The scandal surrounding World Liberty Financial: Democrats demand hearings over $500 million from the UAE
Five Democratic senators have sent an urgent request for hearings on the cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial, linked to the Trump family. The reason was information that four days before the president's inauguration in January 2025, a company affiliated with a member of the UAE royal family bought a stake in the project for $500 million.
On June 23, the senators appealed to the heads of five key Republican-controlled committees. In the letter, they insist that representatives of the Trump administration testify under oath about what they knew about the financial inflows from the UAE. The document was signed by influential figures: Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, and Ron Wyden.
Deal Details and Figures Behind the Scenes
The senators cite data according to which the Abu Dhabi-based company Aryam Investment purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial (WLF) for approximately $500 million. The deal was closed literally four days before Trump's inauguration. The key figure here is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security advisor and manager of the country's largest sovereign wealth fund.
According to available data, about $187 million of this amount went to entities linked to the Trump family, and another $31 million to entities linked to the Witkoff family. The senators see a direct connection between these infusions and subsequent administration decisions: approval of a $1.4 billion arms sale to the UAE and permission to supply 35,000 advanced American AI chips to the company G42, issued in November 2025, despite warnings about threats to national security.
Particular concern is raised by the weakening of oversight of the crypto industry, specifically the disbandment of the Justice Department's special unit for investigating cryptocurrency crimes. "The entire chain of events raises serious concerns: it is possible that the UAE authorities have already received or will receive even more—to the detriment of US national security—after investing in the Trump family's crypto company," the senators' appeal states.
White House Reaction and Previous Requests
World Liberty Financial previously denied the claims, stating that Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff were not involved in the deal and are not connected to the company's activities after the president took office. The White House explained that the president's assets have been placed in a trust managed by his children, which, in their view, eliminates a conflict of interest.
This is not the first time the issue has been raised in the Senate. As early as February, Warren and Andy Kim sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding the same deal. Warren has repeatedly criticized Trump's crypto projects linked to the UAE, pointing out that his administration's AI and crypto partnerships with Gulf states create direct threats to national security.
My analysis: This scandal brings to the forefront a fundamental problem with cryptocurrency regulation in the US—the lack of transparent boundaries between political interests, business, and national security. Regardless of the outcome of the hearings, the very fact that a half-billion-dollar deal with a UAE sovereign wealth fund took place on the eve of the inauguration undermines trust in institutions and sets a dangerous precedent for the entire industry. The market should closely monitor developments—any tightening of regulation could be a reaction to this political crisis.