Convicted fraudster and Nigel Farage backer George Cottrell had $9 million deposited into his Polymarket account by two unknown sources.
That’s according to the Financial Times (FT), which reported that Cottrell’s Polymarket account — which has the username “GCottrell93” — received $8.8 million in October 2024.
It received $7 million across five different transactions from a wallet on crypto exchange OKX, and received another $1.83 million from a wallet on ChangeNOW.
These funds were used almost immediately to bet on whether or not Trump would win the US election. From here, the FT claims $13 million in winnings was sent to an OKX wallet while $282,000 was sent to ChangeNOW.
Cottrell was previously convicted of wire fraud in March 2017 after he was caught agreeing to launder drug trafficking proceeds.
For many years, Cottrell and his relationship with Farage had gone largely under the radar. However, this past year has seen him thrust into the limelight after Farage was discovered to have accepted, without declaring, a £5 million gift from multi-billionaire Tether investor Christopher Harborne.
Cottrell was also revealed to have funded staff, security, and housing for the Reform UK leader before his election in 2024.
None of this was declared, and has since been referred to the UK’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
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Cottrell has continued to bet on Polymarket throughout the year. Protos reported in March 2026 that he bet $41,000 that the US war with Iran would last another four months.
One of his larger bets currently involves $71,000 on whether or not Vice President JD Vance will win the Republican nomination for president in 2028.
In addition to the FT’s report, Byline Times also revealed today that Cottrell has in the past used a fraudulent Swiss passport, under the name of “Oscar Drewitt.”
This fraudulent identity was reportedly known by Reform UK’s former Treasurer, Mehrtash A’zami, who hired Cottrell into a City financial network while using this Swiss alias.
Byline Times also discovered that a fellow gambler called Hon Kong Yong introduced Cottrell to this network under the false alias, and that Yong and A’zami have companies registered under the same Montenegro Tivet office, which Harborne and two other former Reform UK officials were linked to.
