Uncovering the Backers of WLFI: UAE Secretly Invests $500 Million, Opening the Door to Trump's AI Administration

By: Sam Kessler, Rebecca Ballhaus, Eliot Brown, The Wall Street Journal

Translated by: Luffy, Foresight News

According to company documents and informed sources, four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as President last year, a deputy of a royal family member in Abu Dhabi secretly signed an agreement with the Trump family to acquire a 49% stake in his startup cryptocurrency company for $500 million. The buyer paid half of the amount upfront, with $187 million transferred directly into a Trump family entity account.

This transaction with World Liberty Financial had not been reported before and was signed by the president’s son, Eric Trump. Documents show that at least $31 million will flow to a family-related entity of co-founder Steve Witkoff, just weeks after Witkoff was appointed as U.S. Middle East envoy.

Sources say the backer behind this investment is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family who has been seeking to obtain tightly controlled AI chips from the U.S. Tahnoon is sometimes called the “Spy Chief.” He is the brother of the UAE president, the country’s national security advisor, and the head of the nation’s largest sovereign wealth fund. He controls a business empire supported by personal wealth and national funds, with a scale exceeding $1.3 trillion, covering sectors from fish farms and artificial intelligence to surveillance technology, making him one of the most powerful single investors globally.

This deal is unprecedented in U.S. political history: a foreign government official acquired a large stake in an upcoming U.S. president’s company.

During Biden’s administration, efforts by Tahnoon to acquire AI hardware were largely blocked due to concerns over sensitive technology potentially flowing to China. U.S. intelligence officials and lawmakers were especially wary of Tahnoon’s AI company G42, which has close ties to sanctioned tech giant Huawei and other Chinese firms, raising alarms. Although G42 claimed to have severed ties with China by the end of 2023, U.S. concerns remain.

Trump’s election victory reopened the door for Tahnoon. Sources say that over the following months, Tahnoon met multiple times with Trump, Witkoff, and other U.S. officials, including a visit to the White House in March, during which the sheikh expressed a strong desire to cooperate with the U.S. in AI and other fields.

Two months after the March meeting, the Biden administration committed to providing the Gulf country with about 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips annually, enough to build one of the world’s largest AI data center clusters. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that this framework agreement stipulated that about one-fifth of the chips would flow to G42.

Public opinion generally views this agreement as a major victory for the UAE ruling family, breaking through longstanding U.S. national security concerns and allowing the country to compete alongside the world’s strongest economies in AI innovation. Supporters praise it as attracting massive U.S. investment and helping establish global standards for American technology.

What was previously unknown is that Tahnoon’s envoy signed an agreement in January of the same year to acquire a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial.

Last May, Trump visited Abu Dhabi Last March, Tahnoon met with Trump and other U.S. officials at the White House

Details of the $500 Million Deal

Documents show that Aryam Investment 1, supported by Tahnoon, paid an initial $250 million, of which $187 million was transferred directly into Trump family entities DT Marks DEFI LLC and DT Marks SC LLC. Besides the funds flowing to Witkoff’s family entity, another $31 million was transferred to entities associated with co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro. The Wall Street Journal has not yet determined how the remaining $250 million of Aryam’s investment, due by July 15, 2025, will be allocated.

This agreement makes Aryam the largest shareholder of World Liberty Financial and the only known external investor besides the company’s founders. The documents show that the deal secured Aryam two seats on the five-member board of World Liberty Financial, with two Aryam executives, who also hold senior positions at Tahnoon’s G42, serving as directors; at that time, board members included Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff (Steve Witkoff’s son).

After Trump’s election, his real estate company sought cooperation with foreign firms. The president himself has accepted gifts from foreign governments, including a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar. But the World Liberty Financial deal is the only known case of a foreign government official purchasing a large stake in one of Trump’s companies after his election.

Information from the company’s website shows that the Trump family’s ownership share dropped from 75% last year to 38%, indicating outside investors bought in, though the company has never disclosed the buyer’s identity.

A few weeks before the announcement of the U.S.-UAE chip agreement last May, Zach Witkoff, CEO of World Liberty Financial, announced that Tahnoon-led investment firm MGX would use World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. G42 executives who joined the World Liberty Financial board are also involved in MGX, which is jointly owned with G42.

Zach Witkoff promoted MGX’s stablecoin partnership as a recognition of World Liberty Financial’s technology but did not disclose that MGX and World Liberty Financial are led by the same group.

