Former Wonga boss dumps wife for Ukrainian refugee he took in
A FORMER boss of defunct payday loan firm Wonga has left his wife for a Ukrainian refugee they took in.
Millionaire Haakon Overli, 52, started weeks of lobbying PM Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel in March to try to speed up the process of bringing the woman to Britain.
But just months after she was given a visa, Overli left his wife and quit their Surrey estate.
Overli had only recently been praised by former Foreign Secretary and ex-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt after meeting at a local fete.
The Tory tweeted: “It was great to meet a Ukrainian being hosted by a local family . . . nothing more English than the village fete to welcome them.”
Overli founded online stockbroker Self Trade, floating the firm in April 2000 and selling it that October for more than £900million.
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In 2008 he began a year’s stint as a director at Wonga — the controversial lender accused by MPs of using sky-high interest rates to prey on hard-up customers.
It closed in 2018 after running up huge losses and going into administration.
He has since co-founded Dawn Capital, which claims to be Europe’s largest specialist business-to-business software investor and is worth more than £2million.
He first told followers on Twitter that his family were keen to help a Ukrainian refugee on March 9.
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He then complained about difficulties in the sponsoring process — in April branding it “shaming”.