#UKIP and 'The Bad Boys of #Brexit': George Cottrell pleads guilty

Pictured: Arron Banks (left) and George Cottrell

George Cottrell, former manager of Nigel Farage’s private office, was caught by American undercover agents offering to launder drugs money on the 'dark net'. Cottrell intended to retain the money and then blackmail the traffickers. He will be sentenced in March and could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The USA Today reported how Cottrell was arrested in Cleveland in July after attending the Republican National Convention in Cleveland with Nigel Farage; he was arrested by the FBI when he disembarked from a flight at Chicago Airport and denied bail.

In Arron Banks’ ghost-written 'laddish' account of the referendum, The Bad Boys of Brexit: Tales of Mischief, Mayhem & Guerrilla Warfare in the EU Referendum Campaign, he describes Cottrell as "‘Posh George’ - Nigel’s office fixer, posh to the point of caricature and wilfully abrasive, but extremely generous when it came to picking up the bar tab. Nephew of Lord Hesketh, Tory minister under Thatcher and John Major, who defected to UKIP.”

Cottrell initially faced several charges including money laundering, blackmail and wire fraud charges. In his plea agreement he explained how he proposed a service to criminals where they could avoid reporting requirements and disguise the proceeds of crime.

Tax transparency

UKIP has two members on the European Parliament’s PANA Committee into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion, David Coburn and Raymond Finch. The MEPs have been critical of the EU’s efforts to place unco-operative jurisdictions such as Panama on a European blacklist, and have also been critical of whistleblower protection for journalists disclosing information on financial arrangements in the public interest.

Cottrell's activities show how criminals will try to find any weakness in the tax system of other countries to launder their ill-gotten gains. It remains to be seen if UKIP will take a more positive view of the EU's attempts to clean up the system. It is assumed that the UK will remain in the OECD, even if it leaves the EU in the next two years. Many of the measures proposed in Brussels are in line with the OECD's proposal for greater tax transparency.

UKIP has not yet issued a statement on Cottrell’s admission of guilt, but UKIP have already said they were unaware of Cottrell’s activities on the dark net.

Share this article: