** The untold story of Reform's George Cottrell: details never shown before about Farage's closest and most important aide, donor **
There are very few people as close to Nigel Farage as George Cottrell, who Farage described as “like a son to me”. He is not just a friend, though: he financed two of Farage’s trips (one to the US, one to Belgium) and his mother is one of the largest Reform UK donors, with £750 thousand. But there is more.
What will be revealed below is in the public interest, because this is not just a private citizen who supports Reform. There is widespread evidence showing George Cottrell with Farage in back scenes of several events, from rallies to more private meetings, in a pattern that repeats his previous association with the MP during his UKIP years. A man with a powerful connection with a potential Prime Minister and other senior Reform members that not only has a previous criminal conviction but has been reportedly linked by the press to a network of crypto casinos, offshore money and political activity. Cottrell denies connections to Salon Prive, Tether.bet - claiming he is merely an unofficial aide, a friend, and without any links to the businesses to be detailed here. This publication does not input any criminality on any of the facts below, but the prominence of his role inside Reform, formal or not, means his businesses are in the public interest.
The Background
George Cottrell is a 32-year-old British aristocrat who served 8 months in jail in the United States in 2016, following an investigation by IRS, the tax authority of the Unite States. The federal charges were brought in the state of Arizona. He was arrested at an airport in Chicago after attending the Republican National Convention with Nigel Farage and Isabel Oakeshott, journalist and girlfriend of Richard Tice, Reform UK MP. The charges that led to his arrest included conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud, extortion and blackmail, among others. He agreed to a plea deal, guilty on a single charge of wire fraud. During his interactions with undercover agents he was allegedly offering to launder money from drugs using Bitcoin. It was said he was not aware that he wasn’t dealing with drug dealers, but undercover agents.
Prior to that, in 2014, he became involved with UKIP, where Nigel Farage was building his political movement. Soon after he was appointed their treasurer, responsible for fundraising. Sources say this was due to his network, which included wealthy figures.
The Gambling Teen
There isn’t much detail about his employment background, but corporate filings have been discovered including two companies: one called Upsilon Investments, in BVI, and another one called Geogar Racing. The most striking fact of his link to those companies is the age he was when they were set up: 17.
Geogar Racing was a tipping service company owned 50% by Cottrell and 50% by an individual named Garfield Farrell. At the time the company was founded, Sep/11, Cottrell, DOB Oct/93, was just about to turn 18. Given the nature of the service, tipping for horse races, it would be illegal for Cottrell to run the business on his own. It was impossible to find a Garfield Farrell in the UK, but there are two individuals with matching names in the Caribbean area, one more specifically in the Mustique area who used to work as skipper. Whilst it is not possible to establish if the person is the same, the use of third-party individuals for business registers was not new for Cottrell at the time. He registered, months before Geogar and therefore also still aged 17, Upsilon Investments. He had Vivian Combs, based in BVI, as co-director. Cottrell was appointed director and resigned on the same day, indicating a potential accident that revealed his name and what would have been otherwise simply Combs as a nominee with no UBOs disclosed.
The Far-Right Connections
Jump to 2018, Cottrell was seen joining a “Free Tommy Robinson” march, when 5 police officers got injured. Cottrell was joined by several polemic figures: Raheem Kassam, Lucy Brown, Sam Van Rooy, Filip Dewinter, Lisa Barbounis and Mick Greenhough. Raheem is very close to the Trump administration and Steve Bannon (who recently featured in Epstein files in exchanges with Epstein talking about using crypto to finance politics and Bannon’s access to far-right parties in Europe), having worked for many years for him.
Nigel and the Montenegro Premiere
Then, in 2019 he was seen again with Nigel Farage, this time in Montenegro. That’s where George would start building a business network. The episode was registered with pictures of Cottrell and his then girlfriend, Georgia Toffolo, drinking champagne at a polo match in Tivat.
The Game Starts
One year later, in 2020, a company that would end up showing incredibly strong links to Cottrell in Montenegro emerged: the foundation of a holding called Global Trust Limited which would end up owning most several companies in the Balkans, as well as a luxury penthouse which has been reported as Cottrell's residence and which was sold using a very unusual structure. The company has a website that indicates Seychelles management, but there is no record of Global Trust Limited in the Seychelles as per local registry.
