In short
The Guardian podcast “Think Like a Billionaire Part 1” follows reporter Olivia Lee’s investigation into dot-com entrepreneur Julie Meyer MBE, who built a glamorous reputation and later allegedly ran businesses that failed, owed money, and mistreated staff.
Key claims
Meyer used lavish networking events and “trustworthy” branding to attract investors and clients; when disputes arose, she allegedly withheld or reduced payments, became belligerent in court, and protected herself by reputation. Notable examples include: First Tuesday (sold in 2000 after the dot-com bubble burst); Ariadne Capital (losing up to £45,000/month in 2017; owing taxman £471,000 and other creditors); and a legal case where Rachel Lowe won £26,000 plus costs after Meyer was judged “not credible.”
Guests
Olivia Lee (Guardian reporter; researched 18 months) and interviewees including Reid Farrs (former CEO of First Tuesday) and Rachel Lowe (Ariadne Capital business-plan worker).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOSetting the Scene
1:03 to 1:20
Description of the Westin Dragonara Hotel in Malta.
“All episodes streaming June 21st on Paramount+.”
Julie Meyer in Distress
1:20 to 3:16
Julie Meyer is in a panic and planning a hasty departure.
“It's located on its own private peninsula.”
Tracing Julie's Journey
3:16 to 3:32
The reporter follows Julie's trail across Europe amidst controversy.
“To find out, Olivia has spent the last year following Julie's trail across Europe, hearing about failed businesses, missing money and claims of scams, and ultimately ending up at the door of Julie Meyer herself.”
Introduction of Olivia Lee
3:32 to 3:48
Olivia Lee shares how she became involved in the story.
“Today in Focus, Think Like a Billionaire, Part 1.”
Julie Meyer's Background
3:48 to 7:20
Exploring Julie Meyer's upbringing and early ambitions.
“Olivia, this story began for you at the back end of 2024 in a rather unusual location.”
The Dot-Com Boom
7:20 to 9:21
Discussion on the rise of the internet and Julie's entrepreneurial journey.
“I remember going to Paris with$1 ,000 because I refused to accept any money from my father.”
First Tuesday's Success
9:21 to 14:01
Julie Meyer establishes herself in the UK entrepreneurship scene through First Tuesday.
“For those of you too young to have lived through the dot-com boom, Brent Hoberman was a big deal.”
The Millionaire's Dilemma
14:01 to 14:33
Learn about Julie Meyer's conflicted feelings after a lucrative exit.
“and the founders, including Julie, walked away as millionaires.”
A New Venture: Ariadne Capital
14:33 to 15:10
Discover Julie's journey in establishing Ariadne Capital and her rising reputation.
“The British government has spent an inordinate amount of money on the Millennium Dome.”
Rising Fame and Influential Status
15:10 to 16:04
Explore how Julie became a recognized figure in the tech industry.
“She's doing interviews with all the big press outlets at the time, you know, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph.”
Show all 18 chapters
High-Profile Connections and Awards
16:04 to 17:25
Understanding Julie's network and accolades that cemented her status.
“I start with a deeply held view that the entrepreneur is the hero.”
Inside Ariadne: The Work Culture
17:25 to 19:48
Insights into the dynamics and atmosphere at Julie's company, Ariadne.
“What did you find out about the kind of people who were involved with Ariadne Capital, this company dating site that she was running at the time?”
Legal Battles and Workplace Turmoil
19:48 to 22:07
Learn about the fallout from Rachel's experience and the ensuing litigation.
“And they basically said that Julia had made a lot of commitments to provide services, commitments that they'd paid for up front and hadn't delivered.”
Ariadne's Financial Downfall
22:07 to 23:07
Examine the financial troubles and debts that plagued Ariadne Capital.
“By 2017, Ariadne Capital was in serious trouble.”
Julie Meyer: New Beginnings in Malta
23:07 to 23:34
Discover Julie's relocation to Malta and her new investment plans.
“She'd moved to sunny Malta, into the Western Dragonara Hotel.”
Building New Relationships
23:34 to 26:55
Follow Julie's interactions with Mark Lightfoot and their initial collaboration.
“There she meets Mark Lightfoot, a graphic designer with a modest but well-regarded business on the island.”
Conflict and Legal Issues Reemerge
26:55 to 28:01
Uncover the conflicts that arise between Julie and Mark, leading to legal threats.
