George Cottrell Polymarket account drew $8.8M in crypto, FT reports
The FT said an account in George Cottrell’s name used unidentified crypto funds to bet on Donald Trump’s 2024 election win.
By Theo Nakamura · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
George Cottrell Polymarket activity is under scrutiny after the Financial Times reported that an account in his name received $8.8 million in crypto from unidentified sources and used it to bet on Donald Trump winning the 2024 U.S. election. For retail investors watching prediction markets, the report shows how public blockchain records can expose large money flows while still leaving the person behind the funds unclear.
The Financial Times said the Polymarket account, registered as “GCottrell93,” was funded in late October 2024 through two crypto exchanges. Citing public blockchain data, the paper reported that $7 million came from OKX in five transfers and $1.83 million moved through ChangeNOW.
According to the FT, the account placed the incoming money on Trump to win each time funds arrived. After Trump’s victory, the account made $4.46 million in profit, and nearly all of the money was then sent out to other wallets, the paper reported. The FT said it remains unclear who supplied the crypto and who ultimately received the winnings.
Is the Polymarket account linked to George Cottrell?
The account has not been formally tied to Cottrell. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has said he has “high confidence” that the account belongs to him, after previously flagging it in connection with a $550,000 loss on a Polymarket bet about U.S. strikes on Iran.
Cottrell’s lawyers declined to comment to the FT on his finances or on specific transactions, according to the paper. They also said that choosing not to comment should not be read as accepting the FT’s findings. Reform UK did not respond to the FT, the paper reported.
Polymarket is a prediction market, a platform where users trade contracts tied to future events. If an event happens, the winning side pays out, so prices can act like market-based odds, though the trades can also concentrate large positions in a small number of accounts.
Who is George Cottrell?
Cottrell is a 32-year-old British financier and backer of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, according to the Sunday Times and the Financial Times. The Sunday Times reported earlier this month that Cottrell had funded staff, private security, transport and accommodation connected to Farage’s operation in the year before Farage won his parliamentary seat.
The Sunday Times said those benefits were not declared by Farage. Under the MPs’ code of conduct, members must disclose gifts, benefits and hospitality that might reasonably be thought to influence their actions or words. Farage denied that the benefits required registration, according to the earlier reporting summarized by the FT and Decrypt.
The Sunday Times also reported that Cottrell recruited and paid three staff members to run Farage’s social media and covered Farage’s security for months. Since the election, the paper said, Cottrell has allowed Farage to use a five-storey house he rents near Buckingham Palace, close to Reform UK’s headquarters. Cottrell’s lawyer told the Sunday Times that, as a close friend, Cottrell allowed Farage to stay at the property.
Both the Sunday Times and the FT have asked whether unidentified money helped fund benefits for Farage or Reform UK, according to the reporting. Cottrell has declined to answer, including on who beneficially owns the Polymarket wallet, the FT reported.
Cottrell was charged by U.S. prosecutors in 2016 with 21 counts tied to an alleged dark web money-laundering scheme. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud under a deal that dropped the other charges and served eight months in prison, according to the BBC and the Sunday Times. The Sunday Times reported that he has since applied for a U.S. presidential pardon.
This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.
