Inside Tommy Robinson’s empire of dodgy fundraising and questionable crypto schemes that fund his luxury lifestyle in Spain

Documentary downfall

HE’S one of Britain’s most controversial figures and a borderline enemy of the state. A firebrand who claims he’s going to stoke a revolution. That’s why Tommy Robinson has spent years telling his army of far-right supporters that he is broke after being locked out of the banking system by a corrupt liberal establishment in the UK. Yet despite these travails, the self-proclaimed journalist and activist has managed to build an incredibly enviable life for himself in the Iberian sun.

From luxury villas on the Costa Blanca to frequent stays at five-star resorts in the Algarve, none of it quite adds up. That was, until the dodgy crypto schemes and fundraising that bankrolls Luton-born Robinson’s lavish lifestyle was exposed in a documentary this month. The Channel 4 film claimed Robinson – aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – has raised ‘hundreds of thousands, maybe millions’ in donations from supporters over the past eight years.

These funds, purportedly to fund his legal defence and fight against the powers that be, are allegedly laundered through a string of companies that never file accounts or pay taxes before being wound up. This undeclared revenue stream, which never passes through a register charity, and yet somehow Robinson ends up living a luxury lifestyle. It’s likely he is guilty of fraud and perjury in the UK, while Olive Press sources claim he may have broken defamation laws in the Iberian Peninsula.

Spain immigrant

Despite his rows with the British establishment and tangles with the legal system, Robinson told a judge in October last year that he formally resides in Spain. It came after the Irish passport holder was stopped at Folkestone heading to Benidorm in a silver Bentley carrying over £13,000 (€15,100) in cash in July 2024. After he refused to unlock his phone for detectives he was charged with terrorism offences.

Thanks to his Irish nationality, Robinson has the right to live in Spain, but – as our readers will know – moving here involves a lot of bureaucracy which even EU citizens must comply with. A new resident is required to register on the local ‘padron’, apply for an NIE and sign up as a tax resident, declaring worldwide income once he passes the 183-day threshold in a calendar year. Yet, despite claims he is living here, The Olive Press has been unable to find any evidence of Robinson applying for an NIE via the country’s official Boletin, which is mandatory.

Nor can we find any evidence of him being registered on any town hall padron.

Costa Blanca bling

The Olive Press was the first publication to report on Robinson’s penchant for the costa lifestyle. Our reporters found him luxuriating at a stunning €1.5 million villa in L’Albir, near Benidorm, where he had been filming his podcast with a slew of shady far-right figures. Sensationally, a land registry check revealed the villa was owned by British fashion tycoon Philip Day, who owns Peacocks and was estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.2 billion.

While he declined to comment, our expose riled Robinson who went on to make a series of threats against our reporters, claiming he knew where they ‘lived’. So we expect more of the same now we can reveal that he has recently spent many weeks staying at another villa in L’Albir and has regularly stayed at La Ballena Blanca, a private gated complex nearby. When in town he frequents a gym in La Zenia, an Indian restaurant and a burger bar Fanelli’s, as well as a favourite hiking route along a stretch of coast near L’Albir.

According to one local agent he has recently been ‘showing interest’ in a hillside development in Finestrat where homes are priced between €750,000 and €1 million. It is curious he should choose to spend so much time in Albir, which was also the home of one of Robinson’s bitterest rivals, Kris Kearns, who is an open neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and antisemitic stance. The pair have a fierce rivalry and fell out as they competed for influence as far-right firebrands.

But while the Costa Blanca is very much Robinson’s base in Spain he has the knack of popping up all over the peninsula.

Spanish sojourns

He was spotted in Marbella in 2020, turning up at the Manolo Santana Racquets Club. He then wasn’t seen again on the Costa del Sol until October last year, where he hooked up with pals to play a few sets at the Real Club Padel Marbella, a sports club, where Louis Theroux appropriately filmed for his recent Manosphere documentary. He has also made a number of curious visits to Tenerife, spending Christmas 2023 there with Lutz Bachmann, a German far-right activist banned from entering the UK.

On a more recent trip he stayed at the five-star Vincci Selección la Plantación del Sur in Costa Adeje with another far-right associate, Liam Tuffs. It’s an exclusive place where rooms rarely come cheaper than €300 a night.

New nerve centre on the Algarve

The five-star Quinta do Lago, in Almancil, on the Algarve, is nowadays Robinson’s most consistent base outside Spain, the Olive Press can reveal. This newspaper’s own reporting placed him at the luxury golf resort for a three-week family holiday in May 2024, costing roughly £10,000 a week. He was seen dining at Yu Algarve, an upmarket Chinese restaurant in Quinta Almancil, in October 2025 – and not much later flew to Tel Aviv at the invitation of an Israeli minister.

