Defence Secretary Wes Streeting accepted £37,500 in donations from Labour for the Long Term, a think tank founded by David Lawrence, who separately received around £500,000 from disgraced US financier Sam Bankman-Fried — though there is no suggestion Streeting was aware of any link between the two.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting received £37,500 in donations between 2022 and 2023 from Labour for the Long Term (LLT), a think tank whose founder, David Lawrence, accepted approximately £500,000 from convicted American fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried around a month before LLT made its first donation to the Ilford North MP. Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was later sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of stealing billions of dollars from customers. There is no suggestion that Streeting was aware of any connection between Lawrence and Bankman-Fried’s funds at the time he accepted the donations.
The donations and their source
According to declarations made to the Electoral Commission, Streeting received three separate donations from LLT during 2022 and 2023, totalling £37,500, all of which were properly declared in accordance with UK electoral law. Streeting requested a list of LLT’s donors before accepting any of the funds; that list included David Lawrence’s name, but not Bankman-Fried’s.
The Telegraph has reported that senior figures within the Labour Party raised concerns about the source of LLT’s funding, though there is no suggestion these concerns were passed on to Streeting himself. The newspaper also disclosed that Labour never raised any suspicions about the source of Streeting’s donations with the Electoral Commission.
Who is David Lawrence?
Lawrence founded Labour for the Long Term in 2022 as a centre-left think tank focused on long-term policymaking and political renewal, and it has gone on to provide donations to a number of Labour MPs beyond Streeting. Lawrence was later selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Basingstoke, but stood down before the 2024 general election following scrutiny of his financial links to Bankman-Fried.
Lawrence has consistently maintained that the roughly £500,000 he received from Bankman-Fried was a personal gift and was not used to fund LLT or its political donations. He has also disputed claims that senior party figures were advised against accepting his donations. Speaking to The Telegraph, Lawrence said: “I unreservedly condemn Bankman-Fried’s actions and had no knowledge or suspicion of any criminal activity until it was reported in the news.”
He further stated: “LLT had a range of donors (all UK-based) and declarations were made in accordance with Electoral Commission requirements. LLT did not receive any donations from the FTX Foundation or Mr Bankman-Fried.” Lawrence has said the donation LLT made to Streeting was funded by a different donor.
Responses from Streeting and the Labour Party
A spokesman for Streeting told The Telegraph: “None of this due diligence gave any indication that the money came from anywhere other than the declared sources.” The spokesman added: “Wes has had no contact with this individual and he was never mentioned in any discussions with LLT,” and said: “All donations were and are declared in the proper way, in accordance with the rules.”
A Labour Party spokesman said the party had also carried out its own checks before the donations were accepted: “The Labour Party carried out due diligence checks ahead of these donations being received, through which no issues were identified.”
Background on Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, was convicted in the United States in 2023 on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy after prosecutors said he diverted billions of dollars in customer funds, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024. Before the collapse of FTX, he was one of the largest political donors in the United States, a longstanding supporter of the Democratic Party who contributed tens of millions of pounds to candidates and political organisations. He is accused of using more than £74 million in stolen funds to make campaign contributions ahead of the 2022 US midterm elections, reportedly using pseudonyms to circumvent spending laws.
Wider scrutiny of political donations
The disclosures come amid heightened scrutiny of politicians’ financial connections more broadly. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage triggered a by-election in Clacton after facing criticism over his acceptance of a £5 million gift from Thai-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, and was also reported to have received financial support from George Cottrell, a long-time associate convicted of fraud in the United States in 2017. Streeting previously responded to the reporting on Farage’s donations by saying the Reform UK leader was “up to his neck [in it].” Farage denies any wrongdoing.
Under UK electoral law, MPs may only accept donations from permissible donors, including individuals on the UK electoral register and UK-registered companies. However, donations made through unincorporated associations, such as think tanks, are subject to different transparency requirements and are not required to publicly disclose their original source. The Electoral Commission has repeatedly called for greater transparency around such associations, arguing they can obscure where political funding ultimately originates, and has recommended tighter disclosure rules.
Labour is reportedly looking to introduce a £100,000 cap on donations from British citizens living abroad, and has proposed wider reforms aimed at tightening political donation rules, including greater transparency over donor identities and closing the loophole surrounding unincorporated associations.
