News reports reveal contacts between Russian officials and major pro-Brexit donor
On June 10, 2018, The Times of London reported on British businessman and Brexit supporter Arron Banks’ undisclosed meetings with Russian officials, including the Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom, who offered him investment opportunities. Banks, the largest funder of the Leave.EU campaign, was placed under investigation by the British Electoral Commission, which found that Banks’ loans to Leave.EU had been misreported. According to emails cited by the press, before the Brexit referendum, “Banks was offered the chance to invest in several Russian businesses,” including gold mines and a Russian state-owned diamond mining firm. On November 11, 2018, The Guardian reported that Banks’ insurance company and Leave.EU were fined £60,000 for “serious breaches of the law that governs electronic marketing.”