Circle Shareholder Sues Trump, World Liberty and Witkoff Over UAE Crypto Deals, Alleging Emoluments Violations

A shareholder of the publicly traded crypto company Circle Internet Group sued President Donald Trump on Thursday, Oct. 22, alleging he violated the Constitution by profiting from deals with a United Arab Emirates official.

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by J. Benjamin Greenberg, a Circle shareholder and former Circle employee. Circle competes with the Trump family's crypto venture, World Liberty Financial.

These are allegations. No court has ruled on any of them.

What the lawsuit claims

The suit centers on the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bars federal officeholders from accepting payments or benefits from foreign states without the consent of Congress. Greenberg alleges two violations.

The first involves a stake in World Liberty. Days before Trump's January 2025 inauguration, an entity backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser, agreed to buy 49% of World Liberty for $500 million. The Wall Street Journal revealed that deal. The company told the paper Trump had no involvement in it.

The lawsuit says Trump received more than $75.5 million from that sale after taking office. Trump's financial disclosures show millions flowing to him from the purchase.

The second involves the USD1 stablecoin. MGX, an Abu Dhabi investment fund chaired by Tahnoon, announced a $2 billion investment in the crypto exchange Binance weeks after Trump took office. According to the complaint, MGX paid for it using World Liberty's USD1. Greenberg calls this a "scheme" to inflate the value of Trump's crypto holdings.

"No president in American history has profited from his office so brazenly," the complaint says.

Who is being sued

The defendants are Trump, World Liberty Financial, its holding companies WLF Holdco and Stablecoin Holdco, and DT Marks DEFI LLC, the entity the Trump family uses to hold and collect World Liberty revenue. Special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is also named. The suit accuses him of helping facilitate the alleged emoluments.

Against World Liberty and its affiliates, Greenberg adds a claim of wrongfully and intentionally disrupting Circle's business. Circle makes the USDC stablecoin. Greenberg argues that foreign money routed through USD1 left Circle unable to compete.

The complaint also points to administration actions it says benefited the Trump family. One is a 2025 Commerce Department approval of advanced Nvidia AI chip sales to an Abu Dhabi AI company chaired by Tahnoon. Another is a Treasury Department bureau's conditional approval in August 2026 of a World Liberty trust bank co-owned by the Trump family and the UAE government.

Greenberg wants the court to declare Trump's profits unconstitutional and to order Trump to disclose other possible foreign crypto emoluments. He also wants the money returned to American taxpayers.

The money trail

Trump's July financial disclosure showed nearly $1.2 billion in crypto-business income for 2025. That included $526 million from World Liberty, which Trump co-founded with his sons Donald, Eric and Barron and other investors. Another business, CIC Digital LLC, took in more than $600 million.

The denials

The White House rejects the premise. Spokesperson Anna Kelly called the suit "yet another frivolous lawsuit that echoes the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade," and said, "There are no conflicts of interest." Spokesperson Lauren Bis said Trump's assets are in a trust.

Bill Burck of Quinn Emanuel, counsel for World Liberty, said the filing "sounds more like a partisan press release than a lawsuit." He added: "Anyone can file a lawsuit in America, even a frivolous one." A World Liberty spokesperson said the company complies with all U.S. laws and regulations and that the claims lack merit.

A representative for Witkoff did not respond to requests for comment.

Greenberg's attorney, Matt Pelikan of Evergreen Legal, said the suit aims "to stop the corruption and to force President Trump to return the profits to American taxpayers."

Circle distances itself

Greenberg filed derivatively, meaning he is suing on Circle's behalf. Circle says it is not behind the case. "Circle did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing," a company spokesperson said, adding that the company does not comment on pending litigation.

A derivative suit asks a court to let a shareholder act for a company that did not choose to sue.

Washington backdrop

The suit lands after Congress balked on crypto legislation. Lawmakers last month blocked the Clarity Act, a digital asset bill Trump backed. Some lawmakers declined to support it, citing the Trump family's crypto ventures. Trump said in August, ahead of that vote, that Democrats criticizing his family's crypto businesses had made money trading stocks.

World Liberty has also been on offense in court. It filed a defamation suit against Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.

The defendants have not yet filed a response in court. Their opening move is likely to test whether a shareholder that Circle itself disowns can pursue these claims at all, before any judge reaches the emoluments question.