Polymarket Account in Farage Backer's Title Took $9M in Crypto From Unknown Sources: FT – Decrypt

A Polymarket account within the title of George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who has bankrolled Reform UK chief Nigel Farage, took in $8.8 million in cryptocurrency from unidentified sources in 2024 and used it to wager on Donald Trump’s election victory, the Monetary Occasions reported.

The account, registered as “GCottrell93,” was crammed in late October 2024 from two crypto exchanges—$7 million from OKX, despatched in 5 tranches, and $1.83 million routed via ChangeNOW, the FT mentioned, citing public blockchain information. Every time cash landed, it was instantly staked on a Trump win. After his victory, which the account was $4.46 million in revenue, nearly all of the funds had been moved again out to different wallets. Who supplied the cash, and who collected the winnings, is unclear.

The prediction market account has not been formally linked to Cottrell. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has mentioned he holds “excessive confidence” that it belongs to him, after flagging it earlier this 12 months over a $550,000 loss on a wager about U.S. strikes on Iran. Cottrell’s attorneys declined to touch upon his funds or particular transactions, and mentioned their silence didn’t imply he accepted the FT‘s findings. Reform UK didn’t reply to the paper.

Farage and Cottrell

A Sunday Occasions investigation earlier this month discovered that Cottrell had bankrolled Farage’s operation—workers, personal safety, transport, and lodging—within the 12 months earlier than he gained his parliamentary seat, advantages the Reform chief didn’t declare. Below the MPs’ code of conduct, members should disclose presents, advantages, and hospitality that “would possibly moderately be thought by others to affect [their] actions or phrases.” Cottrell had lined Farage’s safety for months, the paper reported, and recruited and paid three workers to run his social media. 

The investigation additionally tied Cottrell to a crypto-gambling platform it mentioned was implicated in “probably unlawful” unlicensed betting within the UK. Because the election, the Sunday Occasions reported, he has let Farage use a five-storey home he rents close to Buckingham Palace, minutes from Reform’s headquarters; his lawyer mentioned that “as a detailed buddy,” Cottrell “did, and does, permit Mr Farage to remain in” the property.

Each the Sunday Occasions and the FT have pressed whether or not cash from unidentified sources helped fund advantages for Farage or Reform, a query Cottrell has declined to reply, together with on who beneficially owns the Polymarket pockets.

Cottrell, 32, was born into an aristocratic household. In 2016, U.S. prosecutors charged him with 21 counts over an alleged “darkish net” cash laundering scheme; he pleaded responsible to a single rely of wire fraud beneath a deal that dropped the remaining, and served eight months in jail. He has since utilized for a U.S. presidential pardon, the Sunday Occasions reported.

Farage’s crypto ties

The report comes amid deepening scrutiny of Farage’s crypto connections. Earlier this month, it was revealed that bankers had filed a suspicious exercise report over a £5 million ($6.7 million) present to him from billionaire Tether investor Christopher Harborne, and he was reported to the UK’s requirements watchdog over alleged crypto lobbying. 

Farage resigned his Clacton seat on July 8 and compelled a by-election he solid as a “folks versus institution” combat, denying wrongdoing after weeks of scrutiny over his funds. The primary events—Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and the Greens—refused to face, dismissing the competition as a stunt. 

Amongst a report discipline of 34 contenders, Farage’s most distinguished challenger within the August 13 vote is satirical candidate Depend Binface, who payments himself as an “intergalactic house warrior” from the planet Sigma IX and campaigns with a steel dustbin on his head.