President Donald Trump and a cryptocurrency company linked to his family members were sued Thursday over accusations that the president has “corruptly” profited off of more than $2 billion in payments from a foreign government.
The lawsuit, filed by a shareholder for another crypto venture, centers two transactions between World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded by Trump and his sons in 2024, and entities linked to the United Arab Emirates. One of the exchanges in question involves a UAE-linked firm’s purchase of close to half of World Liberty Financial’s stake days before Trump assumed office in January 2025.
Trump does not hold direct shares of the crypto company, but the president’s family members indirectly maintain an almost 40% stake in World Liberty Financial.
The plaintiffs argue Trump violated the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bars federal officeholders from accepting gifts and payments from foreign governments. The suit calls on the court to compel the companies that routed the money to take back any payments made to Trump and order disclosure of any other transactions between foreign parties and the president.
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“Using the presidency for personal profit is not only unethical. It is not only a matter of grave concern to millions of Americans,” the lawsuit says. “It is illegal, and it is a clear violation of the Constitution President Trump swore to protect.”
David Wachsman, a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial, told The Washington Sun that the claims in the lawsuit “are without merit, and we look forward to resolving them in court.”
“World Liberty Financial is compliant with all U.S. laws and regulations,” Wachsman said. “No one at World Liberty Financial works for the U.S. Government.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Spokesperson Anna Kelly told Politico that “there are no conflicts of interest” and called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
Trump’s June disclosure of more than $1.1 billion in crypto earnings prompted backlash from lawmakers across the aisle this year, including legislation to regulate politicians’ power to trade crypto. Senate Democrats ultimately blocked the House-passed measure in September over the lack of specific ethics provisions that would rein in Trump’s crypto interests.
J. Benjamin Greenberg, who holds shares in the Circle Internet Group crypto company, filed the lawsuit in D.C. district court on Thursday and is also seeking “compensatory and punitive damages.”
Both Circle and World Liberty issue dollar-pledged stablecoins, and Greenberg’s suit asserts that the Trump family’s deals with the UAE firms gave World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin a “competitive advantage that Circle cannot match.”
Trump sold his 49% direct stake in the company to a UAE-backed investment firm, and his son Eric Trump signed off on the transaction on Jan. 16, 2025.
“Millions of dollars from that deal, routed from a foreign government, flowed to President Trump after he assumed office,” Karianne Jones, an attorney for Greenberg, wrote in the complaint.
The legal challenge also references a separate UAE-linked investment company’s purchase of $2 billion in World Liberty Financial stablecoin in May 2025.
“Weeks after President Trump took office, an investment fund created by the UAE government orchestrated a scheme to inflate the value of President Trump’s crypto holdings by purchasing $2 billion in the President’s brand-new digital currency,” Jones wrote. “The corrupt purchase handed President Trump millions of dollars in interest and dramatically expanded the circulation of his stablecoin overnight.”
Greenberg, who holds 10,000 shares of Circle’s Class A common stock, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the crypto company, but a Circle spokesperson appeared to distance the business from the legal complaint in a statement shared with The Washington Sun
“This lawsuit was filed by an individual shareholder, not by Circle,” the spokesperson said. “Circle did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing. We do not comment on pending litigation.”
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