Key Takeaways
- In 2019, then-Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson was engaged as a “brand ambassador” by Pegasus Group Holdings.
- Ferguson received £200,ooo for the role, recent reports suggest.
- Pegasus proposed building a solar-powered Bitcoin mining operation, but investor lawsuits claim the project was a scam.
The business affairs of Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of the ex-British prince now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, have come under public scrutiny, including her relationship with Pegasus Group Holdings.
The U.K.-based company, which planned to build a solar-powered Bitcoin mining operation in the Nevada desert, employed Ferguson as a “brand ambassador.”
With public scrutiny of the royal family’s most controversial wing running high, such deals raise important questions about propriety and privilege.
Ferguson Ties to Pegasus Group Scrutinized
In 2019, Pegasus Group appeared seemingly out of nowhere with an ambitious proposal to build a $3 billion, 340 Megawatt, solar-powered data center in Mohave County, Arizona.
While the project was pitched as multi-functional or mixed-use, the firm noted that “tenants may include cryptocurrency miners.”
A month later, Pegasus announced that it had engaged Ferguson, who was then the Duchess of York, as a brand ambassador.
In a statement, Ferguson referred to the leadership of Pegasus and its partner Plus Minus Power as “visionaries.”
“I am proud to be part of the forthcoming adventure and assist in any way that I can,” she added.
According to a BBC report on Sunday, Nov. 2, Ferguson received £200,000 for her work. And if it weren’t for the fact that the project ultimately flopped, the former Duchess would have received a £1.2 million payout, the report stated.
Data Center Controversy
Despite the ambitious scale of the proposal, Pegasus’s data center, known locally as “The Hive,” never materialized, and the company has become mired in controversy.
In 2023, an arbitration tribunal awarded $2.5 million in damages to investors in the project who claimed breach of contract.
More recently, in a 2024 lawsuit, Aileron Investments and Contrail Holdings accused Pegasus and its founders of raising money when they had “no intention of running a legitimate business enterprise.”
Instead, defendants purchased land on credit, failed to develop the project, and used investor funds for personal gain, the suit claims.
Scrutinizing Royal Business Affairs
Ferguson’s involvement with Pegasus Group is part of a wider pattern of royals leveraging their names for commercial gain.
Her ex-husband has faced persistent controversy over his financial entanglements and associations, including his ties to the Chinese businessman and alleged spy Yang Tengbo, and plans to sell his Pitch@Palace network to Startupbootcamp.
These repeated scandals reinforce public unease about how certain royals have been able to capitalize on their proximity to the Crown, even after they have officially renounced their royal duties.
James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
