FT traces George Cottrell-linked Polymarket wallet to $4.46 million Trump bet profit

A Financial Times investigation linked a Polymarket account registered as “GCottrell93” to George Cottrell and traced roughly $8.8 million in stablecoins into the wallet in late October 2024 before it was used to back Donald Trump to win the U.S. presidency. After Trump’s November 5, 2024 victory, the account exited with a reported $4.46 million profit, with about $13 million later routed to OKX and another $282,000 sent to a wallet funded by ChangeNOW, obscuring who ultimately owned the money. The report raises questions about whether anonymous crypto flows may have intersected with Nigel Farage’s political financing, because Cottrell funded Farage’s staff, security, transport, accommodation, and travel during 2024. More recent reporting cited in the update says those undeclared arrangements, including housing and staffing support before Farage’s 2024 election, have been referred to the UK’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Cottrell was convicted of wire fraud in March 2017 after agreeing to launder drug trafficking proceeds. He has continued to wager on Polymarket, including a reported $41,000 bet in March 2026 that the U.S. war with Iran would last another four months and a larger live position of about $71,000 on whether Vice President JD Vance will win the Republican nomination in 2028. Separate reporting by Byline Times also alleged that Cottrell previously used a fraudulent Swiss passport under the name “Oscar Drewitt” and said that identity was known within a City financial network tied to former Reform UK Treasurer Mehrtash A’zami and gambler Hon Kong Yong.