Paper Trail
For many years there were suspicions by local authorities and local press that Cottrell was the owner of Salon Prive, a casino in Tivat, due to his constant presence there, as well as connections with staff members. Cottrell is living at the penthouse of Regent Hotel, just minutes walking from Salon Prive, as evidenced by several press articles as well as photographic evidence from his girlfriend for many years, Angela Vukadinovic, via social media.
The penthouse in question is legally owned by Sidra 501, a company in Tivat created in 2015 to acquire the property. The company was owned by Mr Issa abu-Issa, a Qatari millionaire, until 2024. The problem is: the land registry of Montenegro showed that the property, whilst remaining legally registered on the name of Sidra 501, was sold to someone called David James Robery in 2020. The sale did not transfer the registered ownership, but it was recognized as a deed/annotation (likely intentional to avoid identifying the sale). Then, in 2024, Sidra 501 is sold to Global Trust Ltd, the holding mentioned above, and more recently another note showed up in the land registry saying the sale to Robery, agreed almost 6 years ago, was now cancelled.
Following the evidence that Robery was the de-facto owner of the penthouse between 2020 and 2024, years when Mr Cottrell was living at the property, further analysis showed that Mr Robery is a local man from Evesham, with a middle-class background. His family lived next door to an estate owned by Cottrell’s father, Mark. Similar properties in the Regent Hotel indicate that the penthouse could cost over £4 million – not exactly what a middle-class man could afford. More than that, social media analysis revealed that David Robery was the sole follower of Geogar Racing’s Twitter account, revealing a long-term acquaintance between the two. Social media presence points to Robery living in Montenegro and being close friends with Salon Prive employees.
Robery also appeared linked to a British company, now called Opayo Ltd, previously Global G Corp Ltd. The adoption of the name Opayo creates confusion because it is the name of former Sage Pay, an unrelated but well known payment system company. Global G Corp seems to stand for Global Gaming Corporation, an entity that self-reported on Linkedin as owner of Tether Bet, a crypto gambling website that focuses on the cryptocurrency Tether, issued by a company with the same name and where Mr Christopher Harborne is a shareholder with 12%. Tether is considered one of the most lenient crypto issuers regarding anti-money laundering controls. Tether Bet, in turn, is also linked to Global Trust Ltd, as evidenced by website ownership registers. The same registers show that Angela Vukadinovic’s personal website was register by Tether Bet. Opayo was created in 2020 and dissolved in 2023 after compulsory strike-off, with CHF (Swiss francs) 100 as capital. Swiss francs as capital currency for small British companies is highly unusual.
The Bankrupt Nominee
Here is where things get messy. Cottrell, via his lawyers, has told police authorities and the press that the owner of Global Trust Ltd is Hon Kong Yong, a Malaysian accountant who had a career in London. Hong Kong Yong was declared bankrupt by the High Court in the UK, in a process that started in 2015 and finished in 2018. In that final year, Mr Yong was declared unemployed and with no fixed address. It is peculiar that a man with that background would end up owning not one, but two casinos in Montenegro, a penthouse worth £4 million and a crypto-currency gambling network. How could Global Trust Limited have raised $55m that Tether.bet alleged to have as provable reserves back when it was created in 2020?
Salon Prive not so Prive
In 2021 the Global Trust Limited empire starts a casino business in Montenegro: it opened Salon Prive, a VIP gambling venue which included, at some point, a crypto ATM: a machine where you can convert crypto to hard money. Such machines were not legal in Montenegro, and this led to a police raid in 2023 with accusations that Cottrell was the owner. A lawyer called Ratko Pantovic stepped in and allegedly represented Hon Kong Yong and Salon Prive, claiming Mr Yong was the real owner. A recent search from InfoClipper bureau states Yong is a proxy, not a shareholder. The case was later dropped by local authorities. Ratko, in turn, was the father of Nino Pantovic, a financial concierge for several of Cottrell's connections and, from what social media pictures tell (airplanes, yachts), also a close friend.
