President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion in the East Room of the White House on October 21, 2026 in Washington.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
A lawsuit filed Thursday accuses President Donald Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency company of “illicitly enriching” more than $2 billion in digital currency-related transactions, violating constitutional restrictions on accepting foreign funds.
“No president in American history has so brazenly profited from his office,” a federal civil lawsuit filed by shareholders alleges. circle internet groupa publicly traded US crypto company and a competitor of World Liberty Financial, a Trump family business.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington by J. Benjamin Greenberg, a Circle shareholder and former employee, focuses on two “unlawful foreign emoluments” allegedly involving World Liberty and Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser.
Days before Trump’s inauguration as president in January 2025, a group backed by Mr. Tahnoun, widely known as the “Spy Sheikh” for its powerful intelligence operations, agreed to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million.
The company told The Wall Street Journal, which disclosed the deal in January 2026, that President Trump was not involved in the deal. But Trump will receive millions of dollars from the purchase after he takes office, according to his financial disclosures.
The lawsuit also focuses on a “scheme” by an Abu Dhabi-based investment fund, chaired by Tahnoun, to “inflate the value of President Trump’s cryptocurrency holdings” through the $2 billion purchase of World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin last year.
The complaint alleges that this action violates the U.S. Constitution’s Foreign Incentives Clause, which prohibits federal officials from accepting money or other gifts from foreign officials without Congressional consent.
“This sounds more like a partisan press release than a lawsuit,” World Liberty Financial’s attorney, Bill Burke of Quinn Emanuel, said in a statement. “The only thing we know about this is from media reports. In the United States, anyone can file a lawsuit, even if it’s a frivolous lawsuit.”
“This is yet another frivolous lawsuit that repeats the same tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade,” White House press secretary Anna Kelly told CNBC in a statement. “There is no conflict of interest.”
“What President Trump has done is brazen corruption. He sold out the American people and made millions of dollars from these deals,” Evergreen Legal attorney Matt Pelican, who is representing Greenberg, said in a statement to CNBC.
“We are litigating to stop corruption and force President Trump to return profits to American taxpayers,” Pelican said.
Greenberg is filing the representative lawsuit on behalf of Circle, according to the complaint. In a statement to CNBC, the company said it was not involved in the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation.
“Circle has never initiated, directed, approved, or participated in any application,” the company said through a spokesperson.
The lawsuit names Trump, World Liberty, U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and four related limited liability companies as defendants.
“World Liberty Financial complies with all U.S. laws and regulations,” World Liberty spokesman David Waxman told CNBC. “No one at World Liberty Financial works for the U.S. government. These allegations are baseless and we look forward to their resolution in court.”
Spokespeople for the White House and Mr. 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 are unconstitutional, Greenberg is also calling for all other foreign cryptocurrency compensation received by the president to be made public and any profits found to be illegal to be returned.
Trump and his family have rapidly expanded their cryptocurrency business since returning to the White House. World Liberty Financial, founded in 2024 by members of the Trump and Witkoff families, operates the USD1 stablecoin, with Trump and his family affiliates owning about 38% of the company.
Even though investors in the so-called governance token WLFI have suffered huge losses, the business has been extremely lucrative for President Trump. Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in crypto income in his 2025 annual financial disclosure, including nearly $800 million related to World Liberty. Meanwhile, WLFI has fallen from about 45 cents in August 2025 to about 5 cents at the end of June 2026.
This project has attracted particular attention regarding its relationship with the UAE. Months after Tahnoun’s 2025 investment, the administration expanded the UAE’s access to advanced U.S. AI chips, including G42, the UAE state-owned AI company controlled by Tahnoun.
U.S. lawmakers are seeking information about these transactions, suggesting the Trump family’s business dealings could come under further scrutiny if Democrats gain subpoena power in Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.
