Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's Reform party, and his deputy, Richard Tice, have initiated legal action against the National Crime Agency (NCA), alleging an illegal leak of their financial information. The pair filed papers at the High Court, seeking damages exceeding £25,000 from the agency, which they refer to as Britain's FBI.
The lawsuit centers on media reports detailing bank transactions that were flagged to the NCA under its suspicious activity reporting program. Farage and Tice contend that the NCA is the only entity that could have possessed all the leaked information. According to court documents, they allege that "one or more officers or staff members of the National Crime Agency disclosed to one or more journalists the fact that one or more Suspicious Activity Reports had been filed in respect of transfers of money involving the Claimant."
In separate legal filings, the Reform UK leaders are demanding that the NCA admit responsibility for the leak, pay damages, and disclose the identities of the journalists to whom the information was allegedly shared. Tice expressed frustration with the pace of the NCA's internal investigation, stating, "They have had plenty of time to conclude their investigation into this and they are now stalling for time. We have had enough."
The NCA is conducting an internal inquiry but has not yet acknowledged responsibility for the leak.
Revelations about Farage and Tice's finances reportedly preceded Farage's resignation as the Member of Parliament for Clacton, triggering a by-election. The party has also faced controversy related to comments made by a co-founder of Restore Britain, an associated group, which anti-Semitism organizations criticized as employing an anti-Semitic trope.
