Former Farage aide gave US information in plea deal, court files show
Source: The Guardian
A former aide to Nigel Farage who was arrested on money-laundering charges last year gave US federal agents “information” as part of a plea agreement that sharply reduced his possible prison sentence from a maximum of 20 years to eight months, according to court documents.
George Cottrell, a Briton who was arrested in the US last summer after attending the Republican National Convention with Farage, the former Ukip leader, received a sentence that was on the low end of the sentencing guidelines used to determine such cases even though the Arizona prosecutors in his case said they had evidence that showed Cottrell had shown “clear intent” to engage in criminal activity in the past.
A court document filed by the prosecutors in February – which has not previously been reported in detail – advised the judge in the case to offer Cottrell a light prison sentence because he had been willing to “provide federal agents additional information after his arrest”.
Nigel Farage ex-aide facing jail after admitting posing as money launderer
Cottrell ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in a case that was unrelated to his work at Ukip. The crime was committed in 2014, before Cottrell worked for either the anti-EU party or Farage. Twenty other counts against him, including blackmail, were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Read more: https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/07/former-nigel-farage-aide-us-information-plea-deal-court-files-george-cottrell
CONTEXT: FARAGE IS A "PERSON OF INTEREST" IN THE FBI'S INVESTIGATION INTO WHETHER TRUMP COLLUDED WITH RUSSIA.
A BUZZ FEED REPORTER SAW FARAGE EXITING THE ECUADORIAN EMBASSY (WHERE ASSANGE WAS HOLING UP) AND ASKED WHAT HE WAS DOING THERE. FARAGE SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW.
http://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-emails-nigel-farage-wikileaks-julian-assange-2017-6
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage emerged on Thursday as a reported "person of interest" in FBI's investigation into whether US President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia.
The Guardian reported that Farage attracted the agency's interest due to his connections with Trump's campaign team and with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is rumoured to have links with the Kremlin through third parties.
When Farage visited the Ecuadorian embassy in March, he declined to say whether he had visited Assange, who lives in exile there. But leaked emails obtained by Business Insider that same week identified long-standing links between the pair, showing that UKIP under his leadership had repeatedly sought his friendship and even lobbied on his behalf in European Parliament.
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The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked
A shadowy global operation involving big data, billionaire friends of Trump and the disparate forces of the Leave campaign influenced the result of the EU referendum. As Britain heads to the polls again, is our electoral process still fit for
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy?CMP=share_btn_tw
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http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/305729-farage-spotted-at-trump-tower
...."Speaking to reporters later on Saturday, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said that the president-elect and Farage had a "very productive" meeting.
“I think they enjoy each other’s company, and they absolutely had an opportunity to talk about freedom and winning and what this all means for the world,” she said.
The Brexit leader was present at the Trump victory party the morning after Election Day and was praised by the president-elect in remarks to his staffers.
Farage has said that he would welcome a role in the Trump administration and floated the idea of being Trump’s ambassador to the European Union."....(more)
