Polymarket account linked to Farage aide George Cottrell’s $8.8M Trump bets

A Polymarket account that funneled roughly $8.8 million into bets on Donald Trump winning the 2024 US presidential election has been linked to George Cottrell, a political aide and major donor to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. The connection was drawn by on-chain investigator ZachXBT, who identified the account operating under the username GCottrell93 with what he described as high confidence.

The bets reportedly paid off handsomely, generating around $4.4 million in profits.

Following the money on-chain

According to ZachXBT’s findings, the GCottrell93 account received its deposits in late October 2024 from two unidentified wallets. The funds were routed through exchanges including OKX and ChangeNOW, a swap service that doesn’t require identity verification for most transactions.

Polymarket operates on the Polygon network and uses pUSD, a USDC-backed token, to collateralize trades. That architecture means every deposit and withdrawal leaves a permanent on-chain trail, which is exactly how ZachXBT was able to piece the account’s activity together.

Cottrell, 32, is known in British political circles by the nickname “Posh George.” He has a prior criminal conviction for wire fraud in the United States. The funding sources behind the two wallets that fed the Polymarket account remain unidentified.

Not just Trump bets

The account’s activity didn’t stop with the US election. The account reportedly lost approximately $655,000 on Iran-related positions, with a single bet accounting for around $550,000 of that figure. Despite those losses, the Trump windfall left the account with a net positive performance overall.

Why this matters beyond the bet

Cottrell’s proximity to Farage is what elevates this from a curiosity about a successful gambler to a story about political finance and accountability. As one of Farage’s closest confidants and a significant donor to Reform UK, Cottrell’s financial activities carry implications that extend well beyond his personal portfolio.

Polymarket is nominally blocked to US users following a 2022 settlement with the CFTC, but it operates freely for international participants. The $8.8 million deposit from unidentified wallets routed through a no-KYC exchange is precisely the kind of scenario that gives ammunition to critics who argue these platforms need stronger identity verification and anti-money-laundering controls.

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