£72m Crypto Donations to Reform UK Spark Illegal Donation Fears
Crypto-billionaires Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo have made the largest-ever donations to a UK political party, but their £72m contribution to Reform UK may be illegal under new laws.
The donations, worth £36 million each, were announced within 24 hours of each other. Harborne is based in Thailand, while Delo lives in Hong Kong and had previously stated he would move back to the UK to donate more to Reform's budget.
The payments come as Reform faces a police investigation into allegations it broke foreign funding laws. The party is also under parliamentary standards investigation for not declaring a £5 million gift from Harborne before his election in 2024.
Margaret Hodge, the government's anti-corruption champion, described the donations as a 'dangerous challenge to democracy' and said they could be illegal if the new law restricting overseas donors is applied retrospectively.