A Reform UK candidate has denied co-founding a crypto company branded a “ponzi scheme” – despite video showing him describing himself the “head” of the firm’s UK arm.

Barnsley South candidate David White spoke at a Thai conference for the scheme – Buddy Ex – gesturing to the flashy backdrop and asking a sparsely attended conference for top salesmen: “Does this look like a scam?”

An investigation by Hope not Hate links Mr White to the cryptocurrency scheme Buddy Ex, which has listed him as a co-founder alongside Dubai-based entrepreneur Mahesh Sharma.

So-called “Multi-Level Marketing” [MLM] companies are ostensibly set up to sell products or services directly to customers, employing agents sell to their friends and family.

But many are structured so agents earn more from recruiting more salespeople – who usually have to pay signup fees and a share of any future profits to those who recruited them – than they do by marketing the product or service itself.

Such schemes inevitably collapse when the number of new recruits dries up.

The investigative website BehindMLM described Buddy Ex as a “pump and dump Dubai ponzi scheme”

A spokesperson for Reform UK insisted Mr White had merely been a “third party supplier” to the firm, “supplying presentation videos and live events.”

But when Mr White delivered a speech at a Buddy Ex conference last August, he described himself to the whooping crowd as the firm’s “Head of Business in the UK and EU.”

Asked why he had done so if he was just a supplier, the spokesperson said: “That would be manners.”

They added: “They paid for him to go present in Thailand. It was a day travelling, a day of work and a day back. He had zero involvement in management, decision making or any financials.”

Later in the speech, delivered in front of a flashy backdrop to a room of cheering people in Buddy Ex t-shirts, he explained that as a politician, he had to keep his financial dealings above board.

“When you’re out talking to your communities, your friends and families, what do people think of Buddy Ex? And one big thing that keeps coming back is: they think it’s a fantastic project, but is it a scam?” he said.

“I’m a local councillor, and the political party that I represent has put me forward to stand as a member of parliament in the general election next year. So it’s incredibly important to myself that everything is as clean as possible. Because believe it or not, UK politicians have to be straight guys – and girls.

“So when I first met some of the BuddyCorp/Buddy Ex team, I asked a lot of questions about the jurisdictions, about legalities: they ticked every single box. I am more than happy with the project.”

Gesturing to the backdrop, he added: “And – does this look like a scam?”

Mr White’s LinkedIn page lists his current job as Business Development Manager for Buddy Ex.

Gregory Davies, Researcher at Hope Not Hate said: “Repeatedly, Reform UK candidates have been exposed as unfit to hold public office but David White is a special case.”

He added: “David White is unfit to hold public office but that didn’t stop Nigel Farage from turning up in Barnsley South last week to campaign for him.”