Ben Delo
British businessmanWikipedia
153
MENTIONS
61
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55
PODCASTS
Search complete. 153 mentions across 61 episodes found for "Ben Delo".
Sep 18, 2026
William MooreHOST
And so these men, they are deep-pocketed, risk-taking geniuses who operate outside the realms of government, pulling strings from behind the scenes.
William MooreHOST
People like Elon Musk with AI or Ben Delo giving money to his millions to reform.
William MooreHOST
Do you think the autistocracy is a useful way of grouping these modern, powerful men? Yeah.
Toby YoungGUEST
It does sound like he's onto something.
Toby YoungGUEST
I've met Ben Delo.
Toby YoungGUEST
I haven't met Chris Harbour.
Toby YoungGUEST
But I've met a few people who've become very rich through manipulating complicated financial products because of their understanding of mathematics.
Olivia UtleyHOST
It's been a busy week in politics.
Olivia UtleyHOST
Reform bagged an extra £72 million in funding, £36 million from Ben Delo and another £36 million from Christopher Harbourn.
Olivia UtleyHOST
That's thrown Westminster into a discussion about how donations should be capped.
Tom HarwoodHOST
And one of the biggest issues here, I think, Olivia, is this issue of retrospectively capping donations.
11 MINS LATER
Olivia UtleyHOST
And it couldn't really have come at a better time for Nigel Farage, could it, after a pretty troubling couple of months for him.
Olivia UtleyHOST
Do you think that's why these two multi-multi-millionaires, billionaires? Billionaires.
Olivia UtleyHOST
Billionaires decided to donate? Because, you know, I think that's what Ben Delo said, that he didn't like the idea of reform being distracted by fundraising.
Olivia UtleyHOST
He wanted them to concentrate on getting into government.
Toby YoungGUEST
I mean...
Toby YoungGUEST
I know Ben Delo a little bit, and I can say hand on heart, I don't think he's trying to buy influence.
Toby YoungGUEST
He's certainly not pursuing any self-interest here.
Toby YoungGUEST
He's no longer involved in cryptocurrency dealing.
Fiona BruceHOST
All right.
Fiona BruceHOST
Two donations, £36 million each from two billionaire cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, Ben Delo, who till very recently spent a lot of time in, living in Hong Kong, Chris Harborne, uh, ditto, but in Thailand.
Fiona BruceHOST
Um, Caroline.
Caroline LucasGUEST
Um, yes, it is a massive threat to democracy.
Caroline LucasGUEST
Um, it, it, it really does look as if it's, um, the case that British democracy is up for sale to the highest bidder, and that frankly is obscene, and we should be sending a very clear message to say that British democracy is not for sale.
Caroline LucasGUEST
The s- [applause] Um, and the sight of Reform UK being bankrolled by these two crypto billionaires, this Harborne and Ben Delo, to the tune of £72 million is frankly obscene.
Caroline LucasGUEST
I think it totally distorts and corrupts our political system.
Caroline LucasGUEST
It makes those, th- greater disillusion, uh, through in it.
Naomi SmithHOST
[upbeat music] Quiet Riot.
Naomi SmithHOST
A question for you all: Can you buy democracy? In the space of just 48 hours this week, Reform UK received 72 million pounds from two crypto billionaires, Ben Delo and Christopher Harbourne, and that is more than Labour and the Conservatives and Reform themselves spent between them fighting the entire 2024 general election.
Naomi SmithHOST
It's more, notes Nigel Farage, than the sum total raised by all political parties in Britain last year.
Naomi SmithHOST
Reform says the money is entirely lawful, its donors want nothing in return-
7 MINS LATER
Alex AndreouHOST
This is a device to not allow basically a window of opportunity to funnel in donations while the rules are being debated.
Alex AndreouHOST
It was really, really clear from the word go and from what you heard that this would apply retrospectively, and it was also really specific.
Alex AndreouHOST
Let's have a little listen to Ellie Chowns at committee stage talking specifically about Ben Delo.
Ellie ChownsSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
We've got to think very carefully about how whatever, uh, mechanism is brought forward, uh, deals with that.
Nick CohenHOST
Okay, let's stick to the 36 million.
Nick CohenHOST
S- so Harborne gives it, and he's matched by a guy called Delo who runs an exchange, um, which deals in derivatives from crypto.
Nick CohenHOST
Delo has even been convicted under US anti-corruption law.
Nick CohenHOST
This was in 2023.
Nick CohenHOST
He pleaded guilty to charges.
Nick CohenHOST
The prosecutor said at the time of Delo and his co-defendants that they willfully failed to implement and maintain even basic anti-money laundering politics.
Nick CohenHOST
They allowed BitMEX, that's a platform, to operate as a platform in the shadow of the financial market.
Nick CohenHOST
Now, Donald Trump then pardoned them, pardoned Delo, pardoned his fellow company founders, the other founders of BitMEX, 'cause Trump, of course, is very keen, very keen on crypto.
Liz BatesGUEST
We did make it work.
Kevin SchofieldHOST
Anyway, okay, so Westminster was stunned last Friday night when it was revealed that crypto billionaire Ben Delo had given Reform UK £36 million, by far the biggest individual donation ever given to a British political party.
Kevin SchofieldHOST
And then incredibly, less than 24 hours later, another crypto tycoon, Christopher Harbourn, who you may have heard of before because he's the same man who gave Nigel Farage a £5 million gift to... just before he became an MP, also donated £36 million, meaning that in the space of just a day...
speaker_2ADVERTISER
Car crashes injure over a million of us every year because we're human.
Kevin SchofieldHOST
Now, just to put that into some kind of perspective, that is more than all the other parties combined managed to raise during the 2024 general election campaign.
Kevin SchofieldHOST
So we're talking big, big money.
Kevin SchofieldHOST
Reform said it would level the playing field with the traditional parties, while Nigel Farage said he was humbled and honoured at the trust that Delo and Harbourn had placed on him.
Kevin SchofieldHOST
But the donations immediately sparked a furious row over whether they were permissible under UK electoral law, given Delo was until recently a resident in Hong Kong, while Harbourn is still based, we believe, in Thailand.
Alastair CampbellHOST
And likewise, look, the, this film made a big impact.
Alastair CampbellHOST
It obviously sort of, you know, disrupted the Reform Conference in Birmingham, but it's kind of gone away again, and sufficient for them to be able to come out and literally wipe out the news agenda with these two promises of two donations from two individuals, both crypto people, Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, 36 million.
Alastair CampbellHOST
Now, I've each-
Rory StewartHOST
36 each?
Kevin O'SullivanHOST
Poor Angela.
Kevin O'SullivanHOST
She seems to think that Ben Delo and Christopher Harbourn, she described them as fascist oligarchs.
Kevin O'SullivanHOST
I don't quite know where she got that idea, but she's basically calling them tax dodgers.
Kevin O'SullivanHOST
I don't think she's particularly qualified to talk about tax dodging, or perhaps she is because she knows all about it, doesn't she?
speaker_8UNKNOWN
Please give what you can, even as little
Jon HolmesHOST
as... £36 million from British cryptocurrency billionaire Ben Delo, who was pardoned by President Trump last year... after he pleaded guilty to not having set up adequate anti-money laundering controls.
Jon HolmesHOST
His money could provide supplies to
speaker_9UNKNOWN
Nigel Farage to buy his way out of questions around reforms finances for a
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