A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial, David Wachsman, said: “We made this deal because we firmly believe it is in the best interest of the company’s continued growth. The idea that a U.S. private company must adhere to special standards that others do not is absurd and un-American.”

He added that neither President Trump nor Steve Witkoff participated in the deal, and that since taking office, they have no longer been involved in World Liberty Financial’s affairs. Witkoff has never held an operational role at the company. He also stated that the deal does not give any party influence over government decisions or policies, “We comply with the same regulations as other companies in the industry.”

A person familiar with Tahnoon’s investments said that Tahnoon and his team conducted “months of evaluation” of World Liberty Financial’s plans before investing, then completed the investment with “several co-investors,” and that the investment did not involve G42 funds. “At no stage during due diligence or afterward was there any discussion with President Trump about this investment,” the person said. Tahnoon is an “important investor” in cryptocurrency businesses.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “President Trump acts solely in the best interests of the American public.” She stated that the trust managed by his children holds his assets, “there is no conflict of interest,” and that Witkoff is working to “advance President Trump’s global peace goals.”

White House legal adviser David Warrington said: “The president has not participated in any business transactions that could involve his constitutional duties.”

He added that Witkoff strictly adheres to government ethics rules, “He has never, and will never, participate in any official matter that could affect his financial interests,” and that Witkoff has “divested from all interests related to World Liberty Financial.”

An individual close to Witkoff said the envoy did not participate in AI chip negotiations with G42 but listened to briefings on related discussions.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said: “The company places the highest importance on ethical obligations and strictly avoids conflicts of interest,” and complies with all applicable laws.

The “Sheikh”’s AI Chip Push

Trump with UAE President Mohammed during last May’s visit to the UAE After Trump’s election, the UAE hoped to find more cooperative partners in the U.S.

For Tahnoon, obtaining U.S. chips is a top priority. He was entrusted by his brother to lead efforts to make the UAE a global leader in AI. During Biden’s administration, due to concerns that chips might flow to China, the U.S. only allowed limited access to chips. Although G42 claimed to have severed ties with China by the end of 2023, other UAE entities under Tahnoon’s business empire still maintain close links with China.

Tahnoon aims to secure large quantities of additional chips to build one of the world’s largest AI data centers, which would require power equivalent to two Hoover Dams. He and his deputy plan to lobby intensively for support from the new Trump administration.

Tahnoon has long had business dealings with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the Trump family. Kushner’s investment firm raised $1.5 billion in 2024 from a Tahnoon-supported company and Qatar.

Shortly after the election, Trump appointed his longtime friend and golf partner Steve Witkoff as Middle East envoy. Witkoff quickly reached out to Biden officials, planning to contact Middle Eastern contacts and visit the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel before inauguration.

In early December 2024, during a trip to the UAE, Witkoff, who helped establish World Liberty Financial in September, attended a cryptocurrency conference in Abu Dhabi, where he met with crypto giants and Eric Trump in a VIP room. Eric Trump declared to the UAE audience: “Our family loves you.”

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Witkoff also met with Tahnoon as part of a series of regional talks, including issues like the Gaza ceasefire.

About a week after this trip, two entities were registered in Delaware and Abu Dhabi within two days, sharing the same name: Aryam Investment 1, with no publicly disclosed ownership information.

Company records reviewed by the WSJ show that the Delaware-based Aryam is managed by G42 executives under Tahnoon, while the Abu Dhabi entity shares an address with other companies under the sheikh’s business empire.

On January 16, 2025, Aryam signed the deal with Trump and Witkoff’s World Liberty Financial for the $500 million investment.

The Network of Interests Behind the Deal

At the time of the investment, World Liberty Financial had no products and had only raised $82 million through issuing a token called WLFI. Documents show that Aryam’s investment did not grant rights to future WLFI token sales, meaning this Tahnoon-supported entity was excluded from the company’s then-only source of income.

The agreement for Aryam to acquire shares in World Liberty Financial was signed by G42’s chief legal counsel, Tahnoon’s key advisor Martin Edelman, and G42 CEO Peng Xiao. The deal also involved Tahnoon’s personal investment firm, Royal Group, with Edelman serving as an advisor to that firm.

Edelman and Xiao joined the board of World Liberty Financial, but the company’s website does not list them among the team.

Both played key roles in lobbying the Trump government for chip access.

G42’s crypto and blockchain chief Fiacc Larkin joined World Liberty Financial in January 2025 as chief strategic advisor. His LinkedIn profile shows he also advises the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

For years, G42 has been closely watched by Biden administration officials and Republican lawmakers, who in 2024 demanded investigations into the risk of China acquiring U.S. sensitive technology through the company.

