Overview
- WhatsApp messages released by prosecutors show references to a “David” and a $6,500 payment to an MEP in 2019 exchanges between Nathan Gill and Oleg Voloshyn.
- BBC reporting says Coburn is the only publicly named David on the editorial board of pro-Russian TV channels 112 Ukraine and NewsOne mentioned in the messages.
- Confronted outside his home in France, Coburn denied taking illegal payments and did not substantively respond to further questions.
- Gill was sentenced to ten and a half years after admitting eight bribery counts, and the judge said Viktor Medvedchuk was the ultimate source of the money.
- The Metropolitan Police say the investigation remains active and officers have spoken to others named, with no additional arrests as Reform UK publicly distances itself from Coburn.