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Circle Shareholder Sues Trump, World Liberty Financial and Witkoff Over $2 Billion UAE Crypto Deals
Read this in the Market Flux appA shareholder in Circle Internet Group, J. Benjamin Greenberg, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia accusing President Donald Trump, his family's crypto venture World Liberty Financial, US Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and four related LLCs of illegally profiting from more than $2 billion in UAE-linked cryptocurrency transactions. The complaint alleges Trump violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause, a constitutional provision barring presidents from accepting payments from foreign governments without congressional approval, through two World Liberty deals tied to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser.
The suit centers on the World Liberty stablecoin USD1 and a roughly $2 billion deal between a UAE government-linked entity and Binance. Greenberg, filing as a Circle investor, argues the arrangement gave USD1 an unlawful competitive advantage that directly harmed Circle and its USDC stablecoin by preventing fair competition. Trump had previously reported $1.4 billion in earnings connected to his crypto ventures, including World Liberty. The lawsuit seeks to block further violations, disgorgement of illegal profits, and unspecified damages.
Circle distanced itself from the action, saying in a statement that it did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing. A World Liberty spokesperson dismissed the claims. Attorney Matt Pelikan, representing Greenberg, told CNBC the goal was to stop the corruption and force Trump to return profits to American taxpayers. The case is captioned Greenberg v. Trump, 26-cv-03686. The filing arrives alongside separate reporting, citing a Vanity Fair excerpt, that Dutch intelligence surveilled Jared Kushner accessing a Dubai bank account allegedly holding hundreds of millions linked to UAE and Saudi Arabia, adding to scrutiny over the administration's Middle East financial entanglements.
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- Cointelegraph🚨 JUST IN: A new lawsuit accuses Trump and World Liberty Financial of illegally profiting from more than $2 billion in UAE-linked crypto deals.
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