Failed Sarah Ferguson-backed app received £1m taxpayers' money

According to documents filed this week, a lifestyle app backed by Sarah Ferguson earned more than £1 million in taxpayers' money but stopped without ever launching a product. VVoosh was founded by Manuel Fernandez, a close friend of Ms Ferguson who once referred to herself as a ambassador for the firm and was an investor. It promised to give customers

the ability to Find, Plan, Share, Live, and Remember all the things you love doing - and those you're yet to try.

Ms Ferguson and Mr Fernandez did not respond to calls for clarification.

VVoosh was put into service last month, and its demise will cast further doubt on the former duchess's character and the company's relationships she sought. According to documents submitted by the administrator, the company raised around £9 million over the years, with more than £1 million from the UK government for study and tax credits. It required teams in the United Kingdom and India to work on the app, but it never launched it, and there was no budget to fund further expansion. When the Indian contractor threatened legal intervention, progress on the app was suspended. According to the administrator's report, there was a

breakdown in contact between the current directors/major creditors and the founder [Mr Fernandez], who stopped communication following [his] resignation as a director earlier this year. According to the study, the company owes £324,609 to a former CEO. Mr Fernandez is expected to be the first director to leave the company since 2019. He sold his house in North London last year for £1. According to Land Registry records, the figure is expected to have left the UK, and is estimated to have escaped the country. In addition, vVoosh owes £50,000 to La Luna Investments, one of Ms Ferguson's companies, which also owned just under 1% of the company's shares. According to documents, the company had more than 60 other small shareholders, many with addresses in Essex and London, but a few American addresses also appeared. Administrators said there was

serious doubt

over how much money the company's creditors would get back after the company was wound up. Mark Guzy, one of the company's key remaining assets, has invested more than £400,000 into the organization to maintain

certain essential services

and protect the company’s valuable software platform. VVoosh's original intention was to divide 10% of its income with a charitable charity. According to the BBC, the Charity Commission has now begun the process of withdrawing vVoosh Charitable Foundation from the registry of charities, on the grounds that it does not exist. Its reporting has been more than four and a half years late. HMRC refused to respond to questions about tax credits. Mr Guzy and the other vVoosh's chiefs declined to comment. According to the Times, Mr Fernandez denied receiving money out of the company earlier this month. The allegation, according to the reporter, would be

disproven in the course of court proceedings. Ms Ferguson, 66, lost her duchess title when her late husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, rescinded the use of his Duke of York name due to his ties with Ep He has since been stripped of the title of prince as well. Last month, it was revealed that a crypto-currency mining company had agreed to pay her up to £11. 4 million for acting as a brand ambassador for the firm, which also failed, allegedly costing investors millions of dollars. Its co-founder denied misconduct and said he was working to compensate backers. After an email from 2011 that she called sex offender Jeffrey Epstein her supreme friend and appeared to apologise for her public criticism of him, a number of charities dropped her in September as a patron ambassador. According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Fernandez went to school in Billericay, Essex, and was a soldier in the Royal Anglian Regiment. He spent time at a variety of tech firms before establishing vvvoosh in 2010. He was regularly photographed with the then duchess in 2015 and 2016, and they attended Sir Bob Geldof's wedding together, but she denied rumors that they were a couple, saying they were just "good friends. Updated 6 December: An earlier version included financial data for the vvoosh charitable foundation, which was taken from the Charity Commission website, but the charity never traded.