George Cottrell has a history of placing high-stakes wagers. It emerged last year that he has acted as the frontman for Tony Bloom’s betting syndicates. The source of funds for a bet of almost $9 million on Donald Trump to win the 2024 election is now under increased scrutiny.
Shortly after joining Polymarket in October 2024, Cottrell placed a bet of $8.8 million on Trump. The bet returned $13.3 million, a profit of $4.46 million.
The Financial Times revealed that $7 million of the funds used for the bet came from a crypto wallet on the OKX exchange. A further $1.83 million was sent from a wallet on ChangeNOW, another crypto exchange.
Following the win, Cottrell transferred $13 million back to the OKX exchange and $282,000 to ChangeNOW. It raises questions of where the money for the wager came from and who took the profits. Cottrell has not commented.
Cottrell’s Account Used By Betting Syndicates
The Polymarket account has since struggled to turn a profit. It is down over $1 million over the last few months, with over $700,000 of that lost on markets related to the US-Iran war.
It is unclear if Cottrell himself is picking the positions. A lawsuit against Bloom revealed that Cottrell acted as the frontman for his StarLizard betting syndicate.
Cottrell’s account showed big swings between profit and loss. In the first month, his bets lost £10 million ($13.67 million), but the account quickly rebounded into profit, reaching more than $3 million in profit after three months, according to court documents. The winnings were split between the syndicate, who took 60%, Cottrell, who took 33,% and Ryan Dudfield, who had a 7% share.
Dudfield filed a lawsuit against Bloom, claiming he is still owed money from the scheme. The original account was opened at Sportsbet.io and is described as a hedging account. Bloom says he only used Cottrell’s accounts at other gambling platforms after Dudfield had cashed out, so he is not owed anything. He also denied that one of the accounts was at Stake, as Dudfield alleged. Both Stake and Polymarket are now banned in the UK.
Cottrell Funded Farage’s Expenses & Campaigns
Cottrell’s finances have come under increased scrutiny recently after his money was used to fund Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. The 32-year-old has been accused of orchestrating a web of undisclosed gifts and payments to fund the Reform leaders’ election campaigns.
Shortly after cashing the Trump bets, he paid for Farage to travel to Palm Beach for a three-day visit, where he met Elon Musk and discussed a potential donation to Reform. He followed that up by paying for lunch later that month, which was attended by Farage and potential Reform donors. He also allowed Farage to stay in a five-story house that he rents near Buckingham Palace.
With Farage facing questions about who is funding his campaigns and expenses, he resigned from his MP seat, only to stand again in an election that rival parties have labeled a political stunt. Count Binface is his only opposition.
In addition to Cottrell’s money, he allegedly accepted an undeclared gift of $$6.67 million from billionaire Reform donor Christopher Harborne.
Cottrell Urges Investigation of Financial Leaks
Amid the increased scrutiny, several media outlets have published details of Cottrell’s finances. He has urged the National Crime Agency (NCA) to investigate a potential leak of his private financial information.
He wrote to Graeme Biggar, the director general of the NCA, demanding an investigation. In the letter, he stated, “I am concerned that there may have been an unauthorised disclosure of information derived from Suspicious Activity Reports, or other confidential financial intelligence held by the National Crime Agency or shared within the UK anti-money laundering regime.”
He added, “The use of confidential financial information in the public domain to target a private individual would also raise significant concerns regarding public confidence in the institutions responsible for safeguarding such information.”
