- A £5 million ($6.7 million) gift to Nigel Farage from Tether billionaire Christopher Harborne was flagged to the UK’s National Crime Agency by bankers over money laundering concerns.
- The suspicious activity report, filed in May 2024, noted bankers could not trace the ultimate origin of the funds, though such a report is not evidence of wrongdoing.
- The disclosure comes as Parliament’s standards commissioner investigates whether Farage should have declared the gift, which he maintains he was under no obligation to do.
The UK’s National Crime Agency received a suspicious activity report concerning a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage from Christopher Harborne, a British-Thai billionaire with a 12% stake in Tether. According to the Guardian, bankers filed the report on May 16, 2024, citing an inability to trace the money’s ultimate origin.
Banks closely scrutinize “politically exposed persons,” and Harborne’s crypto holdings heightened the risk due to the difficulty of tracing cryptocurrency transactions, per the Guardian. Farage stated he had no reason to doubt the source and called the leak an “illegally obtained” breach of confidentiality.
The NCA declined to comment, noting that revealing such reports could constitute a “tipping off” offense. The timing of the gift remains disputed, with some sources claiming sums arrived after May 23, contradicting a book account that Reform was already preparing his candidacy.
Farage has described the money as an “unconditional gift” for various purposes. He now faces a standards investigation over the declaration and has called for a byelection in his Clacton seat, though multiple parties have refused to field candidates, calling it a “circus.”
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