UAE Sheikh secretly acquired 49% of Trump’s World Liberty Financial days before inauguration: WSJ
An Emirati Sheikh's investment vehicle secretly bought 49% of World Liberty Financial just before Trump's inauguration.Summary
An investment vehicle backed by Emirati Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan secretly acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million four days before the January 2025 inauguration, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The buyer was Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi entity connected to Tahnoon, the UAE's national security adviser. Half the payment went upfront, with significant portions flowing to entities controlled by the Trump family and Steve Witkoff, a co-founder of World Liberty. This acquisition explains a prior, unexplained dilution of the Trump-linked firm's equity in World Liberty. The revelation raises concerns due to overlapping timelines, including a period when a Tahnoon-led firm used World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin for a major investment shortly before the Trump administration approved advanced AI chip access for the UAE, a move Democrats are scrutinizing for potential conflicts of interest.
(Source：The Block)