Trump’s Family Involved in $500 Million UAE Scandal, Yet Few Are Paying Attention | Mohamad Bazzi

Days prior to Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in January 2025, an investment firm linked to a prominent member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) royal family clandestinely signed an agreement worth $500 million to acquire nearly half of a cryptocurrency startup initiated by the Trump family. Under normal circumstances, such an arrangement involving a sitting president would trigger massive political fallout in Washington. There would likely be calls for congressional investigations, extensive televised hearings, and a considerable effort in damage control.

However, this recent scandal involving Trump’s business dealings generated little media coverage, appearing as merely a brief headline amidst a relentless news cycle that often revolves around Trump’s own communications.

This scandal warrants serious scrutiny: a $500 million transaction with an official from a foreign government, executed just as Trump was inaugurated, directly benefiting the president and his family. The deal for a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm founded by Trump and several associates during his fall 2024 presidential campaign, received backing from Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, one of the UAE’s most influential officials. Often referred to as the “spy sheikh”, Tahnoon is not only the brother of the UAE’s president but also the national security adviser and heads one of the world’s largest investment networks, managing two sovereign wealth funds with $1.5 trillion in assets and G42, a firm concentrating on artificial intelligence.

Keeping track of how Trump has exploited the presidency for personal financial gain during his second term is nothing short of overwhelming. The Trump Organization, managed by his sons, has brokered foreign real estate agreements amounting to billions of dollars, several of which involve private enterprises backed by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. In May, ahead of a visit to the Middle East, Qatar gifted Trump a luxury Boeing jet valued at $400 million, which the U.S. military is updating to serve as Air Force One. This could be the most extravagant gift ever given by a foreign government in American history, and Trump has indicated that the aircraft will be transferred to his presidential library upon the termination of his term in 2029, allowing him continued use even after his presidency ends.

At the end of May, Trump held an exclusive dinner at his Virginia golf club for the top 220 purchasers of his memecoin, known as $Trump, a cryptocurrency conceived from an online joke. The event was a VIP gathering, with the top 25 buyers receiving special invitations to dine with Trump and enjoy a tour of the White House. Altogether, the Trump family’s Crypto Ventures reportedly earned around $148 million from the memecoin contest, primarily funded by foreign or anonymous investors. One notable purchaser was Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire, who acquired over $20 million worth of Trump’s memecoins. Interestingly, in February 2025, shortly after Trump took office, the Securities and Exchange Commission suspended a civil fraud case it had previously filed against Sun in 2023, raising concerns that he was receiving preferential treatment due to his $75 million investment in a different Trump crypto enterprise.

Despite the evident scale of corruption trailing Trump over the last year, the $500 million transaction involving World Liberty and Sheikh Tahnoon stands as “the only known instance of a foreign government official acquiring a significant stake in a Trump company post-election,” as reported by the Journal. Through intertwining his personal wealth with Gulf ruling families, Trump has not only compromised his capacity but also that of his administration to manage foreign policy effectively. How can Washington credibly pressure the UAE regarding its influence in the civil war in Sudan when the national security adviser of the Emirates is also a business partner of the U.S. president?

Over the last ten years, Tahnoon has been instrumental in guiding foreign policy discussions with the U.S. on critical matters ranging from counter-terrorism to economic investment and facilitating UAE access to advanced computing technology. In March, he traveled to Washington and met with Trump, gaining direct access to high-ranking cabinet members and enjoying a White House dinner reserved for VIP guests. Notably, the public remained unaware of the covert agreement that Tahnoon’s investment firm had entered into with the Trump family’s cryptocurrency organization two months earlier.

These revelations highlight why Trump’s dive into cryptocurrency has emerged as the most lucrative yet perilous avenue for financial gain while in office. After his initial presidency, Trump’s family enterprise expanded from being primarily a real estate business to include media outlets such as Truth Social and various cryptocurrency dealings. Overall, it’s estimated that the Trump family generated $1.4 billion from crypto endeavors in the previous year, constituting nearly one-fifth of their estimated wealth of $6.8 billion, as reported by Bloomberg.

The appeal of these crypto ventures lies in their capacity to allow Trump and his family to amass hundreds of millions from international investors and officials who would typically find it challenging to funnel money into a U.S. political campaign. Trump has not merely enriched himself through the presidency; he has tapped into an industry replete with fraud and opacity. Soon after resuming office, the Trump administration instigated deregulation of the crypto sector and dismantled a national unit that had been established under Joe Biden’s administration to investigate crypto-related fraud.

While the $500 million investment into World Liberty Financial proved beneficial for Trump and his family, it seemingly lacked sound financial rationale for Tahnoon, the UAE royal orchestrating the investment in a fledgling crypto venture that was not engaged in much business prior to Trump’s term. What did the UAE ultimately gain from this financial commitment?

The answer seems to be that the authoritarian regime gained access to future advancements in artificial intelligence. Tahnoon’s secret investment was part of two significant transactions that occurred involving the Trump family’s cryptocurrency firm and the UAE government. At a crypto conference in Dubai in May, Trump’s son Eric and business partner Zach Witkoff (who happens to be the son of Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy to the Middle East) announced that MGX, another company chaired by Tahnoon, would commit $2 billion utilizing a stablecoin issued by World Liberty. This stablecoin maintains a fixed price of $1, which could yield tens of millions in annual interest revenue for Trump and his family.

During the conference, Zach Witkoff praised the MGX deal as proof of World Liberty’s viability as a technology start-up. However, he neglected to mention that the two firms had shared prominent investors and several key executives in common. Tahnoon’s earlier $500 million stake allowed him to appoint two members to World Liberty’s board—those same two directors also served on the MGX board, as indicated by the Journal’s investigation.

Just weeks after MGX’s $2 billion investment into the Trump family’s crypto enterprise, the Trump administration permitted the UAE to acquire hundreds of thousands of advanced microchips vital for AI advancements. These chips, produced by U.S. firms, particularly Nvidia, had previously faced export limitations under the Biden administration to prevent the technology’s misuse. However, Trump rescinded these restrictions, allowing the UAE free access.

Some national security officials in the U.S. voiced their concerns regarding the sale of these advanced chips to the UAE, worrying they could be shared with China to bolster military capabilities. A September investigation by the New York Times revealed that the UAE’s discussions with Trump regarding access to AI chips had involved Steve Witkoff and Tahnoon and directly related to the Emirates’ investment in the Trump (and Witkoff) families’ crypto business.

The White House maintains that there is no link between the World Liberty crypto deal and the administration’s decision to provide AI technology to the UAE. Furthermore, it claims that neither Trump nor Witkoff have any conflict of interest, as they have distanced themselves from their family businesses. “The president has no involvement in commercial dealings that would conflict with his constitutional responsibilities,” declared the White House counsel, David Warrington, following the surfacing of the UAE royal’s investment in World Liberty. “President Trump executes his constitutional duties in an ethically commendable manner, and to insinuate otherwise is either misinformed or malicious.”

Even with Trump’s aides assuring that he upholds the highest ethical standards, the Republican-controlled Congress shows little inclination to probe into a remarkable string of corrupt activities and self-enrichment that would likely have ended other presidencies. As Trump and his family continue amassing profits from their expanding crypto enterprise, the rest of the nation must confront the implications for our democracy.

• Mohamad Bazzi is the director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor, at New York University.