Tory peer Michelle Mone has said she will ‘vigorously defend’ herself as she is sued for ‘unlimited damages’ for allegedly sending a racist text.
The millionaire bra tycoon, 50, said the claim by financial consultant Richard Lynton-Jones – who is of Indian heritage – ‘lacks merit’.
She said through her lawyers it had been served to the High Court without giving her notice ‘in contravention of the Civil Procedure Rules’.
Mr Lynton-Jones claims in a ten-page writ she caused him ‘enormous distress, embarrassment and injury to feelings’.
His lawyers are also calling for her to pay out at least £200,000 in aggravated damages following the row.
The toxic fallout stems from when a young yacht crew member died during a tragic incident in Cannes in 2019.
Baroness Mone is claimed to have sent the Whatsapp messages to Mr Lynton-Jones and others after this.
She is also alleged to have called his then partner ‘a mental loony’, ‘mad’ and ‘a nut case bird’ in other messages.
Tory peer Michelle Mone (pictured in an Instagram post yesterday) has said she will ‘vigorously defend’ herself as she is sued for ‘unlimited damages’ for allegedly sending a racist text
The millionaire bra tycoon, 50, has had a 10-page writ filed against her by Richard Lynton-Jones in the High Court in London
His lawyers claim she has caused him ‘enormous distress, embarrassment and injury to feelings’. Pictured: Mr Lynton-Jones in a social media post
How ‘Baroness Bra’ made her money
Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone was born in 1971 and grew up in Glasgow’s East End, leaving school with no qualifications aged 15 before finding work as a model.
After running a sales and marketing team for the Labatt’s brewing firm, Baroness Mone decided to create a range of support bras after the idea came to her while wearing an uncomfortable bra during a dinner party.
Baroness Mone founded MJM International with her then-husband Michael Mone in November 1996, and three years of research, design, and development resulted in the patented Ultimo bra.
In August 1999, a month after having her third child, she launched Ultimo at the Selfridges department store in London, which sold the pre-launch estimate of six weeks of stock within 24 hours.
The business grew rapidly and in 2010 she earned an OBE from the Queen for her contribution to business.
But she sold 80 per cent of Ultimo in 2014, one year after announcing she had left the company following a breakdown in her marriage.
Lady Mone was nicknamed ‘Baroness Bra’ after being elevated to the House of Lords in 2015, where her official title is Baroness Mone of Mayfair.
To celebrate her 50th birthday last month, she decided to host five parties – one for each decade of her life – with her new husband billionaire tech tycoon Doug Barrowman, 55.
The pair married last November in a glitzy but low-key wedding ceremony at their home on the Isle of Man.
Lady Mone has also had a lucrative public speaking career but called time on this last month, saying she wanted to ‘focus on her family and new ventures’.
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But her lawyer told MailOnline: ‘This claim was served without prior notice to Baroness Mone in contravention of the Civil Procedure Rules.
‘She has been advised that it lacks merit and will defend it vigorously.’
Baroness Mone also posted a new photo on Instagram yesterday with the caption: ‘You have to love yourself.
‘Not in an egotistical way, but if you learn to love who you’re spending the rest of your life with, then others will love you too.’
The businesswoman, often called ‘Baroness Bra’, slammed the claims against her when they first emerged in December, calling them ‘entitled white privilege’.
She also previously said through her lawyers Mr Lynton-Jones’s ‘appearance is 100 per cent white, with a cut-glass English accent’.
But Mr Lynton-Jones’ lawyers say her claims are defamatory, with her Instagram post wrongly suggesting he ‘falsely accused’ her of ‘making a racist comment’.
They also say her comments falsely imply he was ‘reasonably suspected of involvement in the manslaughter of a young boy’.
And they argue she is wrong to insinuate he had ‘disgracefully refused’ to help police with their inquiries.
Mr Lynton-Jones’ writ claims Baroness Mane ‘well knew’ her text was racist.
It claims she knew the claimant had been a victim of racially aggravated assault in Majorca in 2007.
It adds: ‘The defendant was well aware of this, having touched the plates resulting from the racist attack, which made her false denial particularly cruel.’
Mr Lynton-Jones claims he and the defendant knew each other ‘well’ and she was aware ‘her was not 100 per cent white’.
His writ says he had ‘discussed his heritage with the defendant and her husband Mr Barrowman on various occasions previously’.
It goes on: ‘In particular, the claimant and the defendant had known each other a number of years, had spent time together on holidays and in social events on numerous occasions.’
The row started when Mr Lynton-Jones was among guests on a superyacht who met up with Lady Mone and her businessman husband Douglas Barrowman in Cannes.
The two groups, totalling 18, enjoyed lunch at a restaurant on Île Sainte-Marguerite, leaving their respective crews on board.
They later rafted their boats together so they could continue the fun day out on the water, hopping on and off each other’s boats, before deciding to return to shore.
The French skipper of the second superyacht called Vision which was chartered by British internet gaming millionaire Richard Skelhorn, accidentally ploughed into Mr Barrowman’s boat as he was turning round to head for home.
