Crypto Gambling and Future Implications

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Hell yes, I'm tough enough. Shut French. Not another one. It's the politics show cast Venishia, I'm actually going to get you to do your own introduction because you are within the insight team. which is at the Sunday Times, and you've done this blockbuster exclusive that came out in the Sunday Papers yesterday. Do you want to introduce yourself to the audience? Yes. I'm Venetia Mingus And I'm an investigations correspondent on the insight team And the insight team was actually set up in the sixties and is responsible for some of the best investigative work in the country. So it's a real honour to be in the newest iteration, led by our editor Gabriel Poggrant and working alongside Emmanuel Madolo. We actually teamed up with a colleague from the Times investigation, team George Greenwood for this investigation as well. So shout out to him. It's a massive investigation. I mean, you're kind of almost in the middle of it because there's probably a lot more that's going to come out from this story. Let's start from the beginning. So this all centers around Nigel Farage and his relationship with George Cotrll. Do you wantan to tell me a little bit about who George is? Sure. So George Cotrll in a sentence is a thirty two year old who has no official role in reform, yet is Farage's right hand man He is an aristocrat and a convicted criminal and It's really just been priced in by the Westminster Bbble that he's been around Farage for the past ten years, but our investigation essentially reveals that he has done a lot for Farages political career, he has been supporting him financially and most importantly for the year running up to his election in twenty twenty four George himself is a very interesting character. He is referred to those who know him as Post George. He was raised in the island of Mstique, loved by billionaires and royalty. He went to boarding school at a very young age And he's struggled with a gambling habit has actually led to his expulsion in twenty ten when he was just a teenager. and from there he went straight into the world of finance and politics. That's why he was expelled from school because of gambling. Yeah, there is an anecdote about him walking out of the bookies with fifty thousand pounds in cash as a young teenager Wow. It's interesting as well because there's no end to the number of photographs that you can find him in. When you say that he was around Lidal Farraage? I mean, this is publicly documented. know many Journalists photographers have pictured him, you know, when we were looking for pictures this morning to, you know publish a story He's everywhere. really is around him. He really had a seat In history in so many moments, he was at Farage's side on the night of the referendum result and was there in a lot of the most important moments of Farage's life. And in turn, Farage was there for a lot of his most pivotal moments, including when he was arrested in America and indicted on twenty one charges, including money laundering, blackmail, and extortion. So this is when have they gone out to see if Trump is going to be elected? Is that what's happened? So yes, it's in twenty sixteen. It's a month after Brexit. So you know Farage is riding high. he's just pulled off one of the biggest coups of his career playing really the pivotal role in us leaving the European Union. And they are invited to America. Everybody in America wants a piece of Farage. They're there in Cleveland, Ohio to go to the Republican Cvention where Trump is announced as a presidential nominee So they therebbing shoulders with Trumps in a circle And on their way back, they transit through Chicago. And when they get off the plane, there are a group of federal agents waiting right at the end of those stairs. you come down on the plane and it looks for a moment like they're actually there for fararraage, but they step forward and they arrest the man next to him, George Cottrll.. I bet Nigel was a relieved at that moment. Absolutely. So he's arrested at this point as well because he has been communicating with What he thinks are drug traffickers. and he's offering his services of money laundering They're not drug traffickers. No So it was two years prior to his arrest that this communication happened So we managed to get the American court documents and even actually a transcript and recording of his cases and they reveal a lot of details. So essentially in twenty fourteen he was part of this kind of money laundering scandal in which he was offering on an anonymous advert on the Dark Web services to launderer money He was contacted by drug traffickers who said they wanted to launder between fifty to one hundred fifty thousand dollars a month of proceeds of crime. And he says that he can help them doing that by using Bitcoin to launch that money He suggests to them that they send a test sum of twenty thousand dollars to an associate in Colorado But when they do He then says that he's going to keep the money and that if they don't give him eighty thousand dollars worth of Bitcoin, he will turn them in to the US authorities But unfortunately for George, they are the U.S authorities and he's actually been caught up in this sting operation called Operation Avalanche. So he's been working in and around crypto. He's a bit of a crypto guy. Is that fair to say , you know, at this time, his His employment history is a little bit hazy, but what we think is that he's working in the world of mayayfair finance, helping people with lots of money from around the world move their money in various jurisdictions. So he has already had a somewhat education in the worlds of shadow banking and is found to be offering these services to drrug traffickers, which are actually the I agents undercover. So he gets off the plane and he's arrested Does he serve time Yeahes, so he is taken to prison and held without bail because the judge believes that He had shown evidence of deception by changing his name. He his surname is spelt cultural with two T's and two L's, but he had removed one T and one L And so they said this was evidence of deception and that he might be a flight risk. So he was imprison awaiting sentencing and He was indicted with twenty one counts, right? Money laundering, blackmail, extortion. These all after he agrees to give some information and claims that he wasn't actually going to launder money. He was planning on stealing that money. So you know, I'm not a money launderer, I'm just a thief And so They negotiated down to just one charge and he pled guilty to a single count of wire fraud. point they gave him eight months in prison, but considering the time served, he only served a few weeks after his sentencing and then was released There's a little tippet as well isn't there about him changing his name to D he fly at one point as George Co? Yeah, that comes later in his in his history when he relocates to Montenegro So after he comes back from the U. S, he is immediately pictured back in Ferrata's inner circle. There's a photograph of him outside of a pub in London. drinking with Farage and then justust around the time before the pandemic, he relocates to Montenegro and gets a passport with the name George Co So he's had quite a few aliases How is he getting all of these? I mean, I once had a spelling mistake on my passport and it caused me no end of horrors, so how is he getting away with all of this? And All right, so take me to he's back pictured outside a pub with Rage this probably Lly all around mayayfare, isn't it? That's