Trump denies knowledge of Abu Dhabi royal’s $500M WLFI stake
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was unaware of a reported $500 million investment by an Abu Dhabi royal in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency platform linked to his family. “I don’t know about it,” Trump told reporters on Monday, adding that his sons and family manage the venture and receive investments from various parties.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family in the United Arab Emirates, agreed to acquire a 49% stake in WLFI for $500 million four days before Trump’s inauguration. The report cited WLFI documents and people familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the first payment from Aryam Investment 1, a company backed by Sheikh Tahnoon, totaled $250 million. Of that amount, $187 million was directed to entities tied to the Trump family, while $31 million went to an entity associated with two WLFI founders, Zak Folkman and Chase Herro. The arrangement would make Aryam WLFI’s largest shareholder. WLFI lists nine founders, including Trump and his sons Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Barron Trump.
Sheikh Tahnoon maintains diplomatic ties with the United States and chairs Group 42, an Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm that received approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce in December to purchase advanced chips from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.
The reported investment has drawn additional scrutiny of Trump’s connections to the crypto sector. In January, Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to delay considering WLFI’s application for a bank charter until Trump divests his interest. The OCC later said that political or personal financial ties would not affect its procedures and that any application would undergo the same rigorous review as others.
WLFI spokesperson David Wachsman told Bloomberg that it would be inappropriate to subject a privately held American company raising capital to a standard that differs from peers.
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