Nigel Farage ‘living his best life’ in Clacton after questions over his whereabouts

Published

1 year ago

November 15, 2024

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Nigel Farage has announced that he has paid a visit to Clacton following criticism that he does not spend enough time in his constituency.

The Reform UK leader shared an image of himself on X alongside the caption: “I would like all my haters to know that I am once again in Clacton living my best life.”

It is not clear where he was visiting or if he met constituents, as his team declined to provide further information to Sky News.

Mr Farage was elected to the Essex seat at the July general election but has since faced accusations he has not spent much time there amid trips abroad to the US.

Asked about the issue in an interview with Sky News last week, he said: “I’ve just exchanged contracts on the house that I’ll be living there in, is that good enough?”

He said that while he was elected to represent Clacton he is “also leading a national political party”, so he has more commitments to juggle than a typical backbench MP.

A source close to him later said he had been in Clacton 10 times since the general election, and that he “has kept his promise to have a property in the constituency, writes a weekly column for the Clacton Gazette… and is having two further visits next week”.

Mr Farage is a close ally of US president-elect Donald Trump and has been ridiculed by Sir Keir Starmer for making trips to America since being elected to parliament.

The matter was brought up during an exchange at PMQs on Wednesday, when Mr Farage suggested the prime minister “mend some fences between this government” and Mr Trump, accusing the cabinet of being “so rude about him over the last few years”.

Sir Keir replied: “Well I’m glad to see the right honourable member making a rare appearance back here in Britain. He’s spent so much time in America recently, I was half expecting to see him on the immigration statistics.

“He may have missed that I did congratulate the incoming president last week.”

Questions about Mr Farage’s whereabouts were also raised after he claimed he was advised by the House of Commons’ Speaker’s office not to hold in-person surgeries over fears for his safety.

A source at the Speaker’s Office told Sky News at the time they had no record of giving Mr Farage these instructions, and the former UKIP leader later backtracked on the remarks, saying: “The Speaker’s Office is always right.”

Politics

SEC lawsuit puts Shima Capital’s future in question as wind-down message surfaces

Published

56 mins ago

December 17, 2025

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SEC lawsuit puts Shima Capital’s future in question as wind-down message surfaces

Screenshots of an internal email outlining plans to wind down Shima Capital have surfaced online, days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued the crypto venture firm and its founder over allegations of investor fraud.

On Nov. 25, the SEC charged Shima Capital Management LLC and its founder, Yida Gao, with making false and misleading statements while raising almost $170 million from investors, the agency announced on Dec. 3.

The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleged that Gao inflated his investment track record in marketing materials used to raise capital for Shima Capital Fund I between 2021 and 2023.

According to the SEC, Gao claimed one prior investment had delivered a 90x return, when the actual return was closer to 2.8x. The regulator also alleged that when discrepancies in the pitch deck were about to be reported publicly, Gao told investors the issues were the result of clerical errors.

SEC alleges $1.9 million undisclosed gain

Separately, the SEC claimed that Gao raised about $11.9 million through a special purpose vehicle tied to BitClout tokens, telling investors that they would be protected by discounted token purchases. While Gao did acquire tokens at a discount, the SEC said he sold them to the SPV at a higher price without disclosing that he personally retained about $1.9 million in profits.

In a Wednesday post on X, crypto journalist Kate Irwin shared screenshots of an email allegedly sent by Gao to portfolio founders. In the screenshots, Gao purportedly said he would step down as managing director of Shima Capital and that the fund would undergo an “orderly wind-down.”

*Gao’s alleged email to portfolio companies. Source:* *Kate Irwin*

The screenshots purportedly show Gao stating that the SEC and Department of Justice actions are related to his personal conduct, not that of Shima Capital’s portfolio companies, and claiming that no fines have been imposed on the company.

The screenshots also show that independent advisers from FTI Consulting and FTI Capital Management would oversee the wind-down process and monetization of investments, while Shima’s finance team would remain in place. Gao allegedly said he would remain involved with portfolio support “as permitted,” but without management control.

Cointelegraph could not independently verify the email. We reached out to Shima Capital and some of the fund’s portfolio companies for confirmation, but had not received responses at the time of publication.

Shima Capital launched with $200 million debut fund

In 2022, Shima Capital announced the launch of its first venture fund, Shima Capital Fund I, raising $200 million to back early-stage blockchain startups. Founded in 2021 by Gao, the firm said the fund received backing from a range of prominent investors, including Dragonfly Capital, Animoca Brands, OKX Blockdream Capital, Republic and Andrew Yang.