Farage Ally With US Fraud Conviction Gave Undeclared Support, Reports Say
A Sunday Times investigation claims Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accepted staffing, security help, and use of a London property from George Cottrell — a friend convicted of wire fraud in 2017 — without registering it with Parliament. Reform says no rules were broken.
Key points
- George Cottrell, 32, pleaded guilty to a US wire fraud charge in 2017 and served eight months in prison.
- The Sunday Times reported that Cottrell provided Farage with security staff, social media workers, and use of a London property in the year before Farage was elected as the Clacton MP in July 2024.
- UK parliamentary rules require new MPs to declare financial benefits they received in the 12 months before their election — but exemptions exist for purely personal gifts.
- The Liberal Democrats have asked Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg to investigate; Greenberg is already probing a separate £5 million gift Farage received from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne.
- Farage's team says the support from Cottrell was personal, not political, and therefore did not need to be declared.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, is facing fresh scrutiny over support he allegedly received from a long-standing friend who was convicted of fraud in the United States.
The Sunday Times reported that George Cottrell — a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who served eight months in a US jail in 2017 after pleading guilty to wire fraud — paid for security personnel and social media staff who worked on Farage's online presence. The paper also claims Farage used a townhouse near Buckingham Palace that Cottrell was renting. Cottrell is also said to be involved with Tether.bet, an offshore gambling website.
None of this support appears in the Register of Members' Financial Interests — the public record where UK MPs must list gifts, payments, and other benefits they receive. Parliamentary rules say new MPs must declare anything of value received in the twelve months before they were elected. Farage became the MP for Clacton in July 2024.
Does this mean Farage broke the rules?
Not automatically. The rules carve out an exemption for gifts given in a purely personal capacity — meaning a friend helping a friend, with no political strings attached. Robert Jenrick, Reform's Treasury spokesman, told the BBC that all of Cottrell's support arrived before Farage was even standing for election, and was personal rather than political. "No rules have been broken whatsoever," Jenrick said.
Farage's office echoed that position, calling the story "baseless and contrived."
But critics are not satisfied. The Liberal Democrats have formally asked Greenberg, the official who investigates MPs' conduct, to look into the matter. Labour called it part of a "huge and growing scandal."
The timing matters. Farage served as Reform's honorary president from March 2021. He announced his return as party leader on 3 June 2024 — putting part of the alleged support period very close to his re-entry into active politics.
Farage did register two Cottrell-funded items after becoming an MP: a £9,253 trip to Belgium in April 2024, and a £15,276 domestic US flight in December 2024. The argument from his team is that those crossed a threshold requiring disclosure while the staffing and accommodation did not.
This is the second registration controversy Farage faces. Greenberg is already investigating whether Farage should have declared a £5 million gift from Harborne, which Farage says was for personal security and had no political purpose.
For Reform voters and ordinary members of the public, the practical question is simple: did a politician accept meaningful financial help from a convicted fraudster and keep it off the official record? That question now sits with the parliamentary watchdog.
