Nigel Farage’s £5 million gift from billionaire Tether investor Christopher Harborne was flagged to the UK’s National Crime Agency by bankers. The bankers filed a suspicious activity report, or SAR, with the agency on May 16 2024, according to the Guardian, which noted they were not satisfied they could trace the ultimate origin of the funds. A SAR is not proof of wrongdoing and is not the same as a crime report, but rather a flag that invites the agency to examine a transaction and decide whether there are grounds for further investigation.
Transaction Details
Harborne, a British, Thailand-based businessman who holds a 12% stake in USDT issuer Tether, has separately donated millions of pounds to Reform UK. Banks pay close attention to transactions involving “politically exposed persons,” who are treated as carrying a higher risk of bribery or corruption. Harborne’s crypto holdings added to that risk in banking terms, because money moved in and out of cryptocurrencies is harder to trace.
Response From Parties Involved
Farage told the paper he had not known about the SAR and had “no reason to doubt the ultimate source of the money.” The NCA declined to confirm or deny that it had received any report, saying SARs are confidential and that breaching that confidentiality could amount to a “tipping off” offense under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Parliament’s standards commissioner is already investigating whether the failure to declare the money breached its rules, and Labour has accused him of evading scrutiny over the gift.
Background
Farage has described the money as an “unconditional gift” and has given a variety of different explanations of what it was for. He became a “person of significant control” of Reform’s corporate entity on May 1, 2024, and had been the party’s honorary president from March 2021 to June 2024. Farage has also faced separate calls for an investigation into his “failure to declare financial support” from George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster with ties to an offshore crypto casino.
Based on reporting from crypto.news.
