The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have added two more ‘entertainment’
companies to their growing business empire in tax haven Delaware.
Last week, state filings revealed Meghan’s longtime lawyer and business
manager have incorporated 11 companies and trust for the couple since April
2020, including a firm, apparently set up for Harry’s multi-million-dollar
memoir book deal.
And according to The Telegraph, two further
companies were also registered on the same date, including Cloverdale Inc – which
bears the same name as the street that the Duchess lived on with her mother in
Los Angeles as a child. It is currently unknown what the meaning is behind the
name of the second company, Riversoul.
Both companies are set up explicitly in the ‘entertainment’ space,
meaning the couple now have seven separate firms in
the industry.
The companies are all headquartered in the Beverly Hills offices of
attorney Richard Genow, who has worked with the Duchess for years.
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One of the Duke and Duchess’ new businesses is Cloverdale Inc – which bears the same name as the street that the Duchess lived on with her mother in Los Angeles as a child (pictured her childhood home on South Cloverdale Avenue) |
Meghan went to live with her mother in a top-floor apartment on S.
Cloverdale Ave, Mid-Wilshire after her parents got a divorce in 1983. It
was once the garage and loft space for the main front property.
Other companies linked by Meyer and Genow are two publishing firms. The
first, Peca Publishing LLC, was set up in September 2020 and used by Meghan to
hold the rights for her children’s book The Bench.
The same day a second company was incorporated, Orinoco Publishing LLC –
though it didn’t register its status in California until December 22,
2021.
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In September 2020 Orinoco Publishing LLC was incorporated– though it didn’t register its status in California until December 22, 2021. It is unclear what the couple will use Orinoco for, though it is likely it was set up to hold the rights for Harry’s blockbuster book deal with Penguin Random House for his memoir, due for publication later this year
It is unclear what the couple will use Orinoco for, though it is likely
it was set up to hold the rights for Harry’s blockbuster book deal with Penguin
Random House for his memoir, due for publication later this year.
The word ‘peca’ means freckle in Spanish, and appears to be a reference
to a book Meghan wrote in eighth grade titled A Face Without Freckles… Is a
Night Without Stars, a copy of which currently sits in the Congressional
Library.
Harry’s company Orinoco Publishing LLC may be a reference to one of his
mother’s favorite songs.
Some of the Sussexes’ Delaware firms were set up to hold the trademarks
for their charity Archewell and its associated companies.
In a complicated structure, Harry and Meghan set up Cobblestone Lane LLC
as the holder of the Archewell logo, but lodged another trademark filing for a
second logo, with just the letters ‘AW’ on top of each other, under a different
Delaware firm, IPHW LLC.
Cobblestone Lane LLC was incorporated in Delaware in February 2020 and
five days later was used as the applicant to file for the Archewell trademark.
Though both Archewell and Cobblestone are based in California, there
were no filings for the LLC registered with the California Secretary of State.
According to legal site UpCounsel: ‘Before any business can conduct and
transact interstate or intrastate business in the state, the company must
register and qualify with the California Secretary of State until this month,
almost two years after it was set up on the east coast.
On January 2, 2022, the company filed an ‘application to register as a
foreign limited liability company’, noting it was incorporated on February 27,
2020, in Delaware. Unlike Harry and Meghan’s other companies, it shares a
business address with the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles, rather than
being based at Genow’s offices.
According to legal site UpCounsel: “Before any business can conduct and
transact interstate or intrastate business in the state, the company must
register and qualify with the California Secretary of State. This means that if
you plan to do business in California, your business must be registered.”
The couple’s lawyers did not respond to questions over why Cobblestone
had not filed documents in California for almost two years.
Delaware-based IPHW did register with the California Secretary of
State on July 16 2021.
Companies that have already drawn international attention over the
Sussexes’ high-profile entertainment deals with Netflix and Spotify include
Archewell Audio LLC and Archewell Productions LLC.
But Meghan’s money men also incorporated Baobab Holdings LLC in February
last year, writing in company documents that the firm was for
‘investments’.
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The companies are in the tax haven of Delaware, despite the couple living and doing business in California. Their Montecito mansion is pictured
Two ‘entertainment’ companies founded by Genow and Meyer in January last
year were Bridgemount LLC and Hampshire LLC.
The latter’s name may be a reference to Harry and Meghan’s memorable
holiday at a Hampshire five-star 18th-century Georgian mansion where they had a
three-night stay in the final weeks of Meghan’s pregnancy in Spring 2019.
Nemawashi Holdings, LLC was set up in September 2020 and was described only
as a ‘holding company’ by Genow and Meyer. Nemawashi is a Japanese term meaning
the informal process of quietly laying the foundation for a project.
Another inscrutable company set up a month earlier is called RPV
Holdings, LLC.
Genow told the Hollywood Reporter in November that he has known Meyer
professionally and as a friend for more than 15 years.
Meyer, a certified public accountant and founder of Beverly Hills
entertainment wealth management firm Freemark Financial, lives with his wife
Stephanie in a $6million, six-bed, 6,000 sq ft property in the exclusive
neighborhood of Holmby Hills, Los Angeles.
Even before 2020 Meghan’s financial team already discreetly made a significant
move involving the Duchess’s company Frim Fram Inc – the firm behind her
popular lifestyle blog The Tig.
According to Delaware business records, on December 30, 2019, Frim Fram
Inc was registered as a new corporation in the state.
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Harry and Meghan had a getaway weekend at Heckfield Place Hotel in Hampshire, England, just before son Archie was born. It could be the inspiration for naming one of their companies Hampshire LLC
The following day, according to California business records, Frim Fram
Inc California was ‘Merged Out’ and incorporated with the Delaware company.
This is significant because Delaware is known as a haven for firms
seeking extreme corporate secrecy.
Registering a company in the Mid-Atlantic state does not require the
disclosure of the identities of the owners and for as little as $50 the owners
can hire a registered agent to represent them.
All financial information relating to the company is kept confidential.
The move appeared to show that Meghan planned to keep her and Harry’s business
as opaque as possible – and stuck to their plans, incorporating every one of
their following companies in the secretive state.
Almost 65 percent of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware,
making it the state with more corporations registered within its borders than
people.
