Shamed Dragons’ Den star is STILL styling herself as Dr and MBE regardless of being stripped of titles after £200,000 authorized row

Former Dragons’ Den star Julie Meyer is still styling herself as ‘Dr’ and ‘MBE’ despite being stripped of both titles following a £200,000 legal dispute, Daily Mail can reveal. 

The venture capitalist, 59, was awarded an MBE in 2012 for her services to entrepreneurship and was invited to sit on two government advisory panels that year.

She was also handed an honorary doctorate in law from Warwick University in 2014. 

But in 2022, she found herself at the centre of a legal wrangle in which she was accused of failing to pay £200,000 to her solicitors, Farrer & Co.

Meyer was then scolded by a British judge for being ‘selfish’ for refusing to turn up to court or pay her lawyers.

She was handed a six-month suspended sentence for contempt of court after she repeatedly failed to submit documents and attend hearings relating to the matter.

The legal clash directly led to Warwick University forfeiting her honorary doctorate degree in 2022, while the Cabinet Office stripped Meyer of her MBE in August 2025 for ‘bringing the honours system into disrepute’.

However, Daily Mail has found that Meyer – the CEO and founder of VIVA Investment Partners – is still promoting herself using both titles.

On her LinkedIn profile, the Swiss-based businesswoman describes herself as ‘Dr Julie Meyer MBE’. 

Listings on Companies House for her company VIP Opportunity I LLP, which was registered at an address in Wembley, Middlesex, and dissolved in November, also have her recorded as ‘Dr Julie Meyer MBE’.

Her most recent filing of accounts from July 2024 refers to her as ‘Dr Julie Meyer’ – despite the withdrawal of her honorary doctorate some two years previously. 

Daily Mail has also seen a profile of ‘Dr Julie Meyer MBE’ on a website for Follow The Entrepreneur (FTE) Capital Markets, which describes Meyer as the ‘FTE Capital Markets founder’.

FTE Capital Markets describes itself on the site as ‘a proven platform for investors and entrepreneurs’.

Within her FTE profile, Meyer is said to have ‘received her honorary doctorate for Ecosystem Economics and has been awarded an MBE by Elizabeth II’.

There is no clarification on any of these mentions that ‘MBE’ might refer to anything other than the British honour handed to her in 2012. 

Since being contacted by Daily Mail, the profile has been removed but the FTE website still lists the businesswoman as ‘Dr Julie Meyer MBE’.

The American-born businesswoman was hailed as one of two new Dragons chosen for an online version of the BBC Two show in 2009 and she formerly advised David Cameron‘s government.

When Daily Mail approached Meyer for comment over still using the MBE title after her name, she denied having received any ‘official’ correspondence relating to this – and said ‘MBE’ referred to ‘another organisation’.

She said: ‘I have not received any official letter from the UK government about my MBE being removed.

‘The MBE which you appear to be referring to does not refer to the Member of the British Empire award. It refers to another organisation which was set up many years ago. This has nothing to do with the UK at all.

‘I don’t advertise myself or my FTE Events at all. They are private events, and there is no website for them.’

On her LinkedIn profile, Meyer has listed under her experience that she is a ‘Member of the Board of EcosystemEconomics(r) Association (MBE). 

Despite enquiries, Daily Mail has not found any evidence of the EcosystemEconomics(r) Association or its associated board.

Prior to becoming a Dragons’ Den star, Meyer had been lauded for her business instinct and support of major internet and tech brands early on in their development, including lastminute.com and Skype.

The American moved to London in July 1998 and made millions from the $50million sale of her firm First Tuesday, a networking group for entrepreneurs and investors, in July 2000.

In her Dragons’ Den biography, she was described as a World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow, an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and a regular speaker on entrepreneurship and leadership.

But her name hit the headlines in 2022 when she became embroiled in a legal fight with Farrers, the law firm engaged by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

When she failed to turn up to a court hearing on Valentine’s Day that year, the judge dramatically issued a warrant for her arrest.

Controversially, the entrepreneur said she had been unable to travel from her home in Switzerland due to conjunctivitis and not having received a Covid vaccine.

But it was ruled her medical evidence was not grounds to avoid attending the court hearings in person. 

She was said to owe almost £200,000 to Farrers, which represented her in a court case in Malta.

The High Court heard she failed to pay Farrer partner Julian Pike £197,000, claiming the firm had provided a poor standard of service, which had been worth about £50,000.

When Meyer was handed a six-month suspended sentence, Mr Justice Kerr said she had shown herself ‘to be a selfish and untrustworthy person’. 

The judge said: ‘I am satisfied there is every prospect that the defendant will continue to flout orders of the court unless coerced into obeying them.’

He added that some of the evidence filed on Meyer’s behalf sought to show her as ‘too important for the courts of England and Wales to take precedent over her other interests’.

In her defence, Meyer said the law firm had ‘abused their privileged position as the Queen’s lawyers’ and claimed they had ‘harassed’ her and her firm.

She lost an appeal to overturn the suspended prison sentence.

In August this year, Meyer’s name appeared alongside 11 others on an updated list published by the Cabinet Office of individuals who had been stripped of their prestigious gongs.

At least six of these – all men – were stripped after being convicted of child sex offences, while the others were found guilty of misconduct or acting inappropriately. 

Meyer is also one of only two women on the infamous list in recent years – the other being former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, who forfeited a CBE for her handling of the Horizon IT scandal.

After being contacted by Daily Mail, Meyer maintains that she has not received ‘any communication to me personally from either of the institutions’. 

She added that ‘one cannot revoke an award or an honour by posting something online’.

The Cabinet Office confirmed that recipients who are stripped of their titles are informed of the decision before it is made public. Those who have forfeited their honours will then appear on an official notice published in the London Gazette and on the gov.uk website.

Meyer’s name appears on both the online list and in a notice published in the London Gazette.  

Daily Mail contacted Warwick University, which confirmed that she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in 2014. A spokesperson added that the university had written to her at the time it was revoked in 2022.

After being made aware that Ms Meyer was still styling herself as ‘Dr’ three years after the revocation, Warwick University said ‘[We have] contacted Ms Meyer to request removal of any reference to the award.’