Nigel Farage did not declare gifts from crypto entrepreneur convicted of fraud

Nigel Farage did not declare gifts and benefits provided by a crypto entrepreneur who has previously been convicted of fraud, Reform’s economic spokesperson has admitted.Robert Jenrick said on Sunday that the Reform leader had accepted staff, security and accommodation from George Cottrell, but claimed they were personal gifts provided before he became an MP and so did not need to be declared.Jenrick’s comments came after The Sunday Times revealed Cottrell, who was convicted of wire fraud in the US, had hired social media staff for Farage and allowed him to stay in his townhouse near Buckingham Palace.Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg whether Cottrell paid for staff to run Farage’s social media presence in 2024, Jenrick said: “Yes, absolutely.”But he added: “You’re allowed to accept a gift, support, whatever you want to call it, from a personal friend before you’re a member of parliament, if it’s in a purely personal capacity.“When you’re a news presenter and you’ve just been on the jungle [in the TV programme I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!], you do create social media content that’s nothing to do with his job as a member of parliament, because he wasn’t a member of parliament.”Jenrick also acknowledged Farage stayed in Cottrell’s house “a couple of times” and accepted private security paid for by him. “Reform have been completely open about this,” he said.The revelations add to questions about how Farage has financed his lifestyle before and since becoming an MP.The Guardian revealed earlier this year that the Reform leader had failed to declare a £5m donation from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne just before he announced his intention to stand for parliament.Parliamentary rules say that MPs must declare gifts, benefits and hospitality received in the year preceding their election if they could in any way relate to their political activities. There is an exemption, however, for gifts which are provided in a purely personal capacity.The Liberal Democrats have now written to the parliamentary standards commissioner, who is already investigating the Harborne money, asking him to look into the gifts provided by Cottrell too.A Reform spokesperson said on Sunday: “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.”The health secretary, James Murray, said Farage had questions to answer however.“It doesn’t surprise me, because I think quite a lot of questions come up in relation to his finances,” Murray told Kuenssberg. “He seems to have a bit of a flexible relationship with transparency, and I put it mildly.”The Sunday Times reported that Cottrell has paid for Farage’s security for several years, that he paid for three staff to work on Farage’s social media presence and that he provided his property near Buckingham Palace for the Reform leader to use.When he became an MP, Farage registered a £9,253 donation from Cottrell to pay for a trip to Belgium in April 2024, and later added a £15,276 donation for a US domestic flight Cottrell provided in December 2024. He did not declare the other previous benefits provided by the crypto businessman however.In 2016 Cottrell was charged with 21 offences for his role in a “dark money” money laundering scheme. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and spent time in prison in Arizona, though he is now seeking a pardon from the US president, Donald Trump.Farage knew about the conviction because he was travelling with Cottrell back from a Trump rally when he was arrested.