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John Simpson donated £200,000 to Reform last year
Left Foot Forward News
John Simpson donated £200,000 to Reform last year
A Reform donor has been revealed to have links to a Dubai-based company that previously had business ties to a now sanctioned Iranian conglomerate.
According to a Financial Times report, John Richard Simpson is the registered manager and shareholder of Dubai-based Orico General Trading LLC.
Until 2016, Orico had links to Iranian company Omran Razavi International Co, which has close ties to the Islamic Republic’s government.
French legal documents released last month described Orico as a subsidiary of Omran Razavi International Co.
The Iranian company is majority-owned by Astan Quds Razavi religious foundation, a leading financial conglomerate with close ties to the Islamic Republic.
Between 2012 and 2013, Orico entered into agreements with Omran Razavi, including a €145 million deal connected to Iran’s state telecommunications company.
In 2021, the US Treasury Department placed AQR under sanctions, citing its control of “large swaths of the Iranian economy” and its links to then supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior government officials.
Orico denies being a subsidiary of any Iranian regime entity and says it is privately owned.
A source close to the company claims its links to AQR ended in 2016, when assets were allegedly seized amid a power shift involving Iran’s ruling elite.
Simpson is also publicly listed as the person with significant control of Interior Architecture Landscape Limited (IAL Ltd), which donated £200,000 to Reform last year.
IAL’s clients include Iranian billionaire Sasan Ghandehari and his family, who sponsored Farage’s pass to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
Crypto billionaire says he donated £4 million to Reform UK
Ben Delo, a billionaire convicted in the US of failing to implement anti-money laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business, has said he has donated £4 million to Reform.
Delo, who currently lives in Hong Kong, said he made the donation to Nigel Farage’s party before the government placed a £100,000 cap on donations to political parties by Brits living abroad last month.
Writing in the Telegraph, he has said he is moving back to the UK so he can donate millions more to Reform and “build a war chest” for the party without being subject to the cap on expat donations.
Alongside another billionaire Reform donor Christopher Harborne, Delo also made his fortune from cryptocurrency.
Farage has advocated for deregulating cryptocurrency to make the UK a global leader in cryptocurrency.
Last May, he announced at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas that Reform would become the first political party to accept donations in cryptocurrency.
Delo, co-founder of trillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, was convicted in the US in 2022. He pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls at the firm.
In his Telegraph article, he wrote: “I helped build one of the world’s first major crypto trading platforms, fell foul of US regulators, accepted a plea bargain and a civil fine for a regulatory failing that isn’t even a crime in the UK, but then ended up being pardoned by Donald Trump, the US president, anyway.”
Last month, a Guardian investigation found that Delo had given support to Restore Britain founder Rupert Lowe, allowing him to use the Sanctuary, his base in Westminster Abbey.
Delo has also connected with more mainstream figures including the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, and the former cabinet minister Michael Gove.
Image credit: Anne Schwarz – Creative Commons
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
Yesterday
Left Foot Forward
Ben Delo has said he will move back to the UK from Hong Kong to donate millions more to Reform
Ben Delo has said he will move back to the UK from Hong Kong to donate millions more to Reform
Ben Delo, a billionaire convicted in the US of failing to implement anti-money laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business, has said he has donated £4 million to Reform.
Delo, who currently lives in Hong Kong, said he made the donation to Nigel Farage’s party before the government placed a £100,000 cap on donations to political parties by Brits living abroad last month.
Writing in the Telegraph, he has said he is moving back to the UK so he can donate millions more to Reform and “build a war chest” for the party without being subject to the cap on expat donations.
Alongside another billionaire Reform donor Christopher Harborne, Delo also made his fortune from cryptocurrency.
Farage has advocated for deregulating cryptocurrency to make the UK a global leader in cryptocurrency.
Last May, he announced at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas that Reform would become the first political party to accept donations in cryptocurrency.
Delo, co-founder of trillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, was convicted in the US in 2022. He pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls at the firm.
In his Telegraph article, he wrote: “I helped build one of the world’s first major crypto trading platforms, fell foul of US regulators, accepted a plea bargain and a civil fine for a regulatory failing that isn’t even a crime in the UK, but then ended up being pardoned by Donald Trump, the US president, anyway.”
Last month, a Guardian investigation found that Delo had given support to Restore Britain founder Rupert Lowe, allowing him to use the Sanctuary, his base in Westminster Abbey.
Delo has also connected with more mainstream figures including the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, and the former cabinet minister Michael Gove.
Image credit: Anne Schwarz – Creative Commons
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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