Key Takeaways
- • A Circle Internet Group shareholder, J. Benjamin Greenberg, sued President Donald Trump in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging Trump illegally profited from UAE-linked deals routed through World Liberty Financial in violation of the foreign emoluments clause.
- • The complaint cites a plan to sell 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million to an investment firm backed by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, announced four days before Trump's 2025 inauguration, and a $2 billion purchase of the USD1 stablecoin by a UAE government-created fund chaired by Tahnoon.
- • The suit also names World Liberty Financial, WLF Holdco, Stablecoin Holdco, special envoy Steve Witkoff and DT Marks DEFI LLC as defendants, alleging they wrongfully disrupted Circle's business.
- • The White House responded that "President Trump's assets are in a trust" and that there are no conflicts of interest.
- • The plaintiff seeks a declaration that the profits violate the emoluments clause, an accounting of foreign government payments, and an order barring further foreign payments without congressional consent.
Summary
A shareholder of Circle Internet Group, the public crypto company that issues the USDC and EURC stablecoins, filed suit against President Donald Trump on Thursday, alleging he illegally profited from deals with the United Arab Emirates. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to the report by Spectrum News. Plaintiff J. Benjamin Greenberg, a former Circle software engineer who worked at the firm from January 2016 through September 2018 and holds Circle equity, said in a statement that "the President brazenly violated the Constitution in order to enrich himself, his family, and his business, at a direct cost to Circle."
The complaint argues that billions of dollars in digital currency purchases were routed through World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto venture, in violation of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, which bars officeholders from accepting benefits from a foreign state without congressional consent. It identifies two alleged violations: the family's announced plan to sell 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million to an investment firm backed by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, four days before the 2025 inauguration; and the purchase of $2 billion in the USD1 stablecoin by a UAE government-created investment fund chaired by Tahnoon.
The lawsuit further cites administration actions it says benefited the Trump family, including a Commerce Department approval in 2025 of advanced Nvidia AI chip sales to an Abu Dhabi AI company chaired by Tahnoon, and a Treasury Department bureau's conditional approval in August 2026 of a World Liberty Financial trust bank co-owned by the Trump family and the UAE government. Defendants include World Liberty Financial and its holding companies WLF Holdco and Stablecoin Holdco, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and DT Marks DEFI LLC, the entity the Trump family uses to hold and collect revenue from the venture.
A White House spokesperson, Lauren Bis, told Spectrum News: "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public," and added, "President Trump's assets are in a trust. There are no conflicts of interest."
The filing comes against a backdrop of disclosed crypto earnings. In July, Trump disclosed he received nearly $1.2 billion from his crypto businesses in 2025, including $526 million from World Liberty Financial. CIC Digital LLC took in more than $600 million from sales of meme coins bearing his likeness. Both governance tokens and meme coins have declined substantially since launch, and CNN reported over the summer that the Trump Organization gained about $2 billion from crypto while investors lost nearly the same amount. Former White House special counsel Ty Cobb said in July that he believes the president's crypto involvement is illegal.
The plaintiff asks the court to declare that Trump's profits violate the emoluments clause, to order an accounting of payments received from foreign governments by Trump and his businesses, to bar him from accepting foreign payments without congressional consent, and to require disclosure of any other foreign cryptocurrency emoluments received while in office.
The complaint argues that billions of dollars in digital currency purchases were routed through World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto venture, in violation of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, which bars officeholders from accepting benefits from a foreign state without congressional consent. It identifies two alleged violations: the family's announced plan to sell 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million to an investment firm backed by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, four days before the 2025 inauguration; and the purchase of $2 billion in the USD1 stablecoin by a UAE government-created investment fund chaired by Tahnoon.
The lawsuit further cites administration actions it says benefited the Trump family, including a Commerce Department approval in 2025 of advanced Nvidia AI chip sales to an Abu Dhabi AI company chaired by Tahnoon, and a Treasury Department bureau's conditional approval in August 2026 of a World Liberty Financial trust bank co-owned by the Trump family and the UAE government. Defendants include World Liberty Financial and its holding companies WLF Holdco and Stablecoin Holdco, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and DT Marks DEFI LLC, the entity the Trump family uses to hold and collect revenue from the venture.
A White House spokesperson, Lauren Bis, told Spectrum News: "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public," and added, "President Trump's assets are in a trust. There are no conflicts of interest."
The filing comes against a backdrop of disclosed crypto earnings. In July, Trump disclosed he received nearly $1.2 billion from his crypto businesses in 2025, including $526 million from World Liberty Financial. CIC Digital LLC took in more than $600 million from sales of meme coins bearing his likeness. Both governance tokens and meme coins have declined substantially since launch, and CNN reported over the summer that the Trump Organization gained about $2 billion from crypto while investors lost nearly the same amount. Former White House special counsel Ty Cobb said in July that he believes the president's crypto involvement is illegal.
The plaintiff asks the court to declare that Trump's profits violate the emoluments clause, to order an accounting of payments received from foreign governments by Trump and his businesses, to bar him from accepting foreign payments without congressional consent, and to require disclosure of any other foreign cryptocurrency emoluments received while in office.
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