An MAIB investigation found the skipper had cannabis in his bloodstream.
Lady Mone published this image on her Instagram today. She captioned it: ‘I love to put on makeup to feel my best-self, even if I don’t have an event… it makes me feel ready to take on the day’
Richard Lynton-Jones (pictured) alleged Mone racially abused him and called his partner a ‘nut case bird’ and ‘mental loony’ three weeks after a day of ‘drinking and partying’ on two superyachts which ended in an accident and the death of a deckhand
Crewman Jake Feldwhere (pictured), 27, was on the foredeck of an 88ft-long Minx preparing to lift the anchor when he was struck and killed off the coast of Île Sainte-Marguerite in 2019
Jake Feldwhere was on the foredeck of the Minx preparing to lift the anchor when he was struck and killed in the collision on the evening of May 25, 2019.
Mr Lynton-Jones and Baroness Mone allegedly fell out in a WhatsApp chat on June 13, 2019, after she questioned how much his partner had suffered psychologically.
The Monaco-based financial consultant, who is believed to have a mother of Indian heritage and a white father, replied said he had been seriously traumatised by the yacht incident, saying: ‘I would prefer you back the f**k off.’
Lady Mone allegedly replied: ‘OMG what a pile of c**p!! You are talking to me, a smart, bright individual who doesn’t get taken in by your s**t!
‘In fact my b******t detector was on you from day 1. You & your mental loony of a girlfriend have been parting [sic] like mad! … You need to get a grip and have respect for a guy that was killed!!!
‘Funny how your mad girlfriend has now deleted all the pictures, don’t worry I have screenshots of the dates and times.
’48 hours after the guy was killed. Your [sic] a low life, a waste of a mans [sic] white skin so don’t give us your lies. Your [sic] a total disgrace.’
Mr Lynton-Jones complained to the Met, the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards and the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
The story broke in a national newspaper last year and Baroness Mone’s legal team hit back.
The claimant’s lawyers claim their comments were libellous because they suggested he was lying about her alleged racism.
Minx (crash damage, left) is owned by Michelle Mone and her husband Douglas Barrowman
They are also arguing an Instagram post – which was seen by ‘many millions’ – had ’caused serious harm to the claimant’s personal and professional reputation’.
They say the ‘very serious nature of the imputations conveyed, involving serious dishonesty and involvement in manslaughter’ will be relied on in court.
The writ adds: ‘The defendant’s publication of the article has caused the claimant enormous distress, embarrassment and injury to feelings’.
Mr Lynton-Jones wants an injunction to stop Baroness Mone repeating comments.
She is due to speak with police under caution over the alleged racism, but has not been arrested.
But she will not face a probe from parliamentary officials because they said it was outside their jurisdiction.
Baroness Mone’s people said in a statement last month: ‘Baroness Mone is 100 per cent not a racist.
‘Baroness Mone and her husband have built over 15 schools in Africa in the past three years.’
Her lawyers later said she has ‘no access’ to the messages and no ‘detailed memory of them’.
They added: ‘She is not prepared to comment on the messages unless and until their authenticity has been confirmed.
‘But Baroness Mone, in any event, very strongly denies that she is a racist, a sexist or that she has a lack of respect for those persons genuinely suffering with mental health difficulties.’
Lawyers for the House of Lords member, pictured with her husband Douglas Barrowman, said she has no ‘detailed memory’ or ‘access’ to the messages and denied that she is a racist
She said on her Instagram account: ‘Since when did calling out a man on his actions after a manslaughter and his entitled white privilege constitute racism?
‘Quite the opposite- the accusations I have read today against me are full of contradictions.’
She added: ‘I will set the record straight on this defamation before deciding on any legal action.’
Mr Lynton-Jones, from Ferndown in Dorset, began his career with the Queen’s bank Coutts, working in Jersey on offshore services for clients.
He was a vice president at Barclays Wealth in both Jersey and Monaco before joining the Monaco office of investment bank UBS.
He specialises in working with ultra high-net worth individuals with investable assets of at least 50 million euros.
In 2018, he joined Lady Mone and Mr Barrowman’s new virtual currency venture which saw them launch a coin called Equi which they claimed would be the British Bitcoin.
Mr Lynton-Jones was appointed head of capital raising and investor relations.
Baroness Mone decided to create a range of support bras after the idea came to her while wearing an uncomfortable bra during a dinner party.
Baroness Mone founded MJM International with her then-husband Michael Mone in November 1996, and three years of research, design, and development resulted in the patented Ultimo bra.
In August 1999, a month after having her third child, she launched Ultimo at the Selfridges department store in London, which sold the pre-launch estimate of six weeks of stock within 24 hours.
The business grew rapidly and in 2010 she earned an OBE from the Queen for her contribution to business.
But she sold 80 per cent of Ultimo in 2014, one year after announcing she had left the company following a breakdown in her marriage.
Lady Mone was nicknamed ‘Baroness Bra’ after being elevated to the House of Lords in 2015, where her official title is Baroness Mone of Mayfair.
Source: Daily Mail
