Receipts: Eric Trump Signed $500M UAE Deal Days Before Inauguration
Documents show Eric Trump signed a $500M equity deal with UAE royals days before the inauguration, preceding a major AI chip export approval.
The paper trail just connected the White House to Abu Dhabi’s royal family. A Wall Street Journal report confirms that Eric Trump signed off on a $500 million equity sale in World Liberty Financial (WLFI) to a firm controlled by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The transaction, executed on January 16, 2025, just four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, handed the Emirati royals a 49% stake in the President’s crypto venture.
The Money Trail
The deal structure was direct. Of the half-billion-dollar injection, $187 million was routed immediately to entities controlled by the Trump family. Another $31 million flowed to firms linked to Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder who Trump subsequently appointed as U.S. envoy to the Middle East.
Market reaction to the disclosure was muted, with the WLFI token trading flat at $0.13 (-0.8%), suggesting the governance token had already priced in the capital injection, or that liquidity remains too thin for a repricing event. The project’s market cap currently sits near $3.98 billion.
“The President has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities.” David Warrington, White House Counsel
The “Chip” Pro Quo
The timing of the liquidity event is raising institutional eyebrows. Sheikh Tahnoon, known in intelligence circles as the “Spy Sheikh,” had long sought access to export-restricted U.S. silicon. Four months after the crypto deal, the Trump administration authorized the sale of 500,000 advanced Nvidia AI chips to the UAE, technology previously blockaded by the Biden administration over concerns it could leak to China.
Further complicating the optics, Tahnoon’s investment vehicle, MGX, utilized World Liberty’s stablecoin (USD1) to execute a separate $2 billion investment into Binance. This volume effectively legitimized the nascent stablecoin project, providing the on-chain velocity required to maintain its peg.
While the White House dismisses claims of a Foreign Emoluments Clause violation as “false and irrelevant,” the direct financial benefit to the First Family ($187M) occurring in the shadow of a major foreign policy reversal (AI chips) creates a distinct vector for congressional oversight.
