S House opens investigation into WLFI following reported $500M UAE investment

Congressional investigators have launched a formal probe into World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency venture affiliated with President Donald Trump’s family, after reports that an Abu Dhabi–backed investment vehicle secretly acquired a major ownership stake in the firm.

The United States House Select Committee on the CCP has launched a congressional inquiry into foreign sovereign capital on WLFI to determine whether the investment violated government policy on the export of advanced artificial intelligence technology.

The investigation follows a Wall Street Journal report revealing a previously undisclosed agreement between WLFI and Aryam Investment 1, an entity tied to the United Arab Emirates. According to the WSJ, Aryam’s “Spy Sheikh” agreed to purchase a 49% stake in WLF for $500 million just days before Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.

Did WLFI Emirati investors create a political overlap with US laws?

Per documents cited in the WSJ report, the agreement was signed by the US president’s son, Eric Trump. Of the first $250 million installment, $187 million was supposedly directed to Trump family entities DT Marks DEFI LLC and DT Marks SC LLC. Another $31 million was routed to an entity said to belong to WLFI co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro. 

The WSJ also cited a document showing that at least $31 million was set aside for entities affiliated with Steve Witkoff’s family, a WLFI co-founder who had recently been appointed US envoy to the Middle East.

The backer behind Aryam Investment 1 is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a senior Abu Dhabi royal. Tahnoon is the brother of the UAE president and a national security adviser in charge of key sovereign wealth and technology investment vehicles, including AI-focused firm G42 and investment entity MGX. 

In its letter to WLFI, members of the select committee said Tahnoon’s G42 sought access to cutting-edge US semiconductors to improve the UAE’s AI capabilities. The Biden administration blocked those efforts due to concerns that the technology could be transferred onward to China. 

Lawmakers and Intelligence officials in the previous administration found that G42 had past relationships with Huawei and other Chinese companies, even though the firm insisted it had severed those ties.

The Aryam agreement made the Emirati vehicle WLFI the largest shareholder and the only known outside investor. Two Aryam executives who also held senior roles at G42 joined WLF’s five-member board that included Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff, the son of Steve Witkoff.

Public disclosures on WLFI’s website showed the Trump family’s equity stake dropped from 75% to 38% last year. The company did not publicly state if the reduced stake had a buyer or who the buyer was. 

The second half of Aryam’s $500 million commitment was due by July 15, 2025. The Journal reported it could not determine how those funds were distributed. Congress is now demanding a full accounting of where that money went, including the beneficial owners of any recipient entities.

Binance ties and USD1 transactions spark document demands

USD1, WLFI’s dollar-pegged stablecoin was used to settle a $2 billion investment by Emirati interests into crypto exchange Binance. Binance was founded in China by Changpeng Zhao, who was pardoned by Trump in October last year.

The select committee on CCP competition wants to understand why USD1 was selected as the settlement asset for that transaction instead of more established financial channels. They have requested internal records from WLFI that explain who approved the stablecoin’s use, what fees or revenues it generated, and if the transaction created financial benefits for the Web3 company or its owners.

Representative Ro Khanna, who is leading the inquiry, said he opened the investigation into “seemingly corrupt activities” and their impact on US policy toward China. The committee formally requested capitalization tables, profit distribution records, board appointment documents, and due diligence materials related to Aryam Investment 1.