British crypto billionaire Ben Delo says he has given £4m to Reform UK
A British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business has given £4m to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK,Ben Delo, 42, who is now based in Hong Kong, wrote in the Telegraph that he had made the donation since the start of the year, before the government’s cap on donations to political parties by British citizens living abroad,The businessman, who was pardoned by Donald Trump last year, is moving back to the UK and therefore will not in future be subject to the new rules for donors,The cap may limit further contributions from Reform UK’s Thai-based donor Christopher Harborne, who has given £12m so far,In his article for the Telegraph, Delo explained his motivations for turning to Reform UK, saying England was his home and that “the biggest obstacle to national recovery is the entrenched self-deception of our elites”.
“Their regime of nonsense now poses such a grave threat to the UK that, for the first time in my life, I’ve become politically active,” he wrote.“Since the start of this year, I have donated £4m to help Nigel Farage to build Reform UK into a genuine alternative party of government.It is already leading in the polls by virtue of recognising and articulating the full scale of the problems our country faces.For the first time, I feel that serious people are looking honestly at what it might take to fix Britain.”He said that as a person on the autism spectrum, he did not like that “the official culture of government now forces everyone to be chronically dishonest”, citing expression of views on transgender people.
Delo was convicted in the US in 2022 after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls at BitMEX, the trillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange he co-founded,In his Telegraph article, he wrote: “I helped build one of the world’s first major crypto trading platforms, fell foul of US regulators, accepted a plea bargain and a civil fine for a regulatory failing that isn’t even a crime in the UK, but then ended up being pardoned by Donald Trump, the US president, anyway,”Delo, an Oxford graduate who describes himself as a champion of free speech, supports more than 50 organisations ranging across the political spectrum and public life, as well as non-affiliated groups and individuals,A Guardian investigation last month into Delo’s political base in Westminster found he had given support in kind to Rupert Lowe, an anti-migration MP challenging Nigel Farage from the right, while also connecting with more mainstream figures including the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, and the former cabinet minister Michael Gove,The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
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You can message the UK Politics team using Signal or WhatsApp on +44 7824 537227.Finally, our guide at theguardian.com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.The joint work by the Guardian and Hope Not Hate revealed that some of the people and projects that had benefited from Delo’s largesse had expressed hardline positions on immigration, nationalism and abortion.It also showed that Delo, who says he has poured more than £100m into philanthropy, was providing funding, networking opportunities and help in kind via a suite of rooms in a building overlooking Westminster Abbey known as the Sanctuary.
Those given access can use the facility free of charge for events, office space and podcasting,The billionaire’s lawyers have previously told the Guardian he provided space for those with diverse views to express them, and financial support to a broad range of organisations, many of which had conflicting views,This did not mean he endorsed the opinions of each, they said,Restore Britain, the party founded by Lowe, a former Reform UK MP who now sits as an independent, launched its campaign for the mass deportation of millions of migrants from a room at the Sanctuary last year,Farage told the Telegraph: “Our priority is to build a detailed programme for government so, if we are elected, we have the right policies in place to get Britain back on its feet as quickly as possible.
Ben’s support will help Reform attract more of the skills and talents we need to get ready for government.“Moreover, it is particularly gratifying to me personally, that someone like Ben, a builder and a visionary and a problem-solver, who has spent a lifetime grasping trends before other people do, sees the potential of Reform.”
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