Reform UK’s Farage failed to disclose money from criminal: Report | Corruption Issues

George Cottrell donated money to the Reform UK leader’s security, drivers, staff and accommodation, the Sunday Times reports.

Nigel Farage received money from a convicted fraudster a year before he was elected to parliament, and may have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare it, a UK newspaper has said.

The leader of the Reform UK party has not announced benefits which include accepting security, drivers, staff and accommodation paid for by George Cottrell, according to and the Sunday Times search.

Cottrell, 32, was arrested in the United States in 2017 for money laundering.

The newspaper said Mr Cottrell hired and paid three staff to work on Farage’s development before the general election, and continued to let him use a five-storey Georgian house he rented near Buckingham Palace.

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

“Contrary to what this article is saying, no parliamentary rules have been broken,” he said, according to Reuters.

Mr Josh Babarinde, MP for the Liberal Democrats in Britain, wrote on Sunday to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, to investigate the new allegations.

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

At the time the aid began, Farage was a respected Reform president and political activist.

Parliamentary rules require new members to declare any benefit of more than 300 pounds ($400) received in the 12 months before their election as “any” related to their political activities. If there is any doubt about the donor’s intentions, they must be declared.

In his election in 2024, the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, announced only one benefit from George Cottrell, worth about 9,200 pounds ($ 12,300), to attend a conservative conference in Belgium.

The Sunday Times reported that Cottrell had confirmed through lawyers that he had hired staff from Farage’s private office and paid them through bank transfers. The “final payment” for the privacy policy came between January and March 2024.

Cottrell was charged with fraud in 2017 after providing money to US government agencies posing as drug dealers. He spent eight months in prison and is seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump.

Farage is already being investigated by the parliamentary rules committee for receiving five million pounds ($6.7m) from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.

He said he received the gift to support his defense.