Farage ally ‘Posh George’ lost £160,000 betting UK petrol prices would rise

Nigel Farage’s close ally George Cottrell lost around £160,000 – after betting heavily on rising oil prices that would hit UK consumers in the pocket. Cottrell, who the Reform leader has described as “like a son”, bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on crude oil prices rising further, as they soared in the wake of the US-Iran war. Shorts While the bets, placed in cryptocurrency, would not have had any direct impact on oil prices, it means he was trying to make money by gambling on rising costs that would hit UK households in the pocket. Farage’s party is facing growing scrutiny over its finances after a Channel 4 and Verbatim undercover operation alleged that Reform figures breached rules on foreign donations. Cottrell made the bets as rising oil prices put pressure on UK consumers, and fed through to the cost of petrol and diesel at the pumps. Cottrell bet £270,000 on rising oil prices Cottrell, 33, a convicted fraudster, has remained close to Farage for years, despite having no formal role in Reform. Nicknamed “Posh George” by friends, he is reported to have provided Farage with financial support including help with staff, security and housing. Using the cryptocurrency gambling site Polymarket, he placed bets that crude oil would reach between $110 to $120 a barrel across April, May and June 2026. Polymarket is an online prediction market where users bet on real-world events – from politics and sport to global affairs – with market-driven odds and the ability to trade bets with others before the outcome is settled. Users gamble with cryptocurrency but everything is priced in US dollars. Overall, Cottrell bet around $370,000 (£270,000) on crude oil prices to rise, according to The i Paper’s analysis of his activity on the platform. In April, Cottrell scored a winning payout of around $97,000 (£70,000) after betting that Texan oil prices would hit $110 that month. He also took advantage of a quirk on Polymarket, where a gambler can “sell” bets back to regain money initially staked, which secured him $56,000 (£40,000). Overall, he lost nearly $215,000 (£160,000). Cryptogambling is banned in the UK. However, some countries, including Montenegro where Cottrell is understood to be a resident, do allow sites such as Polymarket to operate. At the time of the bets, heightened tensions in the Middle East disrupted global oil supplies. Oil prices surged from around $75 to more than $120 a barrel during the US-Iran war. Crude oil is a key ingredient in fuel, and experts say every $10 per barrel increase in wholesale costs adds 7p to the price of a litre. Increased oil prices also feed through to the cost of energy, public transport and food – and can fuel inflation, squeezing household budgets further. Cottrell blames Labour for rising energy prices Cottrell, who served an eight-month prison sentence after he was convicted of wire fraud in the US in March 2017, is part of Farage’s inner circle. The Reform leader attended the launch of his book, How to Launder Money, in February 2026. Their relationship has since come under renewed scrutiny after The Sunday Times reported that Cottrell provided Farage with financial support before the 2024 general election. The newspaper raised questions over whether Farage should have declared the benefits. A Labour Party spokesperson accused Cottrell of seeking to line his pockets “at the expense of the British people as global tensions escalated”. “Reform is only interested in helping themselves – they are not on the side of the British people,” the spokesperson said. When asked about the bets, and Labour’s claims, a spokesman for Cottrell told The i Paper: “Labour’s attack is a smear designed to distract from their own record. By throttling North Sea oil and gas in a reckless rush to net zero, they have made Britain dependent on expensive imports and exposed households to every Middle East shock. “Families and businesses are paying more because Labour chose dependence, not because someone traded oil prices.” Nigel Farage, then the Brexit Party leader, accompanied by George Cottrell in Brussels in 2020 (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP via Getty Images) Reform and Cottrell’s lawyers have previously said he is an “unpaid volunteer with no formal role at Reform UK”. The Sunday Times claimed that Cottrell used Reform-branded business cards carrying Farage’s email address. Cottrell and his mother are also at the centre of a police investigation into money donated to the party. The Metropolitan Police is investigating whether £500,000 worth of donations to Reform by his mother were used to conceal money from someone who was not legally allowed to donate to a political party. Farage and Reform UK deny wrongdoing and have described the allegations as politically motivated. The police investigation remains ongoing and no finding of wrongdoing has been made against George or Fiona Cottrell.