British crypto billionaire Ben Delo says he has given £4m to Reform UK | Reform UK
The British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to impose adequate anti-money laundering controls on his cryptocurrency business has donated £4 million to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Ben Delo, 42, who now lives in Hong Kong, wrote in the Telegraph that he had made the donation since the beginning of the year, before the government capped donations to political parties by British citizens living abroad.
The businessman, who was pardoned by Donald Trump last year, is returning to the UK and will therefore not be subject to new rules for donors in the future. The cap could limit further contributions from Reform UK’s Thailand-based donor Christopher Harborne, who has donated £12 million so far.
In his article for the Telegraph, Delo explained his motivation for turning to Reform UK by saying that Britain was his home and that “the biggest obstacle to national recovery is the deep-seated self-delusion of our elites”.
“Their ridiculous regime now poses such a serious threat to the UK that I have become politically active for the first time in my life,” he wrote. “Since the start of this year, I’ve donated £4 million to help Nigel Farage turn Reform UK into a genuine alternative government party. It’s already leading the polls thanks to the full extent of the problems facing our country being recognized and articulated. For the first time, I feel like serious people are looking honestly at what it might take to fix Britain.”
As a person on the autism spectrum, he said he doesn’t like how “the official culture of the government now forces everyone to be chronically dishonest,” referring to the expression of views about 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.
“I helped launch one of the world’s first major crypto trading platforms, ran afoul of US regulators, accepted a plea bargain and a fine for a regulatory error that wasn’t even a crime in the UK, but was eventually pardoned by US president Donald Trump,” he wrote in the Telegraph article.
Delo, an Oxford graduate who describes herself as a defender of freedom of expression, supports more than 50 organizations across the political spectrum and public life, as well as unaffiliated groups and individuals.
A Guardian investigation into Delo’s political base in Westminster last month found Delo had given in-kind support to anti-immigrant MP Rupert Lowe, who is challenging Nigel Farage from the right, while also linking up with more mainstream figures such as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and former cabinet minister Michael Gove.
A joint study by the Guardian and Hope Not Hate has found that some people and projects who have benefited from Delo’s generosity take hardline stances on immigration, nationalism and abortion.
It also showed that Delo, which says it has spent more than £100 million on charity, provides funding, networking opportunities and in-kind aid through rooms in a building overlooking Westminster Abbey known as the Sanctuary. Those granted access can use the facility for events, office space and podcasting free of charge.
The billionaire’s lawyers have previously told the Guardian that he provides space for those with different views to express themselves and provides financial support to a wide range of organisations, many of which have conflicting views. This, they said, did not mean that he endorsed each of their views.
The Restore Britain party, founded by former Reform UK MP Lowe, who now sits as an independent, launched its campaign for mass deportation of millions of immigrants from a room in the Sanctuary last year.
Farage told the Telegraph: “Our priority is to create a detailed program 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 talent we need to prepare for government.”
“Also, it is especially gratifying for me personally that someone like Ben, a builder, visionary and problem solver who has devoted his whole life to grasping trends before other people, sees the potential of Reformation.”
