.
With so many scandals and headlines over the years, it's difficult to remember just how many eye-raising moments we've experienced from this Conservative peer.
Here are some of her worst.
Diet pills controversy
In 2015, Baroness Mone found herself in the headlines alongside Harry Styles, Jake Gyllenhaal and Elle Macpherson - though it wasn't for the reason she may have hoped.
A weight loss supplement endorsed by the businesswoman was listed on one of the worst celebrity diets of the year by the British Dietetic Association (BDA).
TrimSecrets, which costs nearly £30 a month, recommended followers take a capsule with each meal and consume 1500 calories per day.
READ MORE: BBC refuses to say why it hasn't covered raid on Michelle Mone's house
The main ingredient in the pill is sinetrol, a blend of compounds extracted from citrus fruits which aim to suppress appetite and increase metabolism.
Unfortunately for Mone, the BDA was more than a little sceptical of pill.
“By consuming 1500 calories a day, most individuals should lose weight regardless of whether they are taking this pill and that’s no secret," it said
“The pill has echoes of the grapefruit diet and includes guarana which is high in caffeine yet states it’s caffeine free. Beware of pills and potions and make sure you know exactly what you are buying and taking.”
After revealing her weight loss in 2010, the Mone's publicist said: “Michelle owes her weight loss to TrimSecrets.”
No human rights for rioters
During the 2011 London riots the woman who now gets a say in shaping the UK's legislation took a harsh stance against looters.
After calling for the army to come in and support the police, the Ultimo businesswoman tweeted: "People who riot, steal, cover face deserve zero human rights."
That's right, the OBE recipient and the lifetime, unelected peer brazenly called to strip people of their human rights.
Trashing a Porsche, laxatives in coffee and cutting up her husband's clothes
In her book, Mone detailed her 22-year marriage breakdown with then-husband Michael. In it, she describes putting laxatives in his coffee, cutting up his clothes and trashing his £100,000 Porsche after accusing him of cheating on her.
Certainly an awkward admission given her previous comment human rights and those who break the law.
£16,000 fine for bugged worker
In 2013, Mone's company MJM International was ordered to pay an employee £16,000 in compensation after he found a listening device in a vase of artificial flowers in his office following an employment tribunal.
"It is not normal to bug your employees," said a senior business source at the time.
Poor House of Lords attendance
Analysis by The National revealed that Mone was among several Scottish Lords to have shocking attendance in the chamber.
In the last six months to July, the Glaswegian turned up to the Lords just five times.
A spokesperson for Baroness Mone said she was taking a “absence of leave”, adding: “She is a Baroness for life, all above board and no need for a drama.”
Crypto failure
In February 2018 Mone said she would stake her reputation on a new “global business” selling her own brand of cryptocurrency.
“We’ve got incredible reputations. There’s no way we’re going to do anything untowards to let these people down,” Mone said
Hours later the cryptocurrency market collapsed, with prices tanking by around 25%.
In September of the same year, she dismissed claims that her business wheeze “ended in a fiasco”.
Mone had told the Business Insider that she was “one of the biggest experts in Cryptocurrency and Blockchain”.
The peer and her partner Doug Barrowman had hoped to raise $80 million from investors for their crypto-currency EQUI.
However, according to the FT, they managed just $7m.
After launching a two-week pre-sale a on March 1, with a minimum required investment of $100,000, EQUI put out a press release on March 6 boasting that it had raised a nice, round $7m “in only a few days”.
However, they had still only raised $7m at the end of June.
At that point, EQUI abandoned the ICO and relaunched as “EQUI Global”.
The poverty safari and the 'moron'
In August 2018, the entrepreneur's daughter was slammed for going on a televised “poverty safari” of Glasgow’s East End.
Bethany Mone was set to take part in Channel 4’s Born Famous, a reality TV show that puts the offspring of celebrities into deprived communities “to live the life they would have lived had their parents had not found fame".
SNP MP Alison Thewliss (below) called it “despicable”, describing it as an “exploitation” of the community. Lady Mone responded by calling the politician a “moron”.
Not the greatest response to an accusation that Mone is exploiting the very community she came from.
The show had promised to send teens to the communities where their “superstar parents grew up”, but Tobin was heading to Bridgeton rather than Dennistoun where her mum hails from.
£50,000 settlement over 'racism' claims
In August, the Baroness had to shell out some £50,000 to settle a lawsuit over racism claims, according to reports.
The Conservative baroness settled the High Court claim of racial abuse after she allegedly called a man of Indian heritage a “waste of a white man's skin”.
Mone’s lawyers said she had believed that Richard Lynton-Jones was “100 per cent white” when she made the comment over WhatsApp message in 2019.
An investigation by the Metropolitan Police, launched in 2021, was dropped, but Lynton-Jones sued for libel. He was seeking around £200,000 in aggravated damages, according to the Daily Mail.
The disagreement reportedly stemmed from a fatal yacht collision in 2019. Lynton-Jones – whose mother is said to be of Indian heritage – said the incident had traumatised his partner.
In a reply first reported by the Guardian in December last year, Mone is alleged to have said: “Your a low life, a waste of a mans white skin so don’t give us your lies. Your a total disgrace.”
Lynton-Jones said: “I've done nothing wrong apart from be a victim of racism. Racism has no place in this society, let alone for a member of the House of Lords. That's disgusting.”
A spokesperson for Mone denied the baroness was racist. They said: “Both parties have settled their differences on a no fault or damages basis in relation to the alleged racist claim and the matter is now concluded.”
'Secretly pocketing £29m from PPE firm'
Mone's most recent controversy is perhaps one of her biggest. Just this week The Guardian reported that the Unionist politician and her children reportedly received £29m from the profits of a PPE business which was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers.
Mone reportedly helped support the company PPE Medpro to gain a place in the “VIP lane” which the UK Government used during the pandemic to prioritise companies which had political connections.
The newspaper said it had seen documents which indicate tens of millions of pounds of PPE Medpro’s profits were later transferred to a secret offshore trust of which Mone and her adult children benefited from.
Asked by The Guardian a year ago why PPE Medpro was not declared in Mone’s financial interests, her lawyer said: “Baroness Mone did not declare any interest as she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity.”
The leaked documents, produced by the bank HSBC, reportedly contradict that statement.
READ MORE: Michelle Mone among 10 Tory politicians to refer firms through Covid 'VIP lane'
They show that Mone’s husband, Douglas Barrowman, was paid a minimum of £65m in profits from PPE Medpro and then distributed these funds through a series of offshore accounts, trusts and companies.
The eventual recipient of the funds, according to the documents, include an Isle of Man trust which was set up to benefit Mone, who was Barrowman’s fiancée at the time, and her children.
The documents add that, in October 2020, he transferred £28.8m to the trust which originated from PPE Medpro profits.
This came just five months after Mone helped the PPE company secure contracts to supply both face masks and sterile gowns for use in the NHS.
A lawyer for Mone said: “There are a number of reasons why our client cannot comment on these issues and she is under duty to do so.”
There's even more, we're sure
The Jouker is sure there are even more questionable moments from Mone and will update this list as they come in.
If we've missed any so far though, let us know in the comments below.
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