Trump defends family’s crypto stake despite denying knowledge of firm

Trump has defended his family’s stake in World Liberty Financial, saying he knows “nothing” about the crypto firm despite being a co-owner. In an interview after last week’s midterm elections, he was asked why the arrangement differed from one he might criticise as corrupt if it involved the Biden family, and whether foreign investors expected influence.

Trump said his sons run the family business and that it was hard to ask them to stop operating it while he was president. An entity backed by the United Arab Emirates reportedly agreed to buy 49% of World Liberty for $500 million four days before his January 2025 inauguration; the deal was followed by a reversal of restrictions on advanced AI chip sales to the UAE. Company disclosures say a Trump-affiliated entity owns about 38% of the holding company, holds 22.5 billion WLFI tokens and is entitled to 75% of net proceeds from token sales.