s of where they were hanging out. And what's their relationship like this time It's been really hard to pin down exactly how they met What we know is that when he was expelled as a teenager, he joined UK, which is obviously the forerunner to Brexit partarty and the forerunner to reform And he then met Nigel Farge in twenty fourteen when he was in his early twenties. By twenty fifteen, we know that he was dispatched to v the Island to assist a candidate for UKip So basically twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, we know that they're friends and that they're close and he's already very trusted within the party to be working for them, although of course Um not in an official capacity as a volunteer not being paid But we have tried to speculate as to how they were sort of introduced and got into that inner circle. and we don't know exactly, but I think one of the clearest explanations was that he was probably introduced by his aristocratic uncle, Lord Haskith who defected from the Torys to UKIip around the same time. That seems plausible, isn't it? Yeah And then when does he start? I don't know if this this might be jumping a little bit When does he start offering? cash defrage. Well, we don't know exactly when it started, but what we do know is that by the summer of twenty twenty three And this is very key because this is in the twelve months preceding Farage's eventual election as an MP, you know on the eighth time of trying to get into the House of Commons. he finally succeeds So in the summer of twenty twenty three, we know that cultural recruited staff and security for Farage The staff included a right wing activist by the name of Jack Anderton who was recruited to be a videographer and social media consultant for Farage. And you can really see in his social media around that time that there's a real shift. know Gone are the grainy horizontal, self shot footage and suddenly it's vertical, it's slick, it's going viral Um So we know that Cultural was funding H his social media support in that time. not his is though, judging by the way that they're filmed. I don't think so and also that he was allowing him to make use of his fiveive story townhouse, just a stone's throw from Westminster And that's something that he has continued to provide to Farage whilst he's been an MP. And none of this the problem or sort of what you've caught here is that this wasn't declared. I mean so take me through the rules. know at this point in time, there's an argument, an argument that Nigel Farage is making himself, which is that he hasn't done anything wrong Because he was not a member of Parliament at that time. And he's still doing, I'm a celebrity. Yeah uring this previously. Yeah. Yeah So the rules state that You must declare any support that was provided in the twelve months running up to your election that was more than three hundred pounds So we know that Jack Anderton was paid an annual salary equivalent to an excess of fifty thousand pounds. We know that he was paying for his security and making use of that accommodation. There's no question that that exceeds three hundred pounds. There's no question that that it was within that time period of twelve months before his election, and they have conceded that There is an exemption in the rules, which says that any gifts or support provided in a purely personal capacity. And they give the example of from a partner or a family member does not have to be declared However It says that the motive of the gift giver and the use of that gift should be considered. and if there's any doubt, that should be declared There's another rule that says that if any support could reasonably be thought by others to be related to your political activity, it should be declared And I know that This all sounds very technical, but at the end of the day, these rules are there so that we can uphold democracy, so that we have transparency and we know who is funding our politicians and we can see whether or not that's influencing what they say and what they do. And it's not for me to decide whether or not the rules have been broken the LibDMs have referred Fage to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, who will be the one to make that judgment But with regards to it being purely personal, Today, we have also had a story in the Times showing that George Cottral was handing out business cards with the reform logo with his name and Nigel's email address on them So that's up to your listeners and to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to decide if they think that that suggest there's any relation to political activity. The videos themselves that were produced by Anderton and funded by Cultural at points were emblazoned with Reform's logo So yeah, I think that there's definitely a case that these rules have been broken. That's not up to me to decide This ad is sponsored by ZakDoc Hi, it's Danny Pellegrino from Everything Iconic. Have you been putting off that annual doctor's appointment because you don't want to make the call? Or maybe you've been meaning to find a new dentist, but you have no idea where to start? I find that's especially true when you move. It's hard to find your people. I've been there, which is why I use ZockDoc Now as a busy podcast or parent and someone who's always juggling a million things, I love anything that makes life easier. And ZockDoc lets you search and compare local in network doctors with over two hundred fifty thousand providers across more than two hundred specialties. You can read reviews from real patients, find a provider who feels like the right fit, see actual appointment openings, and book instantly I recently had a last minan and health issue pop up and I needed to see someone fast and instead of calling around or sitting on hold, I found a doctor on ZakDoc and booked an appointment in just a few minutes. It made the whole process so much less stressful Taking care of your health just got easier. downownload the Zak dooc Today, that's ZakDoc, ZOC DOC and book that appointment on your to do list Better help add. Hold on. O second. I just need to What if you had a room where no one interrupts No notifications, no expectations J just space to talk. Better Help, Therapy happens in a space that's yours. Visit betteretter hLp dot com slash raandom podcast for ten percent off your first month of online therapy the politics show cast It's also It's also worth mentioning that he was honorary president of reform during the year prior. So it wasn't as if he'd completely left politics. he hadn't I think he was regularly on our TV screens as well, talking about politics I mean, I'm a celebrity Aguably perhaps was a little bit of time off. but you know what gain could be made for that Let's Let's talk a little bit about rypto. Doid you think there's a possible link between George Catrell's Cottral's involvement with crypto and Nigel Farrage's promotion of crypto. That's why it's so important that we know who is supporting our politicians so that we can look at whether or not it's affecting their actions. What we do know is that Farage is already under investigation because of the five million pound gift from Christopher Harborne, who is a crypto millionaire And what's interesting is that George Cotrll He is involved in a crypto gambling platform called Tether. Bet And our investigation also reveals that this platform may be implicated in potentially illegal betting activity Heather Dot Bet was actually registered just days after Cultural Farage and Harbourne were pictured having lunch in Mayfair And we know that reform