Reform UK’s Farage failed to disclose funds from convicted criminal: Report

George Cottrell provided funds for Reform UK leader’s security, drivers, staff and accommodation, Sunday Times reports.

Nigel Farage received financial benefits from a convicted fraudster in the year before he was elected to parliament, and potentially breached parliamentary rules by failing to declare them, a UK newspaper has reported.

The Reform UK party leader did not declare benefits that included accepting security, drivers, staff and accommodation paid for by George Cottrell, according to the Sunday Times investigation.

Cottrell, 32, was jailed in the United States in 2017 for his role in a money laundering conspiracy.

The newspaper said Cottrell recruited and paid three staff to work on Farage’s social media before the general election, and has continued to allow him to use a five-storey Georgian townhouse he rented near Buckingham Palace.

A spokesman for Farage said the story was “baseless and contrived”.

“Contrary to the story’s tone, no parliamentary rules have been broken,” he said, as cited by the Reuters news agency.

Josh Babarinde, ‌an MP for Britain’s Liberal Democrats party, wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Sunday, calling for an investigation into the new allegations.

“Given the value and nature of the support described, there is a serious question as to whether Mr. Farage met his obligations under the Code of Conduct for MPs,” he said in a letter he made public on X. “This is not an isolated concern.”

At the time the support began, Farage was Reform’s honorary president and active as a national political figure.

The MPs’ code of conduct requires new members to declare any benefit worth more than 300 pounds ($400) received in the 12 months before their election if it is “in any way” related to their political activities. If there is doubt about the donor’s motives, it should be declared.

On his election in 2024, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage declared only one benefit from George Cottrell, worth about 9,200 pounds ($12,300), for travel to a conservative conference in Belgium.

The Sunday Times said Cottrell confirmed through lawyers that he had hired staff in Farage’s private office and paid them by bank transfer. The “last payment” for private security came between January and March 2024.

Cottrell pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2017 after offering to launder money for US federal agents posing as drug dealers. He spent eight months in prison and is seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump.

Farage is already under investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner for accepting five million pounds ($6.7m) from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.

He said he accepted the gift to fund his security.