George Cottrell, the convicted fraudster at the centre of Reform UK’s growing donations scandal, transferred more than $2m to his mother Fiona in the days immediately before her 2024 donations to the party, the Guardian understands.
Financial industry sources told The Guardian that Fiona received one deposit of $1.4m and two further tranches of over $300,000 each, money she reportedly told bankers had come from her son when they asked her about the deposits. In every case, the transfers landed 24 to 72 hours before Fiona then made a donation, either straight to Reform or via Britain Means Business, the fundraising vehicle controlled by deputy leader Richard Tice.
The money reportedly moved through US-based cryptocurrency exchanges before reaching Fiona’s account, platforms that convert crypto assets into hard currency like dollars or pounds, with some of it routed to her through money exchange services along the way.
Where the police investigation actually stands
The Metropolitan Police is investigating Reform’s funding, specifically whether anyone tried to disguise the true source of these donations. These new disclosures pile onto a story that’s already put serious pressure on Farage’s own finances, since the Guardian first revealed his undeclared £5m gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
The specific transfers, laid out
Fiona Cottrell was one of Reform’s most important donors in 2024, giving money both publicly and, it now appears, secretly. In May 2024 she gave two lots of £250,000, properly declared to the Electoral Commission. What can now be revealed is that those donations were each preceded by transfers from her son of $318,878 and $328,815 respectively.
As the Guardian first reported, she also gave over £1m to Britain Means Business, Tice’s company, in June 2024. That transfer wasn’t declared at the time, and was routed via the bank account of Oneify, an Australian money exchange service. Half of it was passed on directly to Reform by Tice days later, with no mention anywhere that the money had originated from Fiona Cottrell.
It can now be confirmed that $1.4m was deposited into Fiona’s account by her son before she gave £1,075,000 to Britain Means Business on 10 June 2024, just weeks before the general election. In total, George Cottrell deposited $2,047,693 into his mother’s account across the year. Add up her 2024 donations to Britain Means Business and Reform directly, and Fiona gave a combined £1.5m that year, a figure that lines up almost exactly with what her son transferred her, based on exchange rates at the time.
‘He was acting as a sort of shadow treasurer’
Two Reform sources involved in fundraising ahead of the 2024 election told the Guardian that George Cottrell had assured senior party figures more money would be arriving in the weeks before the vote. “He was acting as a sort of shadow treasurer, saying he would find a way to get more money in,” one source said.
Asked about the transfers, lawyers for George Cottrell said their client had no further comment. In earlier legal correspondence, he hasn’t denied giving his mother, understood to be of fairly modest means herself, large sums of money. Instead, through lawyers, he’s maintained that “any political donations his mother has made have been entirely her own decision, and are a matter for her.” Fiona Cottrell has not responded to repeated attempts by the Guardian to contact her.
Who George Cottrell actually is
George Cottrell is a convicted fraudster whom Farage has described as being “like a son to me.” He lives in Montenegro and says he’s tax-resident there. Reform insiders have described him as Farage’s chief of staff, though the party officially maintains he’s only ever been a volunteer. His lawyers say he’s a permissible donor despite living abroad, but haven’t explained exactly how he meets that criteria or when he first qualified under it. The only donation George Cottrell has ever formally declared to Reform in 2024 was £15,000, used to part-fund Farage’s trip to Florida that December, where he met Elon Musk.
Not an isolated relationship
This all lands as pressure builds on Reform’s leadership to explain the lack of transparency, and the striking overlap, between personal funders and political backers. The Guardian has separately revealed that Tice received an undisclosed £80,000 loan from George Cottrell, the same man who’s also funded Reform through his mother. And in April, the same paper revealed Nigel Farage received an undisclosed £5m gift from the party’s single most important donor, Harborne.
Several of these transactions have reportedly prompted bankers to raise money-laundering concerns with the National Crime Agency via suspicious activity reports.
Where Farage’s own situation stands
Following the Clacton byelection, Farage faces parliamentary standards investigations into whether he should have declared the £5m gift, and separately over benefits in kind provided by George Cottrell.
In an interview with the Telegraph last week, Farage appeared to shift position for the first time, seeming to acknowledge he probably should have declared the £5m. “All right, perhaps I should have filled in a piece of paper,” he said. “If that’s the worst thing I’ve done in life, not filling in a form, I would say that’s not too bad.”
Tice’s response
Tice hasn’t engaged with questions about his own £80,000 loan from George Cottrell, or his decision to pass £500,000 to Reform from Britain Means Business despite bankers reportedly raising concerns with him directly about where the money had come from. Instead, he’s accused the Metropolitan Police of running a smear campaign against Reform and leaking information to the press. “The Establishment are playing dirtier than ever to try to smear & discredit Reform leaders,” he posted on X.
What the Met has actually said
The investigation into Fiona Cottrell’s four 2024 donations has now been running for more than a year. In a recent statement, the Met said: “An investigation was launched in February 2025 after a referral was made to the Metropolitan police by the Electoral Commission relating to donations made to a political party ahead of the 2024 UK general election. Detectives from the Met’s special inquiry team are investigating alleged offences under section 61 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Early investigative advice has been sought from the Crown Prosecution Service and two people have so far been interviewed under caution. No arrests have been made. An offence under this section is not one that the Electoral Commission can investigate and, as such, it is a matter for the police.”
Asked directly whether Reform had been assured George Cottrell would “find a way” to bring in money, and whether he’d effectively acted as a shadow treasurer, a party spokesperson gave a flat denial: “We deny this completely. Reform takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations and always ensures that the Electoral Commission guidelines on donations, as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, are strictly followed, as has been the case with all donations.”
Leave a Reply