“It was her way of getting out of paying.”
The Web of Deceit
28:01 to 29:10
Explore the intricate web of manipulation and betrayal surrounding Julie Meyer.
“Eventually, Mark dropped his legal claim.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Olivia Lee:This is The Guardian.
0:06Olivia Lee:Today, Think Like a Billionaire, part one.
0:14Julie Meyer:Today in Focus is supported by Paramount+. The Agency. All episode streaming June 21st on Paramount+. In the world of espionage, truth is a moving target, and every decision carries a dangerous consequence.
0:36Olivia Lee:This new mission explores what it means to live as a double agent. Twice the lies, twice the risk.
0:45Julie Meyer:The lines between ally and enemy blur like never before, and survival depends on trusting no one. Starring Michael Fassbender, Geoffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith and Richard Gere. Don't miss The Agency. All episodes streaming June 21st on Paramount+.
1:19Olivia Lee:The year is 2017 at the Westin Dragonara Hotel in Malta.
1:26Julie Meyer:It's really grand, very luxurious. It's located on its own private peninsula. Five swimming pools, a hair salon, private beach lined with palm trees. You know, idyllic.
1:38Olivia Lee:This luxury hotel is the home of Julie Meyer MBE, dot-com darling and Dragon's Den star. For the past few months, Julie has been living in the hotel while she grows her business. It's late. A couple of her assistants arrive at the front desk looking panicked.
1:56Julie Meyer:Julie has written this letter and they hand this letter to the receptionist and it says something like, oh I've paid a little bit of extra money to let my employees in. The receptionist accepts the letter and hands them the keys to the room.
2:10Olivia Lee:They enter the room and urgently start packing.
2:13Julie Meyer:Julie's also sent an email with detail of what to pack and what to leave behind. So in the email, it says, take everything in the drawers, under the TV, all shoes in both closets. The second closet close to the window and further from the door has the more important clothes, expensive ones that I need now.
2:33Olivia Lee:This is Olivia Lee, a reporter who spent the past 18 months digging into the life and times of Julie Meyer.
2:41Julie Meyer:Further down in the email, it says, be super friendly to the staff in the hallway and don't allow them to think that there's anything up. I'll look odd and raise the alarm that we're doing a runner and I'm fleeing the country.
2:56Olivia Lee:The orders came from someone who'd been named one of the most influential businesswomen in Europe. It helps society understand that society works best when it's organised around the entrepreneur. A woman who had the brains, the looks, the connections to make it right to the very top. Now she was doing a runner in the middle of the night. So what was Julie Meyer up to? To find out, Olivia has spent the last year following Julie's trail across Europe, hearing about failed businesses, missing money and claims of scams, and ultimately ending up at the door of Julie Meyer herself.
3:31Julie Meyer:Apparently it's got her name on it, so we're just checking. Oh, here we go. Julie Marie Meyer.
3:36Olivia Lee:Top floor, looks like. From The Guardian, I'm Helen Pitt. Today in Focus, Think Like a Billionaire, Part 1.
3:48Olivia Lee:Olivia, this story began for you at the back end of 2024 in a rather unusual location.
3:56Julie Meyer:Yeah, it was very random actually. I was in Fabric Nightclub, so quite an iconic nightclub in London. My friend was working for a company who'd hired out the club for an after party to a tech conference and she was just like, do you want to come along? There'll be a free bar. I think I just handed in the dissertation for my masters, so it was kind of perfect timing to let off some steam and have a dance. It was like a typical night at Fabrics. It was quite loud. The DJ was playing techno music, strobe lights, fog machines. You couldn't really see people's faces. Everyone there was a tech founder, so I felt slightly out of place.
4:37Julie Meyer:But I started talking to this guy. He was American. He was in his late 20s. He was really charismatic, quite funny. We're talking a little bit about his business. Then he starts telling me this really strange story.
4:53Julie Meyer:He'd been invited to this luxurious networking event, so entrepreneurs would be able to pitch their ideas to wealthy investors. There were going to be yacht trips and gala dinners, you know, exactly where you want to be if you're an entrepreneur who needed backing. There'd be 60 high net investors. It was kind of like Dragon's Den Abroad,
5:11Olivia Lee:Okay, so he was sold basically and he flies out to the Greek island where this thing is taking place. What does he find there?
