An Abu Dhabi investment vehicle backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser, quietly agreed to buy nearly half of the Trump family-backed crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, just days before President Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.
According to a Saturday report by the Wall Street Journal, Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi entity backed by Tahnoon, the brother of UAF President Mohamed bin Zayed, signed a deal just four days before the inauguration to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million. The primary agreement was signed by President Trump’s second-born son, Eric Trump, on behalf of World Liberty Financial, though the deal had not been publicly disclosed, the WSJ reported, citing documents and individuals familiar with the matter.
As part of the deal, half of the $500 million was paid upfront, with $187 million being sent to Trump family-controlled entities and roughly $31 million going to entities tied to co-founders, including the family of US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, the report said. Witkoff’s son Zach is currently the CEO of World Liberty Financial.
The Journal reported that executives from G42 helped manage Aryam Investment 1 and took board seats at World Liberty Financial as part of the transaction, making Tahnoon’s vehicle the crypto project’s largest outside shareholder.
The disclosure intensifies scrutiny around World Liberty’s deepening financial links to UAE interests. Weeks before the Trump administration’s approval of expanded UAE access to advanced U.S. AI chips that had been restricted under the Biden administration, another Tahnoon-led company, MGX, used World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment into the world’s leading crypto exchange, Binance. That transaction helped establish USD1 as one of the fastest-growing stablecoins by market cap, with more than $5 billion in circulation less than a year after its debut.
World Liberty Faces Investigation Calls
The alleged ties between World Liberty’s token sales and foreign actors have attracted criticism from Democrats. In September 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren called for probes into potential conflicts of interest involving Witkoff and White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, citing a New York Times probe that documented the proximity between World Liberty’s UAE deals and the administration’s chip export negotiations.
Responding to the Wall Street Journal’s report, World Liberty Financial and the White House denied any wrongdoing. Representatives told the publication that President Trump was not involved in the deal, and it did not influence U.S. policy decisions.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/uae-sheikh-purchased-49-of-trump-family-linked-world-liberty-financial-for-500-million-days-before-inauguration/
