Tories take £300k from cannabis millionaire dubbed 'Wolf of Wall Street'

21 January 2024 , 08:48

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Bassim Haidar with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Image: FACEBOOK)

The Tories have pocketed more than £300,000 from a “Wolf of Wall Street” millionaire whose business empire includes a medical cannabis firm.

Donations have poured in from Bassim Haidar, 52, who revels in a luxury lifestyle and meeting the likes of movie icons Tom Cruise and Sylvester Stallone, Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am and PM Rishi Sunak. In other social media pictures, he is behind the wheel of a red Ferrari and posing at sea with a big fish.

A video showed his birthday celebrations on a private jet, and one of his superyachts with its own beauty salon featured in a Channel 5 show. He bought Mohamed Al-Fayed’s yacht where Princess Diana was pictured days before her tragic death in August 1997.

Bassim Haidar meeting movie star Tom Cruise (INSTAGRAM /)

The Nigerian-born Lebanese entrepreneur, who names his yachts Bash after his initials, admitted at one point his life became a bit “Wolf of Wall Street” – a reference to the 2013 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as hedonistic businessman Jordan Belfort. In May, Mr Haidar, whose nationality on Companies House is listed as Irish, reportedly bought a five-bedroom property behind Sloane Square in Central London for £20million. In 2023, he gave the Conservative party £323,780 and donated £75,000 to hopeful Tory London mayoral candidate Moz Hossain.

Meeting Rocky star Sylvester Stallone (INSTAGRAM /)

Electoral Commission stats show Mr Haidar also gave a non-cash gift, worth £10,000, to fund advertising to Tory MP Lee Anderson in November. Mr Anderson, dubbed 30p Lee over his comments about foodbank users, quit as Tory deputy chair on Tuesday over Mr Sunak’s Rwanda Bill. Dad-of-three Mr Haidar, said to have lived on the breadline for part of his upbringing, grew his fortune with telecoms firm Channel IT, which now operates in 19 countries.

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He even met Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am (FACEBOOK)

The businessman told Boat International guide last year: “Passion does not make you money. Need makes you money.” The guide’s report said: “After setting up Intercomm, things got a bit, in his words, ‘Wolf of Wall Street’. There were no sinking boats… but there were parties in Marbella and an 18-metre boat.” A Tory spokesman said: “Donations to the Conservative party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, openly published by them."

Simon Murphy