5:18Julie Meyer:So this guy in the club, he told me this story and he said he was expecting something like quite a luxurious, glamorous experience. And the reality was that it was a complete mess. So he said there was meant to be around like 60 high net investors attending and that barely any of them had shown up. He claimed that there were these really chaotic scenes of taxi drivers supposedly working for the organiser going on strike because they hadn't been paid. People chucked out of hotel rooms because the organiser appeared to have not paid the hotel bill. People told him that there were meant to be these yacht trips, but they claimed that only two small motorboats turned up and they were meant to have this nice lunch and they were served sandwiches and samosas.
5:59Julie Meyer:He said that the whole experience was very chaotic and disorganised.
6:06Olivia Lee:Olivia leaves the party but she just can't get this story out of her head a few weeks go by and then suddenly her LinkedIn inbox pings
6:17Julie Meyer:and it's from this guy from Fabric and the message just has a link to a LinkedIn profile and I click on it and I find out her name Julie Meyer focus on your unique contribution focus on
6:31Olivia Lee:what you're good at. Focus on what you're meant to deliver to the world and the money will find you.
6:39Julie Meyer:I was like, wow, okay, this woman is clearly very successful. She had listed all these awards. She looked quite glamorous in her profile picture, you know, gorgeous blonde hair, gorgeous eyes. I was impressed.
6:56Olivia Lee:So Olivia, you took the story to the Guardian's investigations team and began working alongside Juliet Garside, who at that point was one of the editors on the team. And you were both looking into Julie Meyer. What did you learn about her background?
7:08Julie Meyer:So she was born in Michigan. She was raised in a really religious household. Her family were Lutherans. She said she told her dad that she wanted to be the first female president of the United States. After she graduated, she moved to Paris.
7:22Olivia Lee:I remember going to Paris with$1 ,000 because I refused to accept any money from my father. And as I was walking to catch the flight to Paris at age 21, he turned to my stepmother and he said, don't worry, she'll be back soon. She doesn't have that much money. And I spun around and I said, you watch, I'm going to live over there the rest of my life. I don't need your money.
7:42Julie Meyer:Paris to France. And why did she move to France? I think she wanted a fresh start, really. She started working as a consultant for Motorola and Hewlett Packard. But what Julie really wanted was to become an entrepreneur.
7:54Olivia Lee:My friends are all entrepreneurs. And if I'm really honest, I find it difficult to hang out with people who aren't entrepreneurs, people who are not devoted to creating things, to solving problems and meeting the opportunities that they see around themselves.
8:10Julie Meyer:In the late 90s, she completed an MBA at INSEAD, so it's a very prestigious French business school. And then she moves to London.
8:21Olivia Lee:It was the late 1990s. The Spice Girls were at the top of the charts. Tony Blair was in Downing Street, and although broadband was still a year or two off for most people, more and more people were online, booking holidays, finding love, surfing the World Wide Web, as we used to call it. Money started pouring into any company with a website. The dot-com boom had started.
8:46Julie Meyer:If you were a young, hungry entrepreneur in Europe at that time, the place you wanted to be was London. The internet revolution had arrived in Europe, and London was at the centre of it. There were suddenly like huge investments being made into internet startups. And people thought they were in for making a lot of money.
9:02Olivia Lee:When I came to the United Kingdom, every one of those internet entrepreneurs fancied themselves as the slayer of the dragon. Everybody seems to want to be disrupted.
9:14Julie Meyer:She started working at an investment firm called New Media Investors. It was a venture capital firm that invested in internet startups. And through this firm, she met Brent Hoberman, who was the founder of LastMinute.com.
9:28Olivia Lee:For those of you too young to have lived through the dot-com boom, Brent Hoberman was a big deal. He was the guy, a charismatic ex-ertonian who totally disrupted the travel market with his online booking site, which he co-founded aged 30 and later sold for a billion dollars.
9:47Julie Meyer:At the time, Brent had been approached by a group of individuals about getting involved in a startup, and he was really busy at the time, so he recommended Julie to get involved instead.
9:56Olivia Lee:The company was called First Tuesday, a networking business for founders and investors to meet. And everybody who came to First Tuesday events, these were digital revolutionaries, internet entrepreneurs. They were David with a slingshot. They wanted to kill and assassinate the Goliaths of the day.