Born in China, Peng Xiao studied at George Washington University, obtained U.S. citizenship, then renounced it to acquire UAE nationality. During Biden’s presidency, Peng Xiao was also scrutinized.

In 2024, a Republican committee chair wrote to the Department of Commerce, citing documents indicating a “vast network” behind Peng Xiao involving UAE and Chinese companies.

Trump with Mohammed during last May’s visit. Tahnoon’s AI company G42’s CEO Peng Xiao was present (second from left) G42 denied the allegations in a statement, claiming it had ceased cooperation with Chinese firms.

Edelman is a well-known New York real estate lawyer who has cultivated connections in the UAE for decades. He advises the UAE royal family and serves on the boards of several Tahnoon-owned companies, including G42 and MGX. He is also a longtime friend of Witkoff and publicly praised him after the election.

Company documents reviewed by the WSJ show that this share acquisition brought significant gains to the founders of World Liberty Financial, with the Trump family, Witkoff family, Folkman, and Herro-related entities all quickly recouping their investments. Trump’s disclosures show that by the end of 2024, he personally held a 70% stake in DT Marks DEFI, with the remaining 30% held by other family members; he has not disclosed ownership of DT Marks SC.

Ethical and Legal Controversies

Analysis of the deal details Trump has long been criticized for maintaining control of his private business empire and earning foreign income during his presidency. During his first term, Democratic lawmakers sued Trump, accusing him of profiting from foreign government patronage, violating the “Emoluments Clause” of the Constitution. Trump called it political persecution, and the Justice Department argued that his profit-sharing did not constitute compensation. The Supreme Court ultimately refused to hear the case.

In his second term, Trump’s Trump Organization stated it would not sign new contracts with foreign governments during his presidency but did not restrict new deals with foreign private companies. The company said it would donate profits from identifiable foreign government officials’ business activities, such as in hotels, to the U.S. Treasury. World Liberty Financial has not made such commitments.

Legal experts say that the Aryam deal may violate the Emoluments Clause, especially given the close timing with the UAE chip agreement, creating a significant conflict of interest.

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at the University of Washington and former ethics lawyer for the D.C. government, said: “The clause is designed to prevent any government official from being ‘bought’ by a foreign government. This clearly violates the foreign emoluments clause, and more importantly, it looks like a bribe.”

She added that the deal “should serve as a five-alarm warning for the federal government.”

Ty Cobb, a former White House senior legal adviser during Trump’s first term, said: “Trump’s conflicts of interest go far beyond those of previous presidents. It’s like a B52 bomber flying overhead while you’re complaining about a canoe.” He advised: “As an ethics lawyer, my very clear advice is: don’t do business with the families of foreign leaders. It taints U.S. foreign policy.”

A White House official said that World Liberty Financial’s business is unrelated to Trump, so any allegations of compensation are “false and irrelevant.” White House legal adviser Warrington said Trump “is fulfilling his constitutional duties in an ethical manner.”

From Chip Deals to Binance Pardons

Trump and Mohammed touring a model of an AI data center project during last May’s visit After acquiring a stake in World Liberty Financial, Tahnoon’s efforts to push AI chip initiatives accelerated.

The sheikh hosted top CEOs of global tech and finance firms at the Abu Dhabi royal estate and frequently posted photos of meetings on Instagram, mostly on a white sofa. He is preparing to pledge large investments in the U.S. and emphasizes that the UAE is aligned with America in AI.

On Trump’s first day in office (five days after Aryam and World Liberty Financial signed the agreement), the president announced at the White House that OpenAI and SoftBank planned to build a $500 billion AI data center, with MGX as one of two designated investors. The project has yet to move forward.

Last spring, Trump officials began discussing a chip agreement framework with the UAE. Some officials saw no national security risk, while others maintained concerns from the previous administration that the technology might end up in China. Sources say they discussed ways to restrict chip control in the agreement, such as excluding UAE companies like G42 from direct access and requiring technology to be held by U.S. partners like Microsoft and OpenAI.

In March, Tahnoon led a delegation to Washington, aiming to accelerate U.S. review of UAE investments. He met with Trump at the Oval Office and pledged that the UAE would invest $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over ten years. An insider said the president was very excited about this promise, though officials found it hard to understand the specifics.

On March 18, Trump hosted a dinner at the White House for Tahnoon and his delegation, inviting vice president, secretary of state, commerce secretary, treasury secretary, and other cabinet members. Tahnoon sat next to Witkoff, with Edelman at the end of the table. Trump later posted photos on Truth Social, celebrating the “friendship bond” between the two countries and discussing increased economic and technological cooperation.

