Nigel Farage hired a far-right political guru’consigliere‘, as a foreign agent to represent him in US politics, who violated US federal law for more than a year before making the required registration and disclosures, according to a new US government filing.

As Reform United Kingdom MP for Clacton since July 4, 2024, Farage is best known as “Mr Brexit. However, for more than a year previously, he represented Parliament and for months Farage deployed Alexandra Preate as his unregistered US agent until she finally reported her activities 18 months late, on September 27 this year.

Preate is best known for being nicknamed “consigliere” to far-right political strategist Steven Bannonwho was released from prison on Tuesday.

Recent coverage said Farage could have broken the UK Parliamentary Code for the House of Commons by failing to record Preate’s gratuitous services while he was an MP.

Penalties for violating the code, a written apology, a verbal apology to the Commons or a suspension.

U.S. federal law requires political agents of foreign persons to register and disclose their activities within 10 days of commencing their representation under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Preate only disclosed his representation of Farage on September 27, 2024, however his work has begun in March 2023 and continued in secret for almost 18 months.

This violates the law according to the US Department of Justice. FAQs about registering as a foreign agent:

Under FARA section 612(a), parties must file a registration statement within 10 days of agreeing to act as agent of a foreign principal. A party cannot begin acting as an agent of a foreign principal before registering.

FARA requires registration and disclosures of any person representing a foreign principal who could be an individual, political party, government or a corporation, unless it is a lobbyist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which covers apolitical and commercial representation.

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Penalties for a criminal violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act can range from civil suits aimed at restricting activities until registration and disclosure are completed, to criminal sanctions and heavy fines , according to the same FAQ from the United States Department of Justice website:

The penalty for willful violation of FARA is imprisonment for up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000, or both. Certain violations are considered misdemeanors punishable by imprisonment of not more than six months, a fine of not more than $5,000, or both. There are also civil enforcement provisions that authorize the Attorney General to seek an injunction requiring registration under FARA (for applicable activities) or correction of a deficient registration statement.

For a politician whose main goal is for the UK to go it alone in the world without the EU, with xenophobic anti-immigration policies, Farage has long maintained close ties to international online political movements led by Bannon , who served as Donald Trump. Chairman of the 2016 Trump campaign.

Farage is also a freshly minted GB News presenterwho first gained fame by making appearances on the Kremlin state broadcast media Russia Today channel, later known as the RT network. Asked by email how much of his total income came from Russian television, Farage did not respond.

Alexandra Preate founded and runs CapitolHQ, a media relations and crisis firm RP company in Washington DC. She is from Scranton, Pennsylvania, where her father Ernie Preateran as a Republican for Pennsylvania attorney general in 1988 and won two terms, only to leave office a year early and plead guilty to racketeering.

The day before the January 6, 2021 insurrection against the US Capitol, Preate subsequently testified before Congress that she was with Bannon at Asset Townhouse Suite inside the Trump Hotel for a VIP presentation, alongside White House Advisor Peter Navarro (both found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about the events of that day). Bannon was released from prison Tuesday, after serving four months for that conviction.

Farage and Bannon openly discussed the possibility of entering into a full partnership just three months before the latter’s first criminal arrest for wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Bannon was pardoned for these federal charges, only to be investigated again and charged with multiple felonies again under state law for the same crimes, for which he will be judged later in December.

Preate also told House investigators that he met with two other notables in the run-up to the Jan. 6 Trump insurrection, namely Bill Bachenberg, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania who served as “contingent voter” for Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020 and is now vice president of the politically powerful National Rifle Association and a top fundraiser Caroline Wrenconsidered the logistical planner of the events of January 6.

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Farage made numerous trips to north-central Pennsylvania, such as his visit to the city of Wilkes-Barre. dating from 2018to raise money for Trump-backed Republican candidate Lou Barletta, and again in 2020.

Over the past year and a half, Farage has used Preate to organize high-profile political speeches across the United States, ranging from the 2023 Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) event to outside Washington DC at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

But that wasn’t all.

Farage also used the woman once known as Bannon’s shadow press secretary while he was a senior adviser at the White House, to attend an event organized by the Conservative Partnership Institute, whose senior associate is the former head of Trump office, Mark Meadows.

The former North Carolina congressman is charged in two states for acts allegedly contributing to candidate Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Last May, Farage also appeared in Tampa, Florida, at Stovall House, a venue created and owned by a major supporter of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis named Blake Casper, whose family made a fortune from McDonald’s franchises. Defeated by Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries, DeSantis still holds significant executive power in America’s third-largest state as his lame duck term extends through January 2027.

In addition to in-person events, Preate has booked or arranged for Farage to appear on an array of US right-wing shows, including the Charlie Kirk Show, Fox Business Larry Kudlow Show, War Room, Seb Gorka Show, Newsmax and WABC radio.

Finally, according to Preate’s documents, Farage’s agent tried, unsuccessfully, to land him a gig at Freedom University, the evangelical Christian school that forced Jerry Falwell Jr. to resign after he, the founder’s son, was exposed for leading a hypocritical private lifeincluding his and his wife’s unusual relationship with a pool boy in Miami Beach, Florida. Once a powerful institution within the American evangelical Christian right, the big picture is well documented in the film “God Forbid”.

What was the alleged rate for all this work which appears to have been done illegally without being informed by the US Department of Justice for fifteen months?

Nothing. At least that’s what Alexandria Preate told the Justice Department in her filings.

It costs $305 to register or register a business as a foreign agent.

When asked for comment by phone message, the Justice Department’s FARA unit did not respond.

Neither Farage nor Preate responded to a detailed list of emailed questions.