President Donald Trump said he co-owns crypto venture World Liberty Financial, while stating he knows "nothing about" the UAE-linked money that has flowed into the firm. Trump made both claims during a 60 Minutes interview on November 8, 2026.

The remarks arrive weeks after a shareholder lawsuit accused the arrangement of breaching the US Constitution, and as the company's governance token trades at a sliver of its former value.

The deals Trump says he didn't follow

The scrutiny centers on two large transactions, both tied to Abu Dhabi.

The first came in January 2025, when Aryam Investment 1 paid $500 million for a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial (WLFI). Aryam is linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the deal was signed by Eric Trump, the president's son, just days before the inauguration. According to the research findings, a notable share of the proceeds was redirected to Trump family entities, meaning the foreign-linked buyer's money did not stay solely inside the company.

The second deal landed in May 2025 and was even bigger. MGX, another Abu Dhabi fund chaired by Tahnoon, purchased $2 billion worth of USD1, World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a steady value, typically pegged one-to-one to the US dollar. MGX used that USD1 to settle an investment in Binance, the crypto exchange. The transaction is also an example of how stablecoins can function as settlement instruments, carrying dollar-equivalent value between institutions through crypto channels.

A lawsuit and a sliding token

Those connections are now the subject of litigation. On October 22, 2026, a shareholder of Circle Internet Group filed suit over the UAE deals. The lawsuit alleges the transactions violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause, the constitutional provision restricting federal officeholders from accepting benefits from foreign governments. Because the clause concerns benefits received while holding federal office, the timing of the two deals is a relevant detail: the stake sale was signed days before the inauguration, while the larger stablecoin purchase came after Trump had taken office.

The suit claims the deals delivered illegal benefits to Trump, and it alleges they disadvantaged the value of USDC, the stablecoin issued by Circle. None of these allegations have been proven; they are claims in a complaint, and the case remains at an early stage.

The sums involved are substantial. Trump's 2025 financial disclosure reported more than $1.4 billion in crypto-related revenue, with almost $800 million of that attributed to World Liberty Financial.

The token side of the business tells a different story. The WLFI governance token traded around 45 cents in August 2025. By June 2026, it had fallen to roughly 5 cents. A governance token typically grants holders voting rights over a protocol's decisions rather than an equity-like claim on the issuer's revenue.

The hands-off defense

Trump's position is consistent with what he has said before. He maintains that he stays away from day-to-day operations and leaves management to his sons. The 49% stake sale was signed by Eric Trump, and the revenue shows up on the president's own financial disclosure. Not knowing the details of a deal is one thing; profiting from it is a separate question, and that is the question the Emoluments Clause is concerned with.

World Liberty Financial launched as the Trump family's flagship crypto venture, combining a governance token with a dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD1, and quickly drew interest from large investors. The UAE money became the most consequential of those relationships. A $500 million equity purchase and a $2 billion stablecoin transaction gave Abu Dhabi-linked entities a substantial footprint in a company partly owned by the sitting president.

With the claims unproven and the case at an early stage, upcoming court filings and any future financial disclosures are the most concrete markers to watch.

Source: CryptoBriefing — Trump says he knows 'nothing about' UAE-linked investment in World Liberty Financial