60 Facts About Aron Fraser Andrew Banks

1.

Arron Fraser Andrew Banks was born on 1966 and is a British businessman and political donor.

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2.

In November 2018 the National Crime Agency opened an investigation into Aron Fraser Andrew Banks following concerns raised over the source of his funding.

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3.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was reported to have had multiple meetings with Russian embassy officials as well as being offered business opportunities in Russia in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.

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4.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks said he had been "completely vindicated" after reaching a settlement with the Electoral Commission.

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5.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was born in Cheshire, England, and raised by his mother in Basingstoke, Hampshire; his father worked as a sugar plantation manager in various African countries.

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6.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks then attended St Bartholomew's School in Newbury but was expelled again.

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7.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks returned to Basingstoke, where he sold paintings, vacuum cleaners, and then houses.

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8.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was offered a junior job at the insurance market of Lloyd's of London.

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9.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks used the money to found Commercial Vehicle Direct about which he says "within a very short period we were the largest van insurance company in the country".

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10.

Over seven years, along with Australian business partner John Gannon, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks expanded this business to become Group Direct Limited, and in 2008 the company floated by means of a reverse takeover as Brightside Group.

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11.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was its CEO from June 2011 to June 2012, at which time the company was listed on the Alternative Investment Market.

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12.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was the chief executive of Southern Rock Insurance Company in 2014, which underwrites insurance policies for the website GoSkippy.

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13.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was previously CEO of AIM-listed Manx Financial Group from April 2008 to February 2009.

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14.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks owns Eldon Insurance, whose CEO Elizabeth Bilney was in charge at Leave.

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15.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks said that Eldon's business had been transformed by the same AI technology used in the Brexit campaign.

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16.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks bought Old Down Manor from musician Mike Oldfield, converting it into a wedding venue.

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17.

However, a spokesperson for Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has denied any links to the lawyer named and denies that Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was involved with the Papers.

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18.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has stated that he has a controlling interest in a diamond mine in Kimberley, South Africa, and a licence to mine in Lesotho.

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19.

In July 2018, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks denied that money paid to a government minister in Lesotho was a bribe; it had been paid to guarantee diamond mining rights in Lesotho.

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20.

In 2013, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks paid £65,000 into the private bank account of Thesele Maseribane, then the Basotho minister for women's equality.

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21.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks subsequently covered the £350,000 costs of a political campaign for Maseribane, in 2014, following a military coup in Lesotho.

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22.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has connections to companies based in Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, and close connections with family members of the Belizean Prime Minister.

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23.

However, following remarks made by The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci on BBC One's Question Time programme, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks denied owning a company in Belize or seeking to avoid UK tax "via any device".

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24.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has been a "substantial" shareholder in STM Fidecs, of which Leave.

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25.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was previously a Conservative Party donor but in October 2014 decided to donate £100,000 to UKIP.

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26.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks said that he had changed party allegiance because he agrees with UKIP's policies and its view that the European Union "is holding the UK back" because it's a "closed shop for bankrupt countries".

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27.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has been described as the "leading figure" behind the anti-EU Grassroots Out and Leave.

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28.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks signalled his intention to stand for UKIP in the constituency of Thornbury and Yate at the 2015 general election, but the candidate chosen by the party was Russ Martin, who came third.

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29.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks suggested he might stand in Clacton at the 2017 general election against Douglas Carswell, before opting not to be a candidate.

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30.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks claimed in March 2017 that he had been suspended from UKIP; he believed the reason was that he had criticised the leadership.

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31.

In May 2018, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks attended a fundraising event for the Democratic Unionist Party, alongside Nigel Farage, and stated that he would support a bid by Farage to seek office as a DUP candidate after the end of his tenure as Member of the European Parliament in 2019.

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32.

Spokesman for Nigel Farage said that Aron Fraser Andrew Banks had funded the Chipping Sodbury office for the South Gloucestershire Conservatives "to the tune of £250,000".

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33.