The Political Scene
According to Vijesti, local politicians have linked George Cottrell to Prime Minister Spajic, a pro-EU, former crypto investors who leaped from private sector straight into the highest post in politics of Montenegro. Some of them accuse authorities of caving to pressures from Spajic to justify dropping the case on Cottrell.
The case of Spajic and his pro-EU party, PES, is very peculiar. Gawain Towler, a senior Reform member, flew to Montenegro in 2020 during campaign for elections. In an article written to local media (Vijesti), Towler said he identified some political issues in the country and called Cottrell, his friend, who suggested he should visit the country and see it for himself. Towler’s article came after Vijesti revealed that he went to Montenegro with a production team that included Harry Parslow, Farage’s social media production associate and now also shareholder at Farage’s Stack BTC, as well as a photographer that also worked for Farage/Parslow in the UK. Towler claimed in that article that he did some of the political/campaign works for free, and some with “a small contract”. However, when asked about how much and how he was paid, Towler refused to respond to Vijesti. Local politicians have accused Cottrell of illegally financing Spajic’s campaign. Spajic, who has a background as crypto entrepreneur, was also accused of receiving funds from Do Kwon, a convicted criminal recently extradited to the US and awaiting trial.
Towler opened a company in Montenegro with the help of Nino Pantovic (via his company GFS), who by coincidence happened to be son of the defense lawyer for Cottrel, Vukadinovic, Salon Prive, Hon Kong Yong and Global Trust Ltd. Nino Pantovic opened companies for a series of people linked to Cottrell, as well as Farage’s donor Christopher Harborne (Longevity Biotech Systems) and Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum.
Nino Pantovic
But Towler was not the only one to work in Montenegro. Another Farage associate, Chris Bruni-Lowe, revealed in recent interviews to BBC and Times that he also worked for PES, more specifically for the campaign of the now president of the country, Milatovic. That makes not one, but four of Farage’s and Brexit Party/Reform’s associates working in Montenegro for a pro-EU party. Ideologically that makes no sense, given the stringent anti-EU stance of those British names.
The Other Casino
Jump to 2023, and a peculiar brunch in Mayfair was attended by Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, George Cottrell, Bruni-Lowe and a man called Neil Gallacher. Neil worked for Salon Prive as CEO as per his Linkedin (now deleted), but public announcements including by himself and PR pieces put him as the new head of Casino Avala.
Casino Avala had a very strange story: it was bankrupting already when acquired and months after it was transferred to Global Trust Ltd/Hon Kong Yong, it ceased to operate. According to the local press it was previously owned by the son of an oligarch (Telman Ismailov) that fell out with Putin and fled to Montenegro. The companies registers in Montenegro show the holding Montenegro Management Group owned by Telman Ismailov until Mar/21, and when Hon Kong Yong comes in as director the onwership of MMG is transferred to an Israeli poker player named Ofer Shtern (so, not Global Trust Limited, but having Hon Kong Yong as director and Neil Gallacher as CEO).
The timeline of Avala goes like this:
Oct 2011 — Disputed start of lease/use of space.
Nov 2017 — Commercial Court orders Casino Avala to pay ≈ €13.3M for rent.
Dec 2017 — Further judgments / incremental sums recorded.
Oct 2018 — Alekper Ismailov acquires shares of Montenegro Management Group, holding company owner of Casino Avala.
Aug 2018 — Executors / account blockade / enforcement actions reported.
Jan 2021 — Hotel owner blocks casino account over decade-old debt — enforcement continuing.
Feb 2021 — Account blocked for €13.3M — formal enforcement measure.
Mar 2021 — Hong Kong Yong becomes the registered director of Montenegro Management Group, holding company owner of Casino Avala, with ownership linked to Ofer Shtern
May 2021 — Neil Gallacher appointed CEO of Casino Avala.
May 2021 — Public bailiff schedules eviction; court/execution action intensifies.
Aug 2021 — Casino ceases to operate after concession not extended / inspectors note cessation.
Jun 2022 — Forced eviction expected / Basic Court decisions in favour of hotel owner; eviction pressure reported.
Feb 2023 — Casino Avala evicted from the hotel; public bailiff implements court decisions.