Read the full transcript
10:12Julie Meyer:These events were super exciting. If you were a young entrepreneur with an idea for a business, you wanted to be at First Tuesday. Entrepreneurs would be given green dots on their name badges and investors were given red dots. You'd get these swarm of green dots, you know, furiously pitching their ideas to investors with red dots. The parties were becoming so popular that they eventually hired out the Lord's Cricket Club. I'm 20-something and you're like, well, it'd be nice to start my own company. So I went to several of her First Tuesday events, which were excellent.
10:43Olivia Lee:In 1998, Simon Davis was a young wannabe entrepreneur.
10:47Julie Meyer:It felt like a little club. Yeah, I was like, oh, yeah, I went to First Tuesday. And if you went to First Tuesday, then like you were in with this clique.
10:57Olivia Lee:The UK had never seen anything like it before. And in front of it all was this glamorous, charming American woman.
11:04Julie Meyer:Julie was definitely like kind of the darling of the UK entrepreneurship scene, you know, trying to make the UK more like the American scene, which I think is a noble goal, to be honest. And she's very dynamic. If she had something to say, everybody listened.
11:19Olivia Lee:First Tuesday was my revenge on socialism. In fact, I talked about how First Tuesday was my revenge on socialism so much that Tony Blair's initial interest in coming to a First Tuesday event was quickly squashed because he found that it might be problematic if he was found to go to the networking event of the woman who had a revenge on socialism going on. Years later Simon was offered a chance to work with Julie again. He remembered the glamorous successful events and he grabbed the opportunity. So Olivia it is now 1999 and we're really at the height of dot-com fever and there were companies out there with a huge amount of hype, firms like LastMinute.com, Brent Hoberman's company that were really going from strength to strength and people were making a lot of money.
12:09And I remember even though I was a teenager back then, when was First Tuesday raking it in as well?
12:15Julie Meyer:So interestingly, even though a lot of businesses that went to First Tuesday were making money, First Tuesday wasn't. So people I spoke to told me it was essentially a glorified cocktail party. So they ended up bringing in a guy called Reid Farrs. It was a really exciting time. There was a feeling that we all understood where the future was going, and we were a part of it because we were at First Tuesday. My name is Reid Farrs. I have a little frog in my throat today. And from October of 1999 through early 2001, I was the CEO of First Tuesday.
12:51Olivia Lee:Reid had arrived in London to work as a CEO for the glasses brand Vision Express.
12:56Julie Meyer:There was a feeling of techno-optimism, a feeling that the world was going to be better because of the internet, that it was going to democratise all sorts of things. And what people were saying was, you at First Tuesday control the most valuable eyeballs on the planet.
13:13Olivia Lee:It was looking like the sky was the limit for First Tuesday. But then...
13:18Julie Meyer:It's described as nothing short of breathtaking, a points drop never before seen on the US market. This closing bell might as well have been an alarm, so Savage was the selling.
13:30Olivia Lee:The dot-com bubble burst.
13:33Julie Meyer:So we are out trying to raise money. A lot of the funds who were interested in us had American arms that were saying, guys, don't you get it? This is over.
13:41Olivia Lee:There was an Israeli tech company offering to buy First Tuesday in a deal that included around$6 million in cash.
13:48Julie Meyer:The board sat there and said, wow, I put in$40 ,000 a year and a half ago, and now I'm being offered a million plus dollars in return. What's not to like?
13:58Olivia Lee:First Tuesday was sold in a deal valued at$50 million and the founders, including Julie, walked away as millionaires. But Julie wasn't happy. She hadn't wanted to give up and sell, but she'd been outvoted by her male co-owners. In the following years, she'd talk about being dismissed and underestimated by men.
14:17Julie Meyer:We were on the front page of the Financial Times and she would not smile. Deep down, Julie thought of this as her baby.
14:29Olivia Lee:Okay, Olivia, so we are now in the year 2000. Everyone has survived the Y2K bug. The British government has spent an inordinate amount of money on the Millennium Dome. And Julie Meyer is a millionaire. She's still in her 30s. What does she do next?
14:44Julie Meyer:She sets up a new firm called Ariadne Capital. Ariadne Capital provides advice to startups and helps them to raise money. She advised Skype, e-spotting, Monetize, so these really big names at the time. It also hosted networking events for entrepreneurs and investors.
15:02Olivia Lee:And what about Julie herself? What's her reputation?
15:04Julie Meyer:So her reputation couldn't be higher at this point. She was really becoming a media star.
15:10Olivia Lee:Thank you very much and good to be here with you this evening.
15:14Julie Meyer:She's doing interviews with all the big press outlets at the time, you know, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph.
15:21Olivia Lee:I've just been back through The Guardian archive and found an interview with her from 2002, marking the launch of Ariadne, which The Guardian calls a company dating agency. And the piece, which is by Faisal Islam, now the BBC's business editor, describes Julie Meyer as the queen bee of the dot-com scene, who has a swarm of workers out pollinating the brightest flowers of the European technology industry.
15:44Julie Meyer:She would tell people how important, you know, attitude was and believing that you'd already made it. Her advice to one person was, think like a billionaire. The World Economic Forum named her as one of the 100 global leaders for tomorrow. The Wall Street Journal also declared her as the 13th most influential businesswoman in Europe.
16:04Olivia Lee:I start with a deeply held view that the entrepreneur is the hero. Yes, really the hero.
16:10Julie Meyer:Her profile kept rising throughout the noughties until she appeared as a dragon on the online version of Dragon's Den in 2009. Julie Meyer made her millions as an internet entrepreneur and investor in web startups. So while she's on Dragon's Den, she's interested in a real range of companies. So there's a company called Language Garden, which is an English teaching website. I can see giving you an investment of£10 ,000 for 20 % of the business. There's a company called Family Fridge, which is a social networking website. I'd love to accept your offer. Wonderful, wonderful. There's also a 2010 World Cup final song.
16:58Julie Meyer:In 2012, she's given an honorary doctorate by Warrington University.
17:02Olivia Lee:And so she's like a true business leader, right, at this point?
17:05Julie Meyer:Yeah, she's really credible to the point where she's actually awarded an MBE after being appointed an advisor of entrepreneurship to the then business secretary, Vince Cable. She's one of the select few Americans to be awarded an MBE. It's a very prestigious award and it gives her a lot of credibility.
17:25Olivia Lee:What did you find out about the kind of people who were involved with Ariadne Capital, this company dating site that she was running at the time?
17:33Julie Meyer:So at Ariadne, there were some very, very bright people working there, very interesting people. So I spoke to a woman called Rachel Lowe, who was very well regarded. She was a former star salesperson, a former government growth coach, startup advisor. She was hired by Ariadne to work on business plans for some of their clients. She was high profile. She'd worked with the BBC on the Dragon's Den. She'd worked with the British government. She had an MBE.
18:01Olivia Lee:and I thought, yeah, great. It was 2012 and Rachel had recently joined Julie's company, Ariadne Capital. A few times a week, Rachel would make her way to an office in Trafalgar Square. It was flashy, as you would expect from superstar Julie Meyer MBE and it cost Ariadne£10 ,000 a month. On the pavement outside, Julie's chauffeur was always waiting to whisk her away at a moment's notice. She had a personal trainer, two personal assistants, one at the office and a second to keep house. She was living a very lavish and very expensive life.
18:36Julie Meyer:I have described the Ariadne offices as like a temple to Julie because when you walked in through the door, there were photographs literally all down the corridor of Julie and I think she was probably quite proud of the way she looked and justifiably so. She was a very attractive woman and she always looked absolutely fantastic.
18:55Olivia Lee:During the week, I wear Ralph Lauren, Mulberry, Michael Kors and Roland Marais, Julie told Harper's Bazaar. She saw her facialist, an expert in Ayurveda, every Saturday without fail. And what was Julie like as a boss?
19:10Julie Meyer:You know, she would use lots of superlatives and everything. It was amazing. She was full of flattery and did her best to make me feel extremely important.
19:21Olivia Lee:But while Julie showered Rachel with praise, in the office, she says, it was a totally different story. When I did go into the office, you could just feel in the air on a visceral level whether Julie was in or not. Really?
19:35Julie Meyer:When Julie was in the office, there was an atmosphere of fear.
19:39Olivia Lee:And when Rachel spoke to the startup she was supposed to be helping, she said she realised something was seriously wrong.
