Trump, crypto firm sued for profiting off foreign government

Donald Trump and World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture he co-founded with his sons, were sued by a shareholder in a rival crypto firm over claims the president illegally profited from his office in violation of the US Constitution.

J. Benjamin Greenberg, a shareholder in Circle Internet Group Inc., claims illegal competition from World Liberty has harmed him and other Circle investors financially.

The suit claims Trump violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause, a provision of the US Constitution that bars presidents from taking payments from foreign governments without the approval of Congress, in two World Liberty transactions with the United Arab Emirates.

“This action is about the President of the United States corruptly profiting from more than $2 billion in payments from a foreign government in direct violation of the Constitution,” Greenberg said in a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Washington. “No president in American history has profited from his office so brazenly.”

Trump reported $1.4 billion in earnings related to his crypto ventures, including World Liberty, last year. The revelation drew a backlash from Democrats in Congress and has been blamed in part for the failure of the Clarity Act, which was supposed to establish market-structure rules for the crypto industry.

According to Greenberg, the sale of a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million to an investment vehicle backed by a member of UAE’s ruling family and the purchase by Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund of World Liberty’s stablecoin to fund a $2 billion transaction were against US law.

A World Liberty spokesperson said the claims are “without merit.”

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“World Liberty Financial is compliant with all US laws and regulations,” David Wachsman said in a statement. “No one at World Liberty Financial works for the US government.”

A White House spokesperson said “there are no conflicts of interest” for the president.

“This is yet another frivolous lawsuit that echoes the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade,” Anna Kelly said in a statement.

Greenberg filed his so-called derivative complaint as an individual Circle shareholder seeking to recover damages on the company’s behalf. He claims shareholders were financially harmed by World Liberty, which competes with Circle in the stablecoin market.

“This lawsuit was filed by an individual shareholder, not by Circle,” a company spokesperson said in response to the suit. “Circle did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing.”

The case follows several legal challenges filed against Trump in his first presidential term, which ended in 2021, claiming violations of the Emoluments Clause, and criticism that he improperly profited from the presidency. None of the suits were successful in recovering money from the president, nor forcing him to stop business practices they claimed were unconstitutional.

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Trump and his sons co-founded World Liberty months before the 2024 election. The company issued two tokens, WLFI and stablecoin USD1. The stablecoin was used last year by Abu Dhabi’s MGX fund to purchase a $2 billion stake in Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange.

The stablecoin currently has a market cap of about $4 billion, per tracker CoinGecko.

World Liberty is already embroiled in a legal battle with billionaire Justin Sun, who accused the company of illegally freezing his WLFI tokens and extortion. World Liberty in turn sued him for defamation.

The suit against Trump and World Liberty seeks an order blocking the president from violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause, as well as disgorgement of illegal profits and unspecified damages.

The case is Greenberg v. Trump, 26-cv-03686, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

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