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Can Reform survive its summer of scandal?

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A Montenegro-based company founded by George Cottrell has closed after weeks of intense scrutiny over the convicted fraudster’s financial dealings and close relationship with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

The closure was first reported in the Observer newspaper and represents the latest episode in a summer of scandal gripping the Reform party and its backers.

Back in July, openDemocracy travelled to Montenegro to investigate the lives of Cottrell and other Reform key allies and donors in the glamorous coastal resort of Tivat, where they have business interests.

At the same time, a number of news reports raised serious questions about Cottrell and Farage, starting with reports in The Sunday Times that the Clacton MP failed to disclose in-kind support from the 32-year-old former UKIP fundraiser. The support dated to before Farage had decided to stand as an MP, though parliamentary rules say incoming MPs must declare registerable benefits and gifts received in the 12 months before their election that could reasonably be thought to influence their political work.

As calls mounted for a parliamentary probe into Cottrell’s gifts, Farage stood down as an MP in order to trigger a by-election, saying: “The people of Clacton should be the judges of my actions.” The move paused an existing investigation into another alleged undeclared £5m “gift” from mega-donor Christopher Harborne.

Denying any wrongdoing, the Reform leader sought to frame the by-election as the “people vs the establishment”, though the other national parties opted not to engage in a race that they branded a publicity stunt. Farage was re-elected earlier this month.

With the party’s embattled leader reinstated – for the moment, at least – and its conference just around the corner, openDemocracy asks: what do we now know about Cottrell and his relationship with Reform? And what will happen next?

Private Family Office

Cottrell, a minor aristocrat known as ‘Posh George’, set up the Private Family Office in 2020, using the alias “George Co” on the registration documents. His move to Montenegro came a few years after he spent eight months in a US prison for wire fraud. Cottrell has also travelled on a George Co passport.

Having claimed that he could not afford lawyers after his 2016 arrest in a US airport, Cottrell’s fortunes appeared to turn around by the time he landed in Porto Montenegro, Tivat. He reportedly moved into a luxury apartment ultimately owned by a business associate, gambled in high-stakes casinos, drove a Lamborghini, and started a relationship with the country’s leading beauty queen, Andjela Vukadinovic.

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It’s hard to see how such wealth was generated from the Private Family Office. The company, which Cottrell’s lawyers instructed us was set up for administrative purposes and did not trade, recorded revenue totalling just under €26,000 over the past three years while accumulating losses of nearly €75,000. Despite the losses, it has liabilities of more than €470,000.

The company has been central to a growing scandal over Cottrell’s finances and his relationship with Reform UK and Farage.

In May 2024, Private Family Office opened an account on Oneify, a platform that moves cryptocurrency across borders. Within a fortnight, the platform was used as a conduit for political donations to Reform, with an initial £1m deposited into Britain Means Business, a UK company owned by Richard Tice, then the party’s leader and now its deputy, according to reports in the Sunday Times. Tice reportedly transferred half the sum to Reform.

Tice said the money came from Cottrell’s mother, Fiona, a retired stylist and former girlfriend of King Charles. Reports in the Guardian later alleged that Fiona had received £2m from her son via a cryptocurrency exchange in the days before she made her donations.

The Guardian went on to report that the banks involved submitted “suspicious activity reports” to the National Crime Agency because of concerns over the source of Fiona’s funds. Loans from Cottrell to Tice also prompted suspicious activity reports. The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation in February 2025 into at least two of Fiona’s donations, on suspicion of evading donations restrictions, with two people interviewed under caution.

Fiona Cottrell has repeatedly declined to answer questions put to her by the Guardian and Sunday Times.

When the Oneify transfer took place in May 2024, Fiona – whose late husband left an estate worth £1.5m when he died in 2023 – had never previously made a political donation. She has since given £750,000 to Reform, as well as the £1m to Britain Means Business.

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Lawyers at Carter Ruck, directed by Cottrell, told openDemocracy: “To the extent that you refer to transactions reported by The Sunday Times, our client will not comment on or engage in questions about matters which, whether true or false – for avoidance of doubt, nothing we say here should be treated as an acknowledgement of the accuracy or otherwise of such information – constitute obviously private and confidential information.”

Crypto and gambling

It’s not only Cottrell’s Private Family Office that has closed.

Tether.bet, a Montenegro-based gambling company that encouraged players to place high-stakes bets using cryptocurrencies, shut down earlier this month. Cottrell’s lawyers confirmed to us that he was a customer of Tether.bet and “friends with its owner”, though they denied he had any further involvement in the platform.

Tether.bet uses the Tether cryptocoin part-owned by Christopher Harborne, whose £5m “gift” to Farage prompted the investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commission. The crypto betting platform was launched in 2020, shortly after Cottrell and Harborne dined with Farage in London.

Like Cottrell, Harborne has located at least one of his business interests in Tivat; his Longevity Biotech Solutions company is registered to a shabby backstreet office that openDemocracy visited in July. The company is effectively a dormant shell, recording €38,000 losses in the past three years. Its total revenue in the same time period was €15.

Harborne’s business shares its Tivat address with at least 150 other firms, including effective shell companies owned by Reform’s communications guru Gawain Towler and Mehrtash

A’Zami, who was Reform’s treasurer in spring 2024 when party grandees struck an alleged “secret deal” to bring Farage back to frontline politics.

The deal, reported in the Sunday Times, would see Reform repay or write off more than £1m in loans it had received from Tice’s company once Farage became party leader. The discussions were reportedly supervised by Cottrell. openDemocracy previously reported that Cottrell was hired by A’Zami’s consulting firm as a teenager.

When Cottrell sipped champagne with Nigel Farage at a “polo in the port” event in Tivat in 2019, he had already enjoyed a long association with the man he called “daddy”. Farage has stood by his “son”, but the constant stream of revelations has had an impact.

The summer of scandals has left its mark on Reform’s leader. His popularity is slipping, and the party is starting to lag in the polls. He may yet face a second by-election before the year is out; the parliamentary investigation into his donations was re-opened after his re-election in Clacton and could trigger a vote if the commissioner rules against him.

In recent weeks, Farage has struggled to maintain poise under pressure: snapping at journalists, avoiding the limelight, and losing control of the narrative. Farage’s success has long been attributed to his populist, man-of-the-people act. But voters are increasingly fed up – and his mask is starting to crack.

Reform did not respond to requests for comment.

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In July, openDemocracy went to Montenegro to report on Reform backer “Posh George”. Here’s what happened next

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In July, openDemocracy went to Montenegro to report on Reform backer “Posh George”. Here’s what happened next