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Polymarket Account Tied to Farage Backer Took $8.8M in Unknown Crypto
A Polymarket account in the name of convicted fraudster George Cottrell received $8.8M in crypto from unknown sources to bet on Trump. The FT reports.
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A Polymarket account registered in the name of George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster who bankrolled Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, received $8.8 million in cryptocurrency from unidentified sources in late October 2024 and used it to bet on Donald Trump’s election victory, the Financial Times reported.
The account, labeled “GCottrell93,” was funded from two crypto exchanges. $7 million came from OKX in five separate tranches, and $1.83 million was routed through ChangeNOW, the FT said, citing public blockchain data. Each time money arrived, the balance was immediately staked on a Trump win. After Trump’s victory, the account turned the position into $4.46 million in profit. Almost all the funds were then moved back out to other wallets. Who provided the money, and who collected the winnings, remains unclear.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has said he holds “high confidence” the account belongs to Cottrell. He flagged it earlier this year over a $550,000 loss on a bet about U.S. strikes on Iran. Cottrell’s lawyers declined to comment on his finances or specific transactions. They said their silence did not mean he accepted the FT’s findings. Reform UK did not respond to the paper.
A Sunday Times investigation earlier this month found that Cottrell had bankrolled Farage’s operation–staff, private security, transport, and accommodation–in the year before he won his parliamentary seat. Under the MPs’ code of conduct, members must disclose gifts, benefits, and hospitality that “might reasonably be thought by others to influence [their] actions or words.” The Sunday Times also tied Cottrell to a crypto-gambling platform it said was implicated in “potentially illegal” unlicensed betting in the UK. Since the election, the paper reported, Cottrell has let Farage use a five-storey house he rents near Buckingham Palace, minutes from Reform’s headquarters. Cottrell’s lawyer said that “as a close friend,” Cottrell “did, and does, allow Mr Farage to stay in” the property.