19:46Julie Meyer:Most of them refused to speak to me. And they basically said that Julia had made a lot of commitments to provide services, commitments that they'd paid for up front and hadn't delivered. They were angry. I mean, really, really angry.
20:01Olivia Lee:And when did things really fall apart? When she stopped paying me.
20:06Julie Meyer:She loved to say how trustworthy she is. You can trust me, Rachel. I'm a very decent, ethical person.
20:13Olivia Lee:You will get paid. But then Rachel got an email.
20:18Julie Meyer:saying we're only going to pay you half of the amount because we are not happy with the work that you've been doing for us
20:26Olivia Lee:which was you know completely out of the blue. And so Rachel felt she had no choice. I basically said to her I'm going to have to take you to court. She became extremely belligerent and then she hung up on me. the litigation dragged on for years and it wasn't until 2015 when what began in a small county court ended up in a three-day hearing at the royal courts of justice i never dreamt in a
20:54Julie Meyer:million years that i would be walking up through those stairs and would be standing there in the
21:00Olivia Lee:witness stand doesn't matter whether you're in the right or the wrong it's bloody terrifying And what was Julie like when she gave evidence? She showed complete disrespect to the judge. She didn't address her properly. Her whole demeanour was, I shouldn't be here. Once the evidence was heard, Rachel had to wait months for the judgement. If she lost, she'd have to pay both her and Julie's lawyer's fees. We were talking well in excess of£100 ,000.
21:30Julie Meyer:If I had lost, it would have been pretty catastrophic for me. But you won. I won.
21:41Olivia Lee:Julie was ordered to pay Rachel£26 ,000 plus interest and costs, while the judge described Julie as not credible and said her evidence at times bordered on the hysterical. I got the best result I could possibly have hoped for.
21:55Julie Meyer:It felt absolutely fantastic, but I'd really hoped that that would have made her think twice about treating other people the way that she'd treated me in future.
22:06Olivia Lee:Sadly, that wasn't the case. By 2017, Ariadne Capital was in serious trouble. Emails seen by The Guardian show the company was losing as much as£45 ,000 a month in January 2017. In one, Julie writes, anybody rational or anyone without a reputation to care about would have shut down the firm. I'm not doing that only because I have a reputation to protect. Meanwhile, the company's debts were stacking up. When Ariadne Capital entered administration later that year, it owed the taxman£471 ,000. A law firm called Clifford Chance was waiting for£184 ,000. The cab company Addison Lee,£7 ,500. There was£2 ,000 to a catering company and another£130 ,000 to yet another legal company, GQ Employment Law.
22:59Olivia Lee:All in, that was almost 800 grand in unpaid bills. But that didn't matter. Julie wasn't in the UK anymore. She'd moved to sunny Malta, into the Western Dragonara Hotel. She was launching a brand new investment fund. But things were about to get even more murky. Coming up, Julie's new life in the sun.
23:33Olivia Lee:It's 2017 and Julie Meyer has moved to Malta. There she meets Mark Lightfoot, a graphic designer with a modest but well-regarded business on the island.
23:44Julie Meyer:I looked her up on Wikipedia. He was a successful American, striking-looking entrepreneur and it was really exciting. So I thought, yeah, I'm going to see what opportunities there are for work.
23:57Olivia Lee:Mark knew nothing of Julie's legal woes And when he met Julie at the five-star Western Dragonara Hotel He was impressed
24:04Julie Meyer:I see she commands the room She's got a real presence Not intimidating, but very charismatic She was very effusive Amazing, we're going to be able to do great work together Painting a picture of the future for me to get drawn into
24:19Olivia Lee:I mean, were you flattered at the time?
24:21Julie Meyer:Yes, I was Because I like to be told, you know, my design is good So yeah, I came away thinking, this is a really good opportunity. Don't blow it.
24:31Olivia Lee:Julie asked Mark to help with an upcoming networking event. It was called Follow the Entrepreneur. Julie's plan was to bring together founders and investors, kind of like First Tuesday 2.0. She asked Mark if he could help her design some posters and programmes.
24:45Julie Meyer:It became near enough the only thing I was working on. So it was quite critical. It seemed like we were getting on the bus with her.
24:54Olivia Lee:Yeah, and did it feel like an exciting ride?
24:56Julie Meyer:Yes, it was exciting. And we were getting paid and we were doing stuff that I wasn't normally doing. It was dynamic.
