Two senior aides to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have stepped down after the party became embroiled in allegations that British electoral laws on foreign political funding may have been breached.

The controversy follows an undercover investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 News in which a journalist posed as the son of a wealthy American interested in making a donation to the party.

Reform UK said it had launched an internal investigation following the broadcast on Thursday. Party officials James Orr and Dan Jukes have left their positions pending the outcome of the inquiry.

“The party believes it is important that the investigation is allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice,” a Reform UK spokesperson said, adding that the party would make no further comment while the investigation is underway.

Jukes has been regarded as one of Farage’s closest aides, while Orr served as Reform UK’s head of policy and has been an influential figure in Britain’s national conservative movement. Orr is also a theologian and associate professor of philosophy of religion at the University of Cambridge.

Both men have denied wrongdoing.

Farage also rejected allegations that Reform UK had accepted improper political donations, insisting during an interview with LBC Radio on Friday that the party had broken no laws.

“The party has not taken any dodgy money or anything like that whatsoever,” Farage said.

He accused the undercover investigation of being an act of “entrapment,” but acknowledged that individuals working with the party had made comments they should not have made.

Farage said those individuals had subsequently been removed from their positions and expressed dissatisfaction over the episode.

The internal investigation is expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the reported discussions and whether any conduct violated Reform UK’s rules or British laws governing political donations and foreign funding.