Nigel Farage's team has dismissed fresh allegations that the Reform UK leader may have breached parliamentary rules by failing to declare financial support from a convicted criminal. George Cottrell, who admitted wire fraud in the US in 2017, reportedly provided security and social media staff who worked on Farage's online content in the year before he was elected MP. It is also alleged that Farage used a property rented by Cottrell near Buckingham Palace.
Liberal Democrats call for investigation
The Liberal Democrats have urged Parliament's sleaze watchdog to launch a second investigation into Farage's finances. Lib Dem MP Josh Babarinde wrote to Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg, stating there is a “serious question as to whether Mr Farage met his obligations under the Code of Conduct for MPs”. Farage is already facing a parliamentary probe over a £5m gift from a billionaire donor that was not registered.
After becoming MP for Clacton in 2024, Farage registered a £9,000 trip to Belgium donated by Cottrell and belatedly added £15,000 for a US domestic flight, but no other support was declared. Under rules at the time, new MPs had to register any gifts worth more than £300 received in the previous 12 months, unless the gift “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.
Cottrell's background and relationship with Farage
Cottrell, 32, a long-time friend of Farage, was involved with UKIP as a volunteer before the Brexit referendum. In 2017, he was jailed for eight months in the US after pleading guilty to wire fraud for attempting to defraud criminals on the dark web by posing as a money launderer. Farage was with Cottrell when US authorities arrested him as they returned from a Republican convention. According to the Sunday Times, Cottrell is a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and involved with offshore gambling website Tether.bet.
Reform UK's response
A Reform UK spokesman said: “It comes as no surprise that The Sunday Times has chosen to publish this baseless and contrived story, covering a period of time when Nigel Farage was not even an active politician let alone an elected one, given that the newspaper backed the Labour Party at the last general election. Contrary to the story’s tone, no parliamentary rules have been broken.”
Reform UK's Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick added that “no rules have been broken” because the support occurred “before he became a member of Parliament”. He described Cottrell as an “old friend” of Farage with “no formal role within Reform” and insisted Farage is “not going anywhere”.
