Trump's WLFI Crypto Venture Under Fire Over Ties to Sanctioned Network

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency venture co-founded by U.S. President Donald Trump and partly owned by his family, is facing renewed scrutiny after its USD1 stablecoin was integrated with AB DAO, a Southeast Asia-based blockchain project with troubling connections to sanctioned individuals.

According to a recent Times investigation, AB DAO had been actively promoting a resort development linked to Cambodia's Prince Group — a transnational criminal organization whose founder, Chen Zhi, along with several associates, was hit with coordinated U.S. and U.K. sanctions for alleged large-scale fraud. Although those individuals were removed from AB DAO's project following the sanctions, the partnership between WLFI and AB DAO was announced just weeks later in November, raising serious questions about the thoroughness of WLFI's due diligence process.

WLFI, which launched in September 2024, has stated it conducted due diligence before entering the partnership and maintains it has "no association or relationship with the sanctioned individuals." The company had not responded to CoinDesk's request for comment at the time of publication. The Times also clarified there is no evidence of any direct link between WLFI and the Prince Group itself.

This controversy is not isolated. In January, The Wall Street Journal revealed that a company backed by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan had quietly agreed to purchase a 49% stake in WLFI for $500 million — a deal described as unprecedented in American political history. Legal experts cited in the report raised conflict-of-interest concerns, though the White House has denied any wrongdoing.

Together, these developments cast a growing spotlight on WLFI's external partnerships and governance standards, prompting broader public debate about transparency and accountability in politically affiliated cryptocurrency ventures.