Avala is considered one of the largest cases of bankruptcy in Montenegro with EUR 23 million in debt. Without further public disclosures about measures taken to recover that casino, one could conclude that any investment made by investors in 2021 would have been lacking economic rationale.
The Highly Secretive VIP Private Poker Matches
One case of large sums seemingly being “wasted” by Cottrell includes a betting occasion when he reportedly lost GBP 16M. Whilst initially he denied, via his lawyers, that such event happened, he later seemingly joked about in an interview with Tatler that the amount he lost was much larger. The event was a private poker match which does not follow the same publicity as the Triton Poker championship, which took place around the same time in Montenegro. In such private events, the anti-money laundering control is entirely up to the organiser. Opacity remains a key issue as it was not clear who the organiser was.
Back (or not really) to Arizona Where Cottrell Was Charged
Salon Prive seems to be a magnet for high profile individuals visiting Montenegro. Mark Brnovich, former Attorney General for Arizona and also former Gambling Director of that state was seen in that casino together with his family. That was not the only place he was seen, though. Social media evidence, including from himself, put him in the David Bowie villa in Mustique and Basil’s bar between 2023 and 2024. Basil’s bar is Cottrell’s favourite spot in Mustique, where he grew up, apparently being the reason why Salon Prive also named their drinks pod as Basil’s bar. Just days before Brnovich visited the Bowie villa, Angela Vukadinovic posted pictures of herself in the same house, which can be revealed as owned by Simon Dolan.
As mentioned before, George Cottrell was indicted with federal charges in Arizona almost a decade ago. The AG for the state was Mark Brnovich (who was also the Gambling Director for the same state before taking the AG role). Although Mark was not directly overseeing the case of Cottrell, as state representative he would have been granted access to sensitive information if it were requested. No evidence that such disclosure was made or requested, but legally that would be allowed.
Earlier in 2025 Mark, of Montenegrin descent, was appointed US Ambassador to Serbia. His staunch, pro-Trump position probably helped with such nomination. However, a similar content to this article was published in another space and was picked up by Serbian and Montenegrin newspapers, as well as politicians. Without explanations, immediately after his nomination was dropped without explanation. There is no suggestion those two events are related, but the coincidence is stark.
Mark, who died earlier this year, was also a good friend of Farage. He has been several times to Farage’s show on GB News, Mark was spotted with Nigel Farage at the Cheltenham Race course twice: 2024 and 2025. George Cottrell was there too, in 2025, as was Nick Candy. Farage arrived by helicopter, and Brnovich is later seen at a VIP box with Farage. Likewise, Mark seemed to have a very constructive relationship with PM Spajic, as seen in a social media picture at the Regent Hotel, where Cottrell’s residence is.
The Connections Between the Family Office and the Crypto/Gambling World
Salon Prive, Casino Avala and Tether.bet are not the only companies linked to Cottrell, though. In fact, those are the ones whose ownership is difficult to be proved formally, despite abundant links demonstrating connections. There is another company called Private Family Office which is formally owned by Cottrell in Montenegro, but its story is equally unusual: the company was created in Jan/20, was transferred in Nov/20 to an individual called Gustaf Sander, then transferred back to Cottrell in Oct/22 (then using an alias of George Co). Gustaf Sander is an employee of Salon Prive, having appeared in PR pieces representing the company as the sponsor of Arsenal Tivat, a football club. The sponsorship itself is yet another peculiar factor: the football club was suspended by UEFA last year due to matching fixing. They were banned for 7 years for this incident. The corruption was only detected due to unusual betting activity.
Sander isn’t just an employee. He can be seen partying with Ms Vukadinovic in several locations, from Salon Prive to Mustique, and is even in a video with George Cottrell dancing on the counter of Salon Prive and throwing champagne around. A trusted friend it would seem.
Private Family Office didn’t have only Gustaf Sander as an employee linked to Global Trust Ltd/Salon Prive. An assistant called Katarina Djurovic declared to have worked for both Private Family Office and Global Trust Ltd. In her professional social media profile she described her role at Global Trust Ltd as “managing high volume of crypto payments”, while her role at Private Family Office involved scheduling, travel arrangements and personal and business matters.
