Jennifer Arcuri (pictured at home in California) 'was struggling to remain in Britain after experiencing visa problems when she was allegedly handed the £10,000 sponsorship at the centre of the Boris Johnson scandal'

Jennifer Arcuri was struggling to remain in Britain after experiencing visa problems when she was allegedly handed the £10,000 sponsorship at the centre of the Boris Johnson scandal, it has been claimed today.

Ms Arcuri, 34, entered the UK on a student visa in 2011 to do a one-year MBA in London.

After her course ended in 2012 she acquired a tier two employment visa and started working for a tech start-up called Title X.

The company went out of business in mid-2013 and Arcuri was left 'sponsored by a company that no longer existed'.

Allegedly the only way she could stay in the UK was to raise £200,000 needed for an entrepreneur visa, which is when, The Sunday Times reports, she was reportedly handed £10,000 by the Mayor of London's office.

Leaked emails seen by the newspaper reveal how Ms Arcuri told a Downing Street official of her situation in early July 2013, claiming she would be 'forced to go back to California' if it was not resolved.

She wrote: 'Per our conversation... have been sponsored on a tier 2 visa for a company that no longer exists due to circumstances that I have no control over

'I have to have an Entrepreneurs visa, Tier 1. (I can't legally hire a team and own more than 10% of a company on a tier 2 visa). I now must raise £200k by the end of August,' she added. 'Otherwise I am forced to go back to California.'

Records appear to show Ms Arcuri, an American citizen, stayed in the UK for five months after she wrote the email.

Ms Arcuri, now 34, is pictured with Boris Johnson during his Back Boris London Mayor campaign of 2012

It was during that time, The Sunday Times claims, she was given £10,000 by London & Partners, the Mayor of London agency dedicated to promoting the capital.

Mr Johnson and Ms Arcuri became friends in 2012 after they met on his campaign trail for London Mayor in 2012.

It has been claimed they had a relationship, but Ms Arcuri told the Mail this weekend she was 'Boris's Anne Boleyn' because Henry VIII was driven 'crazy' when she would not 'give him her virtue'. Mr Johnson also denies they were romantically involved.

She is believed to have stopped working for Title X soon after acquiring her tier two employment visa.

The company, owned by former UBS and Citibank banker Tom Hayes, later jailed for his involved in the Libor interest-rate rigging scandal, went out of business mid 2013.

By then Ms Arcuri had already started her own business, the Innotech Network, which is set to have benefited from £10,000 London Mayor funding at the heart of the recent scandal.

The pair are pictured together in London in 2014. Both deny they had a relationship

Ms Arcuri told the Sunday Times she did not want to comment, while Mr Johnson continues to deny any impropreity.

Ms Arcuri, who now lives in her native California, told the Mail she did not have a relationship with the now-Prime Minister as she knew she would be 'cast out' as a result.

She said: 'I was categorically clear that the moment I gave Boris my virtue, I would be cast out. That's why I made him my buddy. I would say things like: 'You don't want me, I'm high maintenance and very demanding.'

'He used to laugh and say: 'I don't believe that at all.'

She went on to claim Mr Johnson described her as 'every man's Everest'.

She said: 'He would say: 'Jennifer, you're the Mount Everest every man wants to climb.'

'But the last thing I wanted to be was the girl that showed up, sh***ed him and left.'