Police ordered to find Ariadne Capital founder after courtroom no-show

The magistrate ordered the Police Commissioner to locate Julie Meyer within 48 hours, after she failed to show up in court this morning

Julie Meyer
Julie Meyer

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech has ordered the Commissioner of Police to locate entrepreneur Julie Meyer within 48 hours, after she failed to show up in court this morning.

Meyer is currently facing three lawsuits over employees’ unpaid salaries and outstanding bills.

She is the organiser of the Follow the Entrepreneur Investor Summit, a major event at which both Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Economy Minister Chris Cardona have been speakers. The last event had 50,000 people watching live, 15,000 website visitors and 470 registered investors.

A representative of the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) told the court today that Meyer had expressed an intention to settle the debts and her lawyer, Jesmond Manicolo, informed the magistrate that the money was in his possession. 

But Meyer herself failed to appear in court, the prosecution explaining that attempts to serve her with a notice of summons were unsuccessful.

The magistrate ordered the commissioner to dedicate all the police resources required to find her - including sending officers to man fixed point observation posts outside any address that she may be in.

Dr Joe Giglio, who is appearing parte civile for one of the employees, said that he had corresponded with Meyer via e-mail and that he was informed that she was in Malta.

Meyers' UK company Ariadne Capital went into administration in December. Meyers claims this was part of a pre-planned strategy, but newspaper reports abroad report the administrator Leonard Curtis – a major UK firm specialising in corporate recovery, insolvency and business restructuring – was contacting its creditors to ask if they would be willing to fund a possible legal action to challenge allegedly suspicious transactions involving the business. Meyers denies the allegations as baseless. 

Leonard Curtis are exploring what have been reported as “potential claims” concerning the sale of Ariadne Capital assets - Malta-based Entrepreneur Country - in 2016 and possible discrepancies in the company’s finances.

Meyer is already facing legal action in Malta from companies, as well as employees who had not received their dues.

Ariadne Capital Malta had also acquired Portcullis Asset Management in 2017, along with its licence as a Category 2 Investment Services Licence Holder to manage professional clients, including collective investment schemes. Meyer is currently the only member of ACML's board following the resignation of Erik Ferm.