Lawsuit filed in US against President Trump over crypto deals with UAE — CNBC
A lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington on October 22, 2026, against US President Donald Trump, his family’s crypto company World Liberty Financial, and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants unlawfully profited from cryptocurrency transactions involving representatives of the United Arab Emirates, CNBC reports.
Nature of the claims
The lawsuit was filed by Circle Internet Group shareholder and former company employee Jay Benjamin Greenberg. According to court filings, he brought it derivatively on behalf of Circle, a competitor of World Liberty Financial. Circle told CNBC that it did not initiate, authorize, or participate in filing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit concerns two allegedly unlawful instances of receiving foreign emoluments. According to the complaint, before Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, an entity backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE national security adviser, agreed to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million. The plaintiff alleges that after Trump took office, he may have received millions of dollars from this deal.
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Stablecoin transaction
Separately, the lawsuit concerns the purchase by an Abu Dhabi investment fund headed by Tahnoon of $2 billion worth of World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin. In the plaintiff’s view, this transaction artificially increased the value of Trump’s crypto assets.
The plaintiff believes that these actions violate the US Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, which prohibits federal officials from accepting money or gifts from foreign officials without Congress’s consent. The lawsuit asks the court to declare Trump’s profits unconstitutional, require him to disclose other possible foreign cryptocurrency emoluments, and return unlawfully obtained funds to American taxpayers.
World Liberty Financial spokesperson David Waxman said the company complies with US laws and regulations and that the claims lack merit. The White House and a representative for Witkoff did not promptly comment to CNBC.
