A top Democratic lawmaker has opened a congressional probe into the $500-million investment deal between representatives of Abu Dhabi’s “spy sheik” and the Trump family’s crypto firm World Liberty Financial, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In a letter sent to World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) posed 16 questions and requested documents about the transaction, including records on how revenue and profits have been distributed, what the firm’s conflict-of-interest policies are, and any due diligence conducted on the buyers, the Journal reported.
Khanna wrote that the arrangements “may even represent a violation of multiple laws and the United States Constitution,” the newspaper said. A World Liberty spokesman countered that lawmakers were “harassing a private American business to score political points,” according to the report.
The Journal broke news last week that lieutenants to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser, secretly signed an agreement in January 2025 to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million. Under the deal, the buyers would pay half up front, with $187 million going to Trump family entities and $31 million to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy and the CEO’s father, the newspaper said.
Five months after the World Liberty deal was signed, the Trump administration committed to providing the UAE access to approximately 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips. The commitment was considered a coup for Tahnoon, who had previously lobbied for access to the closely guarded technology, the news outlet report.
News of the investment has triggered sharp criticism and raised questions of whether the World Liberty deal was a bribe.
During a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to support pausing World Liberty’s application for a U.S. banking license until conflict and foreign-influence reviews are completed and shared with Congress, the Journal reported.
Bessent replied that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is independent, before the exchange devolved into a shouting match, according to the report.
Read more at The Wall Street Journal