Former national security officials expressed shock at the level of reception Tahnoon received. During Biden’s administration, foreign officials typically only met with U.S. counterparts of equal rank, not the president and six cabinet members.

Meanwhile, Tahnoon’s ties to World Liberty Financial grew closer. In May, Zach Witkoff announced at a Dubai crypto conference that the sheikh’s investment firm MGX would use World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin to invest $2 billion in Binance, marking the largest single investment in crypto history. Witkoff smiled and thanked MGX “for your trust in us.”

This move put USD1 among the world’s largest stablecoins, boosting its financial credibility and providing World Liberty Financial with $2 billion in cash reserves. The company plans to keep this as a reserve, maintaining a 1:1 peg with the dollar, and investing the funds in U.S. Treasuries to earn interest, which could generate about $80 million in annual returns.

Last year, MGX told The Wall Street Journal that it evaluated multiple platforms before choosing USD1 based on “business suitability” and other factors. A spokesperson for World Liberty Financial said USD1 is a “better product.”

Neither company has disclosed that MGX and World Liberty Financial are managed by the same group.

In fact, Aryam’s deal laid the groundwork for USD1’s launch. The investment was split into two newly formed entities of World Liberty Financial, one responsible for operating the new stablecoin, and the other managing its other businesses.

Sources close to the company say G42’s Larkin is in charge of the USD1 project at World Liberty Financial.

Tahnoon’s $2 billion investment in Binance through MGX indicates he has a financial interest in pushing Binance founder Zhao Changpeng to obtain Trump’s pardon. This could pave the way for Binance’s return to the U.S. market. In 2023, Binance and Zhao Changpeng pleaded guilty to violations of anti-money laundering rules and were barred from operating in the U.S.

Zhao Changpeng now resides in Abu Dhabi and has obtained UAE citizenship years ago. He maintains close ties with Tahnoon and the UAE royal family.

Sources say close royal associates lobbied the Trump administration for Zhao’s pardon, claiming it would help the world’s largest crypto exchange re-enter the U.S. The pardon could also open the door for the UAE authorities to grant Binance a comprehensive regulatory license, completing Binance’s plan to establish Abu Dhabi as its new global headquarters and boosting the capital’s international financial ambitions.

Binance itself is also seeking to return to the U.S. through a pardon. The WSJ previously reported that the company has taken multiple steps to promote World Liberty Financial’s business. Zhao denies any business relationship with Trump’s crypto companies, and Binance claims it does not control MGX’s choice of stablecoin and has limited involvement in World Liberty Financial’s products. World Liberty Financial denies any role in Zhao’s pardon, with its lawyers stating that its dealings with Binance are routine. An individual close to Steve Witkoff said he was not involved in Zhao’s pardon.

Zhao Changpeng’s lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, said: “The pardon of my client does not mean Binance can enter the U.S. market. The UAE has been actively attracting crypto firms. It is illegal and an abuse of presidential pardon power to interpret Zhao’s pardon negatively.”

On May 8 last year, the U.S. Treasury announced a fast-track pilot program for foreign investors, which was the expedited review process that the UAE lobbied for.

That month, during Trump’s visit to Abu Dhabi, he announced a “very significant agreement” between the two countries on the UAE’s purchase of U.S. AI chips. After further negotiations, the Trump administration approved the sale of 35,000 chips to G42, less than the UAE’s initial expectations.

During a May demonstration at the royal palace, Trump carefully examined a bright 3D model of G42’s planned large AI data center project, with Witkoff and Tahnoon watching nearby. Trump repeatedly mentioned Tahnoon at the local meeting, telling UAE President Mohammed that his “good brother” had recently visited Washington; Tahnoon posted photos with Trump and Witkoff on Instagram.

Trump predicted that the relationship “will only grow closer and better.” He told Mohammed: “Our relationship is as good as it can get.”

In September, under a deal negotiated by the Trump administration, MGX became one of the few selected investors to operate TikTok’s U.S. business.

On October 22 last year, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Tahnoon posted a photo on social media The following month, Trump pardoned Zhao Changpeng, sparking outrage among Democratic lawmakers who accused him of selling pardons to the highest bidder.

On October 22, the day before Trump signed the pardon, a White House official said Witkoff and Kushner returned to Abu Dhabi to discuss issues including Gaza, Israel, and Trump’s peace commission. Their meeting was with Tahnoon.