Katarina’s e-mail from Private Family Office was used as the contact detail to register another company in Montenegro called Jo Strategy, which in turn is owned by an individual named John Overett, an online gambling executive with years of experience. Interestingly he worked at a betting company from Nigeria, where Hon Kong Yong appears as sharehoder of a company called High Street Bookmakers. It is unclear why an individual with that background would have any association with the Private Family Office if not for Cottrell’s involvement with the world of online casinos. Another individual was also linked to Jo Strategy: Dragan Popovic. He was a named director of Jo Strategy, but his professional social media profile linked him to Salon Prive as their IT director.
On the subject of corporate structures, other factors emerged: David Robery, the legal owner of Cottrell’s residence between 2020 and 2024, appeared as owner and director of a company named Extra Thyme in Montenegro. It was initially set up by a man, now seemingly living in Kenya, called Henry Humphreys. Prior to being director of Extra Thyme, he worked for Blacktype.bet, an online betting company similar to Tether.bet. The name of the company originated from his cooking hobby: it is also the name of his Instagram account. Also from Blacktype.bet is Jack Pizzey, VIP guests service employee of Salon Prive, so Humphreys is part of that betting circle.
While initially Robery was also director, between 2021 and 2023, another man named Thomas Daniel Dupre became a director between 2023 and 2025. Thomas, or Tom, was mostly known a few years ago for taking part in a movement called Generation Identity. The group was disbanded after neo-nazis were exposed as linked to them, and Dupre was fired from his banking job and disappeared from the public scene. In her recent book “The Hate Club”, Tommy Robinson’s former associate Lucy Brown describes Dupre and Cottrell as part of the same social circle.
The Online Casino Structures
Back to the gambling operations, this is how enterprises were run: beyond Tether.bet, other entities can be linked to the group via website domain registers, including SalonPrive.bet and Casinosiy. The corporate structure model behind those entities is the same: gambling license in Curacao, payment processing companies in Cyprus (such as GT eServices for Tether.bet) and a secretarial service hiding their links to the ultimate holding company, in this case trusts in Curacao managed by professionals such as Jonathan Heymans, an accountant from Curacao that offers a one stop shop: he can open legal entities, run as director of Cyprus entities and even run KYC services. Huge risk of conflict of interests, but let’s leave this aside for now. This kind of structure seems deliberate to obfuscate ownership as well as facilitate transfer of funds through lax jurisdictions. Heymans also owns companies in the UK, namely Blue Squadron Ltd. Heymans can be identified during online gambling conferences in London, revealing his focus on this segment.
On top of the links to the payment processing entities, Heymans also came up linked to one of the trusts used to conceal the ownership of the crypto casinos. Tether.bet was owned, since inception, by 4 different trusts/entities: Odin BV, Black Ocean BV, Xecutive Corporate Management BV and Kurason Trust BV. And those trusts also house other crypto casinos, such as Stake.com, which the Guardian also reported in a recent article where Cottrell is mentioned. A list of entities linked to Heymans shows the overlap between the Global Trust Limited/Tether/Salon Prive network and Stake.com network. Interesting to note as well that Precise PP is linked to Vidas Kanglauskas, an associate of former MEP and high stakes gambler Tony Guoga.
The public gambles
In a recent lawsuit exposed by the same The Guardian article it emerged that Cottrell was being named as an operator for Tony Bloom, a famous British gambler. The filing alleges that Cottrell was a “whale” (betting large amounts) for a gambling syndicate linked to Bloom, and that Cottrell had given control of his online betting accounts to that syndicate, receiving a cut of 33% over their wins. For the time being, these are allegations brought by a third party named Ryan Dudfield (in turn linked to Lawrie Dudfield, football player).
Also in more recent betting news, Cottrell’s name appeared on a portal named Polymarket, where all sorts of bets take place and typically with cryptocurrency involved. The account, GCottrell93, has accumulated $4.3 million in profit. The account would allegedly be behind a $13 million profit on Trump victory in the 2024 elections, as well as a more recent bet on Trump shaking hands with Xi Jinping. Polymarket has Donald Trump Jr in their advisory board, who is also an investor via 1789 Capital. Insider trading and ethics concerns were raised regarding his links to Polymarket, but no charges or formal lawsuits have been brought forward.
