Lawsuit accuses Trump of illegally profiting off foreign crypto deals

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A lawsuit filed Thursday accuses President Donald Trump and his family's crypto company of "corruptly profiting" off more than $2 billion in digital currency-related deals, violating constitutional restrictions on accepting foreign money.
"No president in American history has profited from his office so brazenly," alleges the federal civil complaint from a shareholder of Circle Internet Group, a publicly traded U.S. crypto company and competitor of the Trump family business, World Liberty Financial.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington by shareholder and former Circle employee J. Benjamin Greenberg centers on two allegedly "illegal foreign emoluments" involving World Liberty and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the national security advisor to the United Arab Emirates.
Days before Trump's inauguration in January 2025, an entity backed by Tahnoon — widely known as the "Spy Sheikh" because of his powerful intelligence role — agreed to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million.
The company told The Wall Street Journal, which revealed the transaction in January 2026, that Trump had no involvement in the deal. But Trump would receive millions of dollars from that purchase after becoming president, according to his financial disclosures.
The lawsuit also highlights a "scheme" by an Abu Dhabi-based investment fund chaired by Tahnoon to "inflate the value of President Trump's crypto holdings" through last year's purchase of $2 billion in World Liberty's stablecoin, USD1.
The lawsuit asserts the conduct violates the U.S. Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, which forbids federal officeholders from accepting money or other gifts from foreign officials without the consent of Congress.
"This sounds more like a partisan press release than a lawsuit," Bill Burck of Quinn Emanuel, counsel for World Liberty Financial, said in a statement. "All we know about it is from media reports. Anyone can file a lawsuit in America, even a frivolous one."
"This is yet another frivolous lawsuit that echoes the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CNBC in a statement. "There are no conflicts of interest."
In a statement to CNBC, Matt Pelikan, an attorney at Evergreen Legal representing Greenberg, said, "What President Trump did is brazenly corrupt. He's made millions from these deals by selling out the American people.
"We're suing to stop the corruption and to force President Trump to return the profits to American taxpayers," Pelikan said.
The suit says Greenberg is filing derivatively on behalf of Circle. The company said in a statement to CNBC it was not behind the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation.
"Circle did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing," the company said via a spokesperson.
The suit names Trump, World Liberty and U.S. Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff as defendants, as well as four related limited liability companies.
"World Liberty Financial is compliant with all U.S. laws and regulations," David Wachsman, a World Liberty spokesperson, told CNBC. "No one at World Liberty Financial works for the U.S. Government. These claims are without merit and we look forward to resolving them in court."
The White House and a spokesperson for Witkoff did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment on the lawsuit.
In addition to seeking a court declaration that Trump's profits violate the Constitution, Greenberg wants the president to disclose all other foreign crypto emoluments he's received and return any profits found to be illegal.
Trump and his family have rapidly expanded their crypto business since he returned to the White House. World Liberty Financial, launched with members of the Trump and Witkoff families in 2024, operates the USD1 stablecoin, and an entity affiliated with Trump and his family owns about 38% of the company.
The business has been highly lucrative for Trump even as investors in the so-called governance token WLFI suffered steep losses. Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in crypto income in his 2025 annual financial disclosure, including nearly $800 million tied to World Liberty. WLFI, meanwhile, fell from about 45 cents in August 2025 to about 5 cents by the end of June 2026.
The venture has drawn particular scrutiny over its ties to the UAE. Months after Tahnoon's 2025 investment, the administration expanded UAE access to advanced U.S. AI chips, including for G42, a UAE state-backed AI company controlled by Tahnoon.
U.S. lawmakers have sought information about those dealings and signaled that Trump family business transactions could face further investigation if Democrats gain subpoena power in Congress in the 2026 midterm election.

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