Donald Trump has pushed back against reports claiming that a company linked to a senior UAE royal quietly acquired a massive stake in World Liberty Financial, saying he had no personal knowledge of the deal.
Speaking to reporters during a recent media appearance, Trump dismissed the claims outright. “I don’t know about it,” he said, adding that his family members are the ones managing the crypto-related venture. “My sons are handling that, my family is handling it. I guess they get investments from different people.”
The comments follow a report by The Wall Street Journal, which alleged that a firm tied to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan had secured a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial in a transaction valued at nearly $500 million.
A deal shrouded in questions
According to the report, the investment was structured in multiple tranches. The first installment, allegedly totaling $250 million, was said to have been routed through Aryam Investment 1, a company linked to Sheikh Tahnoon. Of that amount, roughly $187 million reportedly went to entities connected to the Trump family, while another $31 million was allocated to firms associated with World Liberty founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro.
World Liberty Financial has not publicly confirmed or denied the existence of the transaction. If the details are accurate, the UAE-linked firm would become the company’s largest outside shareholder — a development that has raised concerns among critics about foreign influence over a business closely tied to a sitting U.S. president.
Timing adds to the scrutiny
What has drawn even more attention is the timing of the alleged agreement. The WSJ report claims the deal was signed by Eric Trump on January 16, just four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.
Sheikh Tahnoon is not just a prominent investor but also serves as the UAE’s national security advisor and a key figure in the country’s technology and finance strategy. He chairs AI conglomerate Group 42, which recently received U.S. approval to purchase advanced chips from Nvidia and AMD — a move that has already placed him under closer regulatory scrutiny.
Around the same period, MGX, another firm chaired by Tahnoon, used the USD1 stablecoin to facilitate a multi-billion-dollar investment into crypto exchange Binance, further cementing his growing footprint in global crypto and financial markets.
A shifting ownership picture
The reported investment also comes against the backdrop of earlier changes in World Liberty’s ownership structure. In mid-2025, DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Trump family entity, reduced its stake in the company from 75% to 40%. At the time, analysts speculated that the partial exit may have generated close to $190 million, with Trump personally benefiting from the transaction.
If the UAE-linked investment is confirmed, it could help explain how that ownership transition took place. Still, it leaves unresolved questions around transparency, governance, and potential conflicts of interest.
Those concerns have already reached Capitol Hill. Earlier this month, Senator Elizabeth Warren urged regulators to pause their review of World Liberty Financial’s banking charter application, citing unresolved conflict-of-interest issues tied to President Trump’s involvement.
For now, Trump maintains distance from the deal, insisting he was not involved and had no knowledge of the reported transaction. Whether that explanation satisfies regulators and lawmakers remains to be seen.
