A crypto billionaire, who pled guilty to financial crimes in America in 2022, is moving back to the UK so he can donate millions to Reform.
Ben Delo, who lives in Hong Kong, donated £4m to Reform earlier this year. However, after the government implemented a £100,000 cap on donations from Brits living abroad, he’s decided to move back to the UK.
In a piece for the Telegraph, Delo, who moved to Hong Kong in 2012, said he was moving back to Britain with the specific intention of donating millions to Nigel Farage’s party to help him “build a war chest.”
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The 42-year-old, who is said to be Britain’s youngest self-made billionaire, made his money as a co-founder of cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX.
However, in 2022 he was convicted in the US after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by wilfully failing to implement money-laundering controls at the company.
Delo received a 30-month probation sentence alongside a $10 million fine.
But last year, he was pardoned by Donald Trump.
There’s little surprise that Delo is hitching his wagon to the Reform gravy train. He has previously supported Rupert Lowe and a Guardian investigation earlier this year found that he has backed several people and projects supporting hardline positions on immigration, nationalism and abortion.
Reform are also the most pro-crypto party in British politics. Farage recently took a huge stake in ex-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s crypto firm and Reform are the only party who say they will accept donations in crypto currency.
Reform received a total of £12m in donations last year from Thailand-based crypto investor Christopher Harborne.