Despite the lavish surroundings, Robinson appears to have more serious interests in the region. Robinson set up two separate companies in Portugal after his previous UK companies were shut down.

Shady business in the sun

The first, Circulo Indepedente LDA, was incorporated in 2024. It replaced UK company Thinking Independent Media Ltd, which never filed a single set of accounts in almost three years and was struck off by Companies House in May 2026 – itself the successor to an earlier UK firm, Freestyle Freelance Ltd, struck off for the same reason. It is believed that these two companies were the dubious end points receiving the monies raised from Robinson’s continual begging emails and videos to his followers.

Robinson himself does not appear as an officer of Circulo Indepedente – according to an investigation, it was set up by his associate Adam Geary. The Olive Press was told Geary has acted ‘in effect’ for Robinson throughout this chain of companies.

Portuguese flavoured perjury

The other, we can reveal, is Hunger4Truth, set up in August 2025 as HUNGER4TRUTH, UNIPESSOAL, LDA (Robinson’s CAPS, not ours), a company dedicated to ‘independent journalism’. Registered as a company offering ‘Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services’, it gives Robinson’s home address as a house in Bedfordshire linked to his ex-wife Jenna in legal documentss. This despite the fact he told a UK court and court-appointed bailiffs he had been forced into exile in Spain.

Both companies are registered via a legal firm Jose Bulha Advogados in Almancil, which works with a series of bodies, including Faro University. When questioned about whether Robinson was their client or his connections to far-right and fraudulent activity, the firm told The Olive Press they were unable to comment on specific cases due to attorney client confidentiality.

Money trail

Where does Robinson’s money come from? His media platform Urban Scoop solicits payments by both card and cryptocurrency to support his work. What the page does not do is say who receives the money.

It is impossible to find out but it ‘is not registered as a charity’ and donations ‘are not eligible for Gift Aid’. That is a striking omission for an operation that has burned through a string of UK companies, failing to file accounts, before the pattern moved to Portugal. Robinson’s latest grift looks to be elsewhere in the Iberian peninsula, The Olive Press can reveal.

Andorra activities

It comes as he promotes murky ‘meme coins’ in the tiny tax haven of Andorra linked to convicted fraudsters. A type of cryptocurrency not backed by anything real, nor regulated, its value depends entirely on convincing enough people to buy in and hype it up.

One meme coin Robinson has been hyping, BlackSwan, has teamed up with an account called @fomo – which appears to trace back to convicted fraudster Ashley Ward, who has backed his rallies. Already with two convictions for eBay fraud, he was behind another coin that Robinson promoted in 2024, before that coin collapsed in what’s known in the crypto world as a ‘rug pull’. This is where the conmen quietly cash out and vanish, leaving everyone else holding crypto that’s suddenly worthless.

How convenient

BlackSwan is one of several schemes promoted by Robinson in Andorra, where it’s easy to set up an operation unregulated and hard to trace. It is worth noting that dozens of Bitcoin ATMs are now available on the Costa Blanca – including three within a short drive from L’Albir. And curiously an influencer, Lauren Southern, told the Channel 4 documentary how she saw Robinson take out cash from donor-funded accounts to purchase drugs.

Could this be an incentive that keeps Robinson dropping in? The issue that makes him more than just another grifter is large following and continual support for far-right parties and borderline hate speech.

‘Only Vox can save Spain’

And when he comes to Spain, he brings his radioactive toxicity with him. A vocal critic of Pedro Sanchez, he insists ‘only Vox can save Spain’, and continually highlights the ‘invading’ immigrants in Spain, with the usual claims about gang rapes. Article 510 of Spain’s Criminal Code covers online incitement, with harsh penalties when posts reach a mass audience – meaning Robinson’s own reach could matter as much as his words.

Prominent neo-Nazi Isabel Peralta was convicted of hate speech in April 2025 after speaking at an unauthorised protest outside Morocco’s embassy in Madrid, using a megaphone to chant ‘death to the invaders’. It is language that comes remarkably close to the rhetoric Robinson uses.

Is the noose closing?

He was arrested once again on his return to the UK, this time on September 23. Counter-terrorism police detained him under ‘Schedule 3’, used to investigate whether an individual is involved in ‘hostile state activity’.

He was quizzed on a recent trip to Russia, with Robinson freely encouraging his followers to ‘not fight for their country’ in the case of war with Moscow. Meanwhile, ex-wife Jenna, who is still remarkably close to Robinson, pleaded guilty to to failing to comply with corporate financial record-keeping regulations.

The charges involve Hope & Pride Limited, another shady shell company in the network, where she was the sole director. It too was used to process public donations and merchandise sales connected to Robinson’s media operation. Whether Robinson continues to be a regular on Spain’s costas or his antics finally catch up with him remains to be seen.