A former aide to Nigel Farage, who was previously convicted of wire fraud and allegedly found to be the owner of an illegal crypto ATM, was apparently filmed alongside the far-right politician when he was ‘milkshake’d’ on Tuesday.
Financier George Cottrell — also known as ‘Posh George’ — appeared to be among Farage’s entourage at the Reform Party’s campaign launch in Essex when a member of the crowd threw a milkshake at the former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader. This was the second milkshake thrown in the politician’s face.
Cottrell was in his 20s when he took up a position as an unpaid advisor to Farage and began co-directing Brexit-related fundraising for UKIP. However, in July 2016 he was arrested and charged with 21 counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud, blackmail, and extortion.
Read more: Brexit’s top donor outed as Bitfinex, Tether parent shareholder
An FBI sting operation caught Cottrell agreeing to launder £120,000 a month in drug trafficking proceeds. Cottrell allegedly threatened to report the fake drug traffickers to the police in an attempt to blackmail them out of 130 bitcoins, then worth $80,000.
He subsequently negotiated a plea deal with US prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to one count of wire fraud while another 20 were dropped. He received an eight-month sentence and was released in March 2017.
In 2016 a UKIP spokesperson told the BBC, “George was an unpaid and enthusiastic volunteer for the party over the period of the referendum.
“We are unaware of the details of the allegations excepting that they date from a time before he was directly involved in the party.”
George Cottrell allegedly owns illegal cryptomat
In 2023, Montenegro’s finance minister accused the former Farage aide of illegally owning a cryptomat, a physical crypto trading outlet similar to a crypto ATM. In addition, politicians from the country’s ‘Movement for Change’ accused Cottrell of funding the political organization Evropa Now Movement (PES).
According to Montenegrin news outlet Vijesti, the country’s minister of finance said, “We know that there is no legal basis for the trading of cryptocurrencies in Montenegro and that everything related to possible trade through that [cryptomat] is illegal.” Lawyers representing Cottrell deny the accusations.
Cottrell reportedly founded the ‘Private family office’ in Tivat, Montenegro, in 2020. His time in Montenegro was also hallmarked by his loss of £16 million in a Montenegro casino this year.
It’s unclear what his role was on Farage’s recent campaign launch. However, Cottrell claims on LinkedIn that he continues to work with “financial institutions, politicians, and political consulting firms.”