Large political bets are not news in the crypto gambling world, though. In the previous election, won by Biden, Tether.bet advertise it had been used for the largest ever political bet: $5 million on Trump winning. While the loss of that amount is now known given Biden’s victory, the upside could have been $9 million if Trump had won. Large bets can help create narratives, hence Don Jr interest in Polymarket.
One of the unusual things of that bet, beyond the size, is the timeline: Tether.bet website was created with a single bet initially: Trump vs. Biden. No sports. No other events. And the creation of the legal entity, the website and the bet itself are incredibly tied together.
Screen grabs from Tether.bet on WebArchive
On 17th Jul 2020 the Tether.bet website is registered by "Tether Bet" with register in Seychelles. GG Corp, owner of the Tether.bet license in Curacao, was created in 15th Oct 2020. On 1st Nov the Tether.bet website first comes up on Web Archive, purely with a Trump vs Biden bet, claiming to have $55m provable reserves. On 6th Nov 2020 a PR piece announced "largest political bet ever". Heavy SEO spam for Tether.bet followed to build a brand, including trying to frame its holding as “world renowned GT Group”. A stretch, at best.
Admittedly Political
Beyond the betting activities, Cottrell has now started a political consultancy and polling company called Geostrategy. The company was set up as an unlimited liability, meaning Cottrell bears all the losses should the company ever face difficulties but also means that disclosure is minimal: no need for financial reporting like limited companies. Several experts in electoral law declared concerns over this kind of structure, in particular given Cottrell’s political associations and criminal conviction. The company has also been object of controversy in Montenegro, after being involved in media materials linked to PES, prompting Spajic’s party to deny any involvement with Geostrategy.
Nada the Accountant
Moving money through companies with little disclosure can always raise concerns. In this context, the presence of Cottrell’s Montenegrin accountant as owner of a company in London deserves scrutiny. Nada Babovic used to sign Private Family Office’s accounts. She heads a small accounting firm operating in Montenegro and Serbia. With revenues below £700 thousand per year, comes as a surprise she owns a company in the UK that moved £2.5 million over the course of a single year.
But it is not just the amount. The company, named Tesla Energy Limited, uses the name of another company in the Czech Republic well established for years. None of them has anything to do with Musk’s Tesla. The website of Tesla Energy is filled with falsehoods, declaring their involvement with billions of dollars in renewable energy. The reality: the company has no employees, no offices, and is linked to other “Tesla” companies which use Babovic’s accounting firm addresses. The very definition of a shell. How and why can a shell move £2.5 million?
Tesla Energy UK was initially founded as subsidiary of an entity with the same name based in Belize. It was then transferred to Babovic, who takes turns with another Artemon person, Tanja Magud, as owners of Tesla. The entity in Belize has been dissolved according to public record. Meanwhile, a company in the US called Tesla Energy LLC was created. The company does not have Babovic as owner; instead, it names Bruno Jankovic, another Montenegrin individual.
Public Interest
All of the above raises concerns about the involvement of Farage with George Cottrell. It is not just friendship. There is now money involved. There are also other questions: Farage travelled 12 times to the United States in 2 years. One of them was paid by Cottrell. It was when Farage met with Musk (and Nick Candy, Reform’s treasurer, also joined). But the meeting rationale or who Farage met was not disclosed in his register of interests: he said it was personal. This is not the ideal disclosure given that Cottrell has publicly discussed seeking a presidential pardon. Despite having already served his conviction, a presidential pardon would bring meaningful commercial benefits for Cottrell, who would no longer be automatically excluded by certain anti-money laundering filters. It would effectively give him a clean slate to conduct business in the US, be it banking or crypto.
It seems extremely unlikely that Farage, having even visited Cottrell in Montenegro, would not be fully aware of his friend, donor and aide’s businesses. It also does not look like this is purely about the friendship between to men, considering Bruni-Lowe, Parslow and Towler and Tice all connect in this story. Given the structure of Cottrell’s ventures, if a line was to be crossed, there is real risk no one would know, and his strong connection and financial ties with Farage/Reform means it is in the public interest to know such risks.