Nigel Farage Under Scrutiny for $6.7 Million Donation from Tether Billionaire

According to The Guardian, Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, received a substantial donation of approximately £5 million (around $6.7 million) from Christopher Harborne, a billionaire with ties to the cryptocurrency company Tether, prior to announcing his candidacy for the Clacton seat in 2024. The Conservative Party has referred Farage to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, while the Labour Party has also alleged that he has violated House of Commons rules. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Farage confirmed the donation, stating that it was intended to ensure his safety and security for life after he was attacked with a milkshake in 2019 and his home was targeted in a firebomb attack last year. The donation was made by Harborne, a Thailand-based businessman with a 12% stake in Tether, in 2024, before Farage announced his candidacy for the Clacton seat and subsequently won the election. A spokesperson for Reform UK described the payment as a 'personal and unconditional gift' that was made before Farage's election and stated that his decision to run for office was unrelated to the donation. The spokesperson added that 'we are confident that everything has been declared in accordance with the rules.' The Commons code of conduct requires new MPs to disclose any benefits received in the 12 months preceding their election and stipulates that any benefit should be registered if there is doubt. Reform UK claims that the gift falls under the exemption for purely personal gifts. The Conservative Party has written to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg, requesting that he investigate whether any of the donated funds were used to support political activities rather than security. Labour Party chair Anna Turley stated that Farage 'appears to have broken the rules again.' In a related development, Harborne donated £9 million (approximately $12 million at the time) to Reform UK late last year, marking the largest single donation to a UK political party from a living person on record. Earlier this month, Ben Delo, co-founder of BitMEX, announced in an op-ed that he had donated £4 million ($5.1 million) to Reform UK since the start of the year. In response to concerns about the potential for digital assets to be used to channel foreign funds into UK politics, the UK government imposed an immediate ban on crypto donations to political parties in March, citing the Rycroft review's warning. The ban applies to donations of any size and will be incorporated into the Representation of the People Bill, with criminal penalties for non-compliance. In the same month, Farage invested £215,000 ($286,000) in Stack BTC, a London-listed bitcoin treasury company chaired by former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, acquiring a 6.31% stake through his investment vehicle Thorn In The Side.