简而言之 据《卫报》报道，银行家们报告称，加密货币亿万富翁 Christopher Harborne 向英国国家犯罪局赠送了 500 万英镑（670 万美元）的礼物。 他们于 2024 年 5 月提交了一份可疑活动报告，称无法追踪资金的最终来源；此类报告并不能证明存在不当行为。 有关特区的报道正值法拉奇是否应该申报这份礼物的标准调查之际，他说他没有义务这样做。 据《卫报》报道，亿万富翁 Tether 投资者克里斯托弗·哈博恩 (Christopher Harbourne) 向英国国家犯罪局举报了奈杰尔·法拉奇 (Nigel Farage) 捐赠的 500 万英镑礼物。 据《卫报》报道，银行家于 2024 年 5 月 16 日向该机构提交了可疑活动报告（SAR），并指出他们对能够追踪资金的最终来源不满意。 SAR 并不是不当行为的证据，也不同于犯罪报告。这是一个邀请该机构检查交易并决定是否有理由进行进一步调查的标志。
Harbourne 是一位居住在泰国的英国商人，持有 USDT 发行商 Tether 12% 的股份，在《星期日泰晤士报》富豪榜上排名第六，他已分别向 Reform UK 捐赠了数百万英镑。 银行密切关注涉及“政治人物”的交易，这些人被视为具有较高的贿赂或腐败风险。 FCA 指南指出，企业应“在考虑洗钱风险时对 PEP 采取基于风险和相称的方法”。 《卫报》表示，Harborne 持有的加密货币增加了银行业的风险，因为进出加密货币的资金更难追踪。 法拉奇告诉该报，他不了解特区，并且“没有理由怀疑这笔钱的最终来源”。他声称该信息是该报“非法获取”的，并表示他不知道与 NCA 就涉及他的交易进行过任何讨论。 NCA 拒绝向《卫报》证实或否认其已收到任何报告，并表示 SAR 是保密的，违反保密规定可能构成《犯罪收益法》下的“泄密”罪。 我们已联系奈杰尔·法拉奇征求意见。
送礼物的时间 哈博恩的律师告诉《卫报》，法拉奇于 2024 年 4 月 5 日收到了这笔钱。但该报援引的金融业消息人士称，这 500 万英镑中至少有一部分是在 2024 年 5 月 23 日之后到达的，当天法拉奇宣布他不会参加当年的大选，并称“这对我来说不是合适的时间”。几天后，他改变路线，前往克拉克顿竞选。 《卫报》指出，这一时间表似乎与保守党同侪迈克尔·阿什克罗夫特 (Michael Ashcroft) 的新书《法拉奇因素》(The Farage Factor) 中的描述相冲突，该书称改革已经准备在 5 月中旬之前启动他的候选资格，并招募了一位英国新闻制片人来帮助宣传计划中的宣布活动。 法拉奇将这笔钱描述为“无条件的礼物”，并对这笔钱的用途给出了各种不同的解释，包括安全资金、对他脱欧竞选活动的奖励，以及“与任何人无关”，称如果他愿意，他可以把这笔钱花在法拉利上。 法拉奇日益加深的危机
法拉奇辩称，他没有义务申报这份礼物，因为他收到礼物时还不是政客。据《卫报》报道，他于2024年5月1日成为改革党企业实体的“重要控制人”，并于2021年3月至2024年6月期间担任改革党名誉主席。 议会标准专员已经在调查未申报这笔钱是否违反了规定，工党指责他逃避对这笔礼物的审查。 在《卫报》发表最新报道前几个小时，法拉奇表示，他将在克拉克顿席位上强行进行补选，此举似乎在周二晚间适得其反，因为保守党、工党、绿党、自由民主党和复兴英国都表示不会派出候选人，并将这场竞选视为一场“马戏团”。 如果再次当选，法拉奇仍将面临标准调查以及随之而来的任何谴责。
法拉奇还面临来自乔治·科特雷尔（George Cottrell）的单独呼吁，要求对他“未能申报财务支持”进行调查，乔治·科特雷尔是一名与离岸加密货币赌场有联系的被定罪的欺诈者。英国改革派领导人否认需要宣布这些好处，科特雷尔也否认期待任何回报。 每日简报时事通讯 每天从当前的热门新闻报道以及原创专题、播客、视频等开始。
In brief
Bankers reported a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift to Nigel Farage from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne to the UK's National Crime Agency, the Guardian has reported.
They filed a suspicious activity report in May 2024, saying they could not trace where the money ultimately came from; such a report is not proof of wrongdoing.
Reporting on the SAR comes amid a standards investigation into whether Farage should have declared the gift, which he says he was under no obligation to do.
Nigel Farage's £5 million gift from billionaire Tether investor Christopher Harborne was flagged to the UK's National Crime Agency by bankers, the Guardian has reported.
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. It is a flag that invites the agency to examine a transaction and decide whether there are grounds for further investigation.
Harborne, a British, Thailand-based businessman who holds a 12% stake in USDT issuer Tether and sits sixth on the Sunday Times Rich List, 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. FCA guidance states that firms should apply a "risk-based and proportionate approach to PEPs when considering money laundering risks." Harborne's crypto holdings added to that risk in banking terms, the Guardian said, because money moved in and out of cryptocurrencies is harder to trace.
Farage told the paper he had not known about the SAR and had "no reason to doubt the ultimate source of the money." He claimed the information had been “illegally obtained” by the newspaper, and said he was unaware of any discussions with the NCA about transactions involving him.
The NCA declined to confirm or deny to the Guardian 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.
Nigel Farage has been approached for comment.
The timing of the gift
Harborne's lawyers told the Guardian that Farage received the money on April 5, 2024. But financial industry sources cited by the paper said at least some of the £5 million arrived after May 23, 2024, the day Farage announced he would not stand in that year's general election, saying it was "not the right time for me." He reversed course days later to run in Clacton.
That timeline, the Guardian noted, appears to clash with an account in a new book, "The Farage Factor" by Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft, which says Reform was already preparing to launch his candidacy by mid-May, having recruited a GB News producer to help promote a planned announcement event.
Farage has described the money as an "unconditional gift" and has given a variety of different explanations of what it was for, including security funding, a reward for his Brexit campaigning, and "nobody's business," saying he could spend it on Ferraris if he wanted.
Farage's deepening crisis
Farage has argued he was under no obligation to declare the gift because he was not a politician when he received it. Per the Guardian’s reporting, 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.
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.
Hours before the Guardian's latest report, Farage said he would force a byelection in his Clacton seat, a move that appeared to backfire on Tuesday night as the Conservatives, Labour, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and Restore Britain all said they would not field candidates, dismissing the contest as a "circus."
If re-elected, Farage would still face the standards inquiry and any reprimand that follows.
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. The Reform UK leader has denied that the benefits needed to be declared, and Cottrell denies having expected anything in return.
