Farage aide was frontman for football club owner's gambling syndicate, lawsuit says

George Cottrell, a close associate of Nigel Farage and a central figure in Reform UK’s inner circle, has been acting as a front for a major gambling syndicate that had been “given control” of his betting accounts, a high court document alleges.

- Anna Isaac

Nigel Farage with George Cottrell, who is a key member of the Reform UK party's inner circle

(PHOTOGRAPH: BEN CAWTHRA/LNP)

Cottrell acted as a stalking horse for a syndicate involving one of the world’s most successful gamblers, Tony Bloom, it is claimed in the public documents, filed at the high court.

Bloom, a billionaire, is the majority shareholder and chair of Brighton & Hove Albion football club and made his fortune from gambling.

He is known in the gambling industry by the moniker “the Lizard” and used “whales”, or frontmen, to assist in gambling enterprises, it is claimed.

The details are set out in a 19-page document filed to the high court as part of a continuing dispute between Bloom and a former associate of his, Ryan Dudfield, whose lawyers claim he is owed his share of gambling profits estimated in the region of $250m (£189m).

In total, the betting syndicate, known as Starlizard, makes about £600m each year in winnings, the document alleges.

It makes its money through bets, which are sometimes placed on the accounts of frontmen including footballers, sportsmen and businessmen, it is claimed.

These accounts were referred to as “secret exotic accounts”, which were operated “in a secretive manner” from satellite offices in Canary Wharf in London, the document alleges.