An Abu Dhabi royal signed a secret deal with the Trump family to buy a stake in their cryptocurrency venture, reports reported. Wall Street Journalciting company documents and people familiar with the matter.
Emissaries of Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan struck a deal with Eric Trump to acquire 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million, four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, according to the WSJ.
The first installment was US$250 million, of which US$187 million went to Trump family entities, the newspaper reported. At least US$31 million was earmarked for entities linked to the family of Steve Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty and US special envoy for the Middle East. Another $31 million went to an entity linked to the crypto venture’s other co-founders, Zak Folkman and Chase Herro, the WSJ said.
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“Neither President Trump nor Steve Witkoff had any involvement in this transaction and have had no ownership interest in World Liberty Financial since taking office,” he said in a statement to Bloomberg World Liberty Financial spokesman David Wachsman responded to the report, adding that the company made the deal out of self-interest.
“The idea that, when raising capital, a private American company should be held to an exclusive standard to which no other similar company would be subject is both ridiculous and un-American,” he said.
A White House spokesperson told the WSJ that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. The newspaper quoted a person familiar with Tahnoon’s investment as saying that the sheikh and some co-investors completed the World Liberty deal after analyzing it for a few months.
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O Wall Street Journal reported that the remaining US$250 million was to be paid by July 15, 2025 and that it was not possible to determine how the funds may have been distributed.
Tahnoon is the UAE’s national security advisor, deputy ruler of the emirate and was given, in 2023, responsibility for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages around US$1 trillion.
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