UKIP source told The Guardian that Aron Fraser Andrew Banks had loaned £75,417 to Thornbury and Yate Conservative Party through Panacea Finance in September 2007, registered on the Electoral Commission and to be paid back by 2022.

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34.

However, Companies House records show that Aron Fraser Andrew Banks resigned from the company in September 2005; therefore it was considered questionable as to whether Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was controlling the company at the time, or whether he was "using the firm as a 'proxy donor'", according to The Guardian.

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35.

In October 2014, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks donated £1 million to the UK Independence Party and has since raised the equivalent of $11 million for the party.

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36.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks threatened Douglas Carswell with deselection in September 2015 when it emerged that Carswell supported Vote Leave, as opposed to the Leave.

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37.

EU campaign funded by Aron Fraser Andrew Banks, describing Carswell as "borderline autistic with mental illness wrapped in", according to The Huffington Post.

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38.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was sceptical of UKIP under the leadership of Paul Nuttall.

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39.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has considered starting and funding a pro-Brexit, nonpartisan citizens' movement called Patriotic Alliance, based on the Five Star Movement, which would target "the 200 worst, most corrupt MPs" for deselection.

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40.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks said that Britain's EU membership "is like having a first class ticket on the Titanic".

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41.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks said in May 2016 that his strategy during the Brexit campaign was to "bore the electorate into submission", in the hope that a low turnout would favour Brexit.

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42.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks threatened to sue the official Vote Leave campaign's candidacy as the official spokesperson for the "Leave" vote in the 2016 EU referendum, which may have possibly delayed the vote by two months.

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43.

However, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has since rejected this and stated that he would not pursue a judicial review any further.

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44.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks denied any wrongdoing and stated that he welcomed the police investigation to put an end to the allegations.

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45.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks accused Channel 4 News journalists of creating "fake news" themselves.

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46.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks described the United Kingdom's parliamentary Electoral Commission as "the legal division of the In campaign" and disagreed with their decision to enlist Vote Leave as the official campaign.

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47.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks' response to the information commissioner, who in 2016 fined the campaign £50,000 for sending more than half a million unsolicited text messages, was a succinct "Whatever".

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48.

In 2017, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks viewed the Brexit vote as "a kind of halfhearted revolution" due to the fact that Theresa May, who supported Britain remaining in the EU, would end up betraying those who voted to leave.

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49.

EU campaigners made by Aron Fraser Andrew Banks and by Better for the Country Ltd, a company of which Aron Fraser Andrew Banks is a registered director.

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50.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was offered a chance to invest in Russian-owned gold or diamond mines; the deal involved funding from a Russian state-owned bank, and was announced 12 days after the Brexit referendum.

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51.

Two years, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks said his only contacts with the Russian government consisted of one "boozy lunch" with the ambassador.

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52.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks claimed he was defamed after comments Cadwalladr made about his relationship with the Russian state.

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53.

On 19 January 2017 Aron Fraser Andrew Banks launched Westmonster alongside Michael Heaver, former press adviser to Nigel Farage.

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54.

At age 21, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks married his first wife, Caroline, with whom he has two daughters.

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55.

In 2001, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks married Russian Ekaterina Paderina, with whom he has two sons and a daughter.

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56.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks is reported to have received help to remain in the UK from Mike Hancock while he was a Liberal Democrat MP.

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57.

In 2014, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks reportedly lived in the village of Tockington near Bristol in a house with a "huge" Union flag flying over the front lawn, and owned another house overlooking a game reserve near Pretoria in South Africa.

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58.

In 2020, Aron Fraser Andrew Banks spent six months in Auckland, New Zealand after the country went into lockdown following the coronavirus pandemic.

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59.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks has previously voiced his support for the leader of the New Zealand First Party, Winston Peters.

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60.

Aron Fraser Andrew Banks was portrayed by actor Lee Boardman in the 2019 HBO and Channel 4 produced drama entitled Brexit: The Uncivil War.

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