Milo Yiannopoulos 'more than $2m in debt', Australian promoters claim

Far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos had debts totalling more than $2m (£1.6m) during 2018, according to documents put together by his former Australian tour promoters.

The papers show by the end of April this year he owed $1.6m (£1.3m) to his own company, $400,000 (£314,000) to the right-wing grant-making Mercer family and tens-of-thousands of dollars to his former lawyers, as well as $20,000 (£16,000) to Cartier, the luxury jewellery brand.

The documents also reveal the breakdown in relationship between Yiannopoulos and his former promoters in Australia, amid requests for money for his own living expenses, medical bills for himself and his husband, as well as payment for his employees, The Guardian reported.

Gold Coast-based Australian Events Management, run by brothers Ben and Dan Spiller, made several attempts with Yiannopoulos at organising a speaking tour in the country.

But tours planned this year in April, September and December all fell through, with the brothers blaming diary clashes for other speakers as being among the main reasons.

According to The Guardian, in one message Yiannopoulos sent to the company, he said: “I am less financially secure, more panicked and stressed, and more miserable than when we started.”

In the same message he reportedly said he returned his wedding ring to Cartier to wipe out the debt he had with them.

Despite his negativity in the emails, in a text sent in September, he apparently told the company he was considering moving to Australia to escape the “insane” political climate of the US.

“I am really seriously considering a move to Australia in the next year or two. The political environment in the US is insane. So pulling this off well really matters to me.”

Other speakers on the tour were reportedly supposed to be conservative American writer Ann Coulter, English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, and Australian senator Fraser Anning, who once called for a “final solution to immigration in Australia”.

Following the cancellation of the tour, Yiannopoulos railed against the Spillers, describing them as “insane” and “incompetent” in a YouTube video.

He has since announced he is joining the “Deplorable” tour of Australia early next year which is scheduled to feature Vice co-founder and chauvinist men’s group Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes alongside EDL-founder Robinson.

Last week it emerged Mr McInnes had been informed “he was judged to be of bad character” by Australian immigration authorities, and denied a visa.

Robinson, who has previously been convicted of entering the United States illegally using somebody else’s passport, has subsequently been denied a visa to visit the country. It is not known whether he has applied for an Australian visa yet.

Two people were arrested and five police officers were injured during a five-hour demonstration at Yiannopoulos’s Melbourne show last year.

Crowds chanted “f*** off Nazis” and pepper spray was used by police after a fight broke out between protesters and rocks were thrown at a police van.

According to The Guardian, Yiannopoulos said in an email the documents detailing debts referred to “company debts, not personal”.

“I’m doing fine and bringing in $40k US a month,” he said.

He described the Spiller brothers as “crooks and clowns” and said: “These documents are not court filings. They are a dox.”

The Spillers said in a statement on Friday they had commenced legal action for the “return of funds” from Yiannopoulos.

“We negotiated and entered into our contract with Milo in good faith. Unfortunately, Milo’s ongoing financial demands outside the terms of our agreement resulted in us making the very difficult and disappointing decision to cancel the tour,” the statement said.

“Milo was provided everything according to his contract [and then some] and we have reluctantly commenced legal proceedings to ensure the return of funds as per the contract.”