Tycoon pals of Prince Andrew hit by losses in Bitcoin firm

Businessman Jonathan Rowland and his father David, who is known for allegedly funding Prince Andrew, have lost millions to a cryptocurrency venture that has gone to wall. Jonathan, 47, is winding down much of Mode Global Holdings, a Bitcoin app he founded, after failing to secure the funds needed to survive.

Mode Global was the latest in a series of companies started by the serial entrepreneur, with varying degrees of success.

His father David, 77, a real estate mogul and prominent Conservative Party donor, had a stake in his son’s venture. Rowland senior, nicknamed ‘Spotty’ because of his relative youth when he took his first company public at the age of 23, has amassed enormous wealth through real estate and banking.

Jonathan, eager to follow in his father’s footsteps, had big ambitions for Fashion. He wanted to transform it from a payment app to the “most trusted” crypto company in the world. Christopher Isaac “Biz” Stone, an American technology investor and co-founder of Twitter, also held shares.

Less than two and a half years after Fashion was listed on the London Stock Exchange, those dreams are in tatters.

Investors all but wiped out their positions as the share price plunged from its peak of 77 pence in February 2021, when Vogue was valued at £62 million, to half a penny last week.

However, it is far from the first embarrassment for the father and son duo, including over their relationship with Prince Andrew.

David Rowland – a long-time resident of Guernsey who has been dubbed the “tax haven magnate” – acted as financial advisor to the Duke of York. He had a front row seat at his daughter Princess Eugenie’s wedding in 2018.

The previous year, Rowland senior reportedly paid off a £1.5 million loan for Andrew through his Luxembourg bank, Banque Havilland. Leaked documents revealed that the Duke of York had also sought a loan of £200,000 from Jonathan Rowland, who was CEO of the bank at the time. On another occasion, David and Jonathan flew to North Korea, widely regarded as a pariah state under dictator Kim Jong-un, to look at an “investment opportunity.”

David owns a palatial estate in Guernsey called Havilland Hall – where in 2005 Prince Andrew unveiled a life-sized bronze statue of Rowland smoking a cigar.

Backer: David Rowland paid off a £1.5 million loan for the Duke of York

Jonathan struggles to emerge from his father’s shadow and match his success in business. After years of working as a racing driver, he first made headlines in his 20s when he founded an internet investment company called Jellyworks. Shares initially rose and at its peak the company was valued at £300 million.

But within six months it disappeared from the stock exchange because it was difficult to attract new financing. More recently, he co-founded a small business lender called Redwood Bank, and was even linked to a bid for crisis-plagued football club Wigan Athletic.

His personal life has also been eventful. He once revealed he had a stroke while in bed with a woman he “shouldn’t have been” with — but joked that at least she was there to call an ambulance.

Jonathan is heir to a fortune believed to run into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

He and his father owned about 30 percent of the shares in Mode Global, but were clearly unwilling to pour any more family wealth into the company. Fashion will begin closing large parts of the company this week — closing the app in the coming weeks and closing subsidiaries Fibere and JGOO.

Earlier this month, CEO Rita Liu resigned.

Mode uses open banking to allow customers to transfer funds to their accounts, which they can then use to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It is also a payment app and customers can receive Bitcoin ‘cashback’ for purchases from its partner brands.

The group has been urging customers to withdraw their funds, but it’s not clear if there’s a deadline or how much money Mode is holding. The Bitcoin itself was owned by a company called Bitgo.

Mode said customers’ cash and cryptocurrency assets “remain safe” and there are no restrictions on withdrawals.

Jonathan declined to comment.