Four days before Donald Trump's inauguration last year, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, an Abu Dhabi royal, secretly acquired a 49% stake in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, for $500 million. This deal made Sheikh Tahnoon, through his company Aryam Investment 1, the largest shareholder in World Liberty Financial, and its only known investor outside of the founders. The initial payment of $250 million was split, with $187 million going to Trump family entities (DT Marks DEFI LLC and DT Marks SC LLC) and $31 million to entities associated with co-founder Steve Witkoff and other co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro.
This investment greatly benefited World Liberty's founders, providing significant payouts to the Trump, Witkoff, Folkman, and Herro families. Donald Trump personally owned 70% of DT Marks DEFI. The deal also led to the appointment of two Aryam executives, who also held top positions at Tahnoon’s G42, to World Liberty’s five-person board. World Liberty Financial recently received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to operate as a federally chartered national trust bank, allowing it to issue, redeem, and safeguard its dollar-backed stablecoin, USD1, which has a market value of about $4 billion.
The secret nature of the deal and the involvement of a foreign royal, often referred to as the “spy sheikh” due to his extensive influence and ties to the UAE government, has sparked significant ethical and national security concerns. Legal experts have suggested the deal could violate the emoluments clause, and Congressional Democrats, including Senators Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, and Chris Van Hollen, have called the transaction “corruption, plain and simple” and alleged “pay-for-play.” The White House, however, maintains that no conflict of interest exists, citing that President Trump's assets are held in a blind trust managed by his children.
