A $500 million investment by a UAE royal family member into a Trump family cryptocurrency company has sparked accusations of corruption and conflicts of interest. The deal, finalized days before Donald Trump's January 2025 inauguration, involved World Liberty Financial and has drawn scrutiny from ethics experts. Critics question whether subsequent US policy decisions favoring the UAE, such as allowing Nvidia AI chip imports, were influenced by the investment.
The investment in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm co-owned by the Trump family, came from Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a key UAE official who serves as national security advisor and chairs the country's $1.5 trillion wealth fund. Four days before Trump's inauguration, emissaries backed by Tahnoon agreed to purchase a 49% stake for $500 million through Aryam Investment, a firm he supports. Of the initial payment, $187 million went to Trump-affiliated entities, and $31 million to those linked to Steve Witkoff, the company's co-founder and Trump's Middle East envoy.
Ethics advocates have condemned the arrangement as a violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which bars federal officials from accepting foreign emoluments. Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, called it a 'blatant, disgraceful conflict of interest.' He added, 'Thanks to this latest monetization of the White House, the American people will have to question whether Trump administration policies affecting the UAE are in the best interest of the public and American workers, or a foreign nation that padded the president’s bottom line.'
The White House maintains that Trump is uninvolved, having transferred control of his businesses to sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, rather than a blind trust. A spokesperson dismissed Emoluments Clause claims as 'bogus and irrelevant,' while counsel David Warrington stated, 'President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner and to suggest so otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious.'
Post-inauguration interactions included a March White House dinner hosted by Trump for Tahnoon and an Emirati delegation, which Trump described on Truth Social as demonstrating 'long-standing ties and bonds of friendship.' In May, World Liberty announced that MGX, the UAE's AI investment arm, would invest $2 billion in Binance using its USD1 stablecoin. Two weeks later, the administration permitted the UAE to import 500,000 Nvidia AI chips, reversing prior restrictions aimed at preventing technology access for China.
No direct evidence links the investment to the chip decision, but experts like Columbia law professor Richard Briffault highlight a 'structural conflict of interest,' noting, 'We just can’t know for sure' about policy motivations. Kedric Payne of the Campaign Legal Center described the setup as 'beyond unprecedented and unimaginable.' Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren urged Congress to investigate, calling it 'corruption, plain and simple' and demanding reversal of the chip export approval.
