- UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting received £37,000 ($50,000) from a think tank whose founder was gifted $610,000 by convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
- Bankman-Fried gave the money to David Lawrence, founder of Labour for the Long Term (LLT), just 10 days after Lawrence created the think tank’s website.
- LLT donated £30,000 ($40,300) to Streeting one month after Bankman-Fried’s gift, funds used to pay a policy advisor; a further £7,000 ($9,400) came a year later.
- Lawrence claims Bankman-Fried’s gift went to UK charities and the Streeting donations came from a city investor, but The Telegraph found that investor’s donations began months later.
UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting reportedly received £37,000 ($50,000) in donations from a Labour-supporting think tank whose founder was gifted $610,000 by disgraced crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried in June 2022, according to The Telegraph.
David Lawrence, founder of Labour for the Long Term (LLT), received the sum from Bankman-Fried just 10 days after creating the think tank’s website. One month later, LLT donated £30,000 ($40,300) to Streeting to fund policy advisor Dr. Thomas Gardiner. A year after that, LLT gave another £7,000 ($9,400) to Streeting.
The Telegraph reports that Lawrence and Bankman-Fried were likely introduced through William MacAskill, a founder of the effective altruism movement central to Bankman-Fried’s donation spree. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in 2024 for misappropriating billions in customer funds from his exchange.
Unnamed senior Labour officials reportedly advised shadow ministers to avoid accepting LLT donations. Lawrence denies this, claiming Bankman-Fried’s gift went to UK charities and the Streeting donation was funded by a city investor. However, The Telegraph found that investor’s donations started in February 2023, not around the £30,000 donation in 2022.
A Labour spokesperson said the party “carried out due diligence checks ahead of these donations being received, through which no issues were identified.” A spokesperson for Streeting added that all due diligence processes were followed and LLT’s donor list did not name Bankman-Fried. The report follows scrutiny of Reform UK party funding from crypto industry figures.
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