President Donald Trump said he was unaware of a reported multimillion-dollar investment by an Abu Dhabi royal into World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) crypto platform. Asked whether he was involved, Trump replied, “I don’t know about it,” adding, “My sons are handling that — my family is handling it. I guess they get investments from different people.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, bought a 49% stake in WLFI for $500 million four days before Trump’s inauguration. The WSJ said its account was based on WLFI documents and people familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the first $250 million installment came from Aryam Investment 1, a company backed by Sheikh Tahnoon. Of that payment, about $187 million was sent to Trump-family entities and roughly $31 million went to an entity tied to WLFI co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro. Under the agreement, Aryam would become WLFI’s largest shareholder, a development that prompted concern about potential foreign influence in a U.S. crypto firm closely connected to the president — who is listed as one of nine WLFI founders alongside his sons Donald Jr., Eric and Barron.
Sheikh Tahnoon is known for his diplomatic ties to the United States and serves as chairman of Group 42, an Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence conglomerate that recently received U.S. Commerce Department approval to buy advanced chips from Nvidia and AMD.
The WSJ’s account comes amid growing regulatory and media scrutiny of Trump’s crypto ties. In January, Senator Elizabeth Warren urged banking regulators to delay consideration of WLFI’s application for a bank charter until Trump divested his interest. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) replied that political or personal financial ties would not change the procedural review and said WLFI would face the same “rigorous review” as any applicant.
WLFI spokesman David Wachsman told Bloomberg that holding a privately held American company to a unique fundraising standard is “both ridiculous and un-American.”
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