25:03Olivia Lee:In July 2017, Julie held her Follow the Entrepreneur event.
25:08Julie Meyer:She pulled in quite high-profile entrepreneurs, captains of industry. And you're talking multi-millionaires, billionaires even.
25:17Olivia Lee:Everyone who was anyone in Malta was there. One of the attendees was the Prime Minister of Malta at the time, Joseph Muscat. Mark was delighted. His business was front and centre of the glitz and the glam. And he was looking forward to celebrating with a drink at the after party.
25:31Julie Meyer:It would have been about five o 'clock. This is July. Beautiful Mediterranean, sparkly water. No breeze. Lots of people milling around. Open neck shirts, tans. Good looking people. A nice business buzz.
25:49Olivia Lee:Mark worked the room chatting to the other founders and investors. but really he was looking for Julie Meyer and then he spotted her
25:55Julie Meyer:She's smiling, interacting with people we happened to pass next to each other and I grabbed the opportunity to talk to her and I said something along the lines of well done, that was really a really great event with a lot of enthusiasm
26:10Olivia Lee:But you never know what Julie Meyer is going to do next
26:14Julie Meyer:What came back felt like a bit of a damp squib it just didn't have the resonance or ring that I felt it deserved.
26:23Olivia Lee:Yeah, you'd imagine she'd be like, yeah, we did well, didn't we?
26:26Julie Meyer:Yeah, and high five, although she wouldn't high five. But it was a rejection, and I thought that's a bit odd. Brushed it off, went out a glass of wine with a friend. But looking back, that was the start of my troubles with her, real troubles with her.
26:42Olivia Lee:The issues with payments begin.
26:45Julie Meyer:She said that we didn't deliver, despite being pretty much at her beck and call for months. that our work product wasn't satisfactory. It wasn't about the fact that she wasn't happy with the work. It was her way of getting out of paying.
27:00Olivia Lee:And how did it feel?
27:02Julie Meyer:I felt like I had let my business partner down. I felt that I just let the company down. My initial reaction was, it's my fault. What have I done?
27:12Olivia Lee:Mark says Julie owed him€60 ,000.
27:16Julie Meyer:She said something like, the work is only worth half, so I'm going to offer you€25 ,000. We rejected that. And that's when it all blew up.
27:24Olivia Lee:Mark says after this, he started legal proceedings, getting a judge to freeze her bank accounts. An email suggests Julie hit back hard.
27:33Julie Meyer:And she threatened, if I didn't publish a retraction in the Times of Malta and various other things, multi-generational destruction of wealth. A lawsuit for£100 million.
27:46Olivia Lee:The lawsuit never materialised. Julie has previously rejected Mark Lightfoot's allegations, telling the newspaper City AM in 2022, I don't remember Mark Lightfoot. I've been in business for 30 years and I don't always remember names. We always pay people their salaries, she said. Eventually, Mark dropped his legal claim. He figured even if he won in court, there was no guarantee he'd get the money he was owed.
28:10Julie Meyer:I mean, it was initially really hard to take because I had failed in some respects. and the more I spent time talking to people who'd also felt the wrath of Julie, investors, people who worked with her. It's the same thing every single time. She takes someone into their confidence, she builds them up, she bigs them up and then chews them up, spits them out and goes on to the next one.
28:37Olivia Lee:How many people like you are out there, do you think?
28:39Julie Meyer:Hundreds. Hundreds. We are literally touching the surface, not even scratching the surface. It's a spider's web of intrigue and stolen money.
28:54Olivia Lee:Because Julie wasn't done yet and she had Zurich in her sights next. The Guardian was about to catch up.
29:01Julie Meyer:This is our one moment. I really hope it's her.
29:05Olivia Lee:That's in part two of Think Like a Billionaire.
29:11Olivia Lee:Julie Meyer did not respond to requests for comment for this story. She's previously rejected any suggestion her activities are not above board. To read more of Olivia's brilliant reporting on this story, you can find it all at theguardian.com. Think Like a Billionaire was produced by George McDonagh and presented by me, Helen Pidd. Sound design was by Tom Glasser and the executive producer was Khmer Khalili. Part 2 will be out tomorrow.
29:41Olivia Lee:This is The Guardian.
29:45Turn on the way! Chapter с 2 40 Lots The 21 20 21 Thank you.
