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A crypto billionaire who was pardoned by US president Donald Trump has given a record-breaking £36 million to Reform UK.
Party leader Nigel Faragesaid he was “honoured and humbled” to receive the money from Ben Delo, who recently re-located from Hong Kong to the UK in order to become a Reform donor.
It comes after the Metropolitan Police confirmed they have launched a probe into a Channel 4 investigation which appeared to show senior Reform officials discussing with a fake American donor how he could give money to the party.
Delo, a co-founder of cryptocurrency platform BitMEX, was last year given an unconditional pardon by Trump over a Bank Secrecy Act violation in the US.
He is now Reform’s largest donor, having previously been second behind another crypto billionaire, Christopher Harborne, who gave £9 million to the party last August.
Parliament’s standards watchdog is currently investigating a personal £5m gift Harborne gave Farage in 2024 which the Reform boss did not declare.
Delo’s £36m is the single biggest donation in the history of British politics.
Writing for the Telegraph newspaper, Delo said: “Unlike the people who express mock concern for the health of ‘our democracy’ while doing everything they can to keep it as a cartel, I want a fair fight and a level playing field.
“My conclusion from Reform’s recent troubles is that they should spend less time trying to raise funds to compete on equal terms and more time preparing for government.”
Farage said: “I am honoured and humbled that Ben Delo has shown such confidence in Reform.
“Ben knows that we are the only party that can turn the country around and reverse Britain’s decline.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage is still up to his neck in scandal over his secret £5 million ‘gift’ from his other crypto-billionaire backer and the criminal investigation into potentially illegal donations. The questions he faces aren’t going away – in fact they’re piling up.
“Reform UK can’t buy their way out of questions about sleaze, criminal mates and dodgy finances.”
Lib Dem Cabinet Office spokesperson Lisa Smart accused Farage of wanting “to bring Trump’s America to our shores by buying his way into power”.
“He’s trying to get into Number 10 as if it’s a stop on a monopoly board,” she said.
“It can’t go on like this. Andy Burnham needs to introduce a cap on political donations. Our democracy depends on it.”
Olly Buston of Clean Up Westminster, which campaigns to reduce the influence of money in politics, said it was “a dark day for Britain’s democracy”.
“Delo’s donation is several times bigger than any political donation in history,” he said. “It is an obscene amount. No single individual should be able to buy this much power, let alone a convicted fraudster who has barely set foot in the country in recent years
“Every day Andy Burnham delays, the billionaire arms race escalates and mega-donors tighten their fierce grip on our democracy.
“We need a low, hard cap on political donations now. The prime minister has said he wants to do this. He must act and fast.”
MPs last week backed measures including a cap on overseas donations at £100,000 and a suspension of funding through cryptocurrency, but the draft legislation still needs to be passed by the House of Lords to become law.
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Source: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk