Somehow, I became the media’s voice on everything Trump and crypto. This week I was on an interview call with NPR, the biggest national radio network in the USA. We talked about the midterms, how Trump’s crypto ventures affect policy, and a lot more. Very deep conversation. The episode airs at the end of the month, and I’ll share it with you on X.
So naturally, it’s my duty now to dive deeper into everything Trump related in crypto. Today that means a lawsuit. On Thursday, a Circle shareholder sued President Trump, World Liberty Financial and Steve Witkoff in federal court in Washington. The claim: two UAE deals worth $2.5 billion were illegal foreign emoluments, and they handed USD1 an unfair edge over USDC.
I’ve held WLFI since the presale at 1.5 cents, so I’ll give you the facts first and my take after.
What the Circle shareholder lawsuit says
The Circle shareholder lawsuit was filed on October 22, 2026 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiff is J. Benjamin Greenberg, a former Circle employee who says he still holds 10,000 Circle shares. Importantly, he is suing derivatively, meaning on behalf of Circle itself, not in his own name.
The defendants are Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial, four related LLCs, and Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East. His son Zach Witkoff is a World Liberty co-founder and its CEO.
The complaint rests on the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution. That clause bars federal officials from accepting payments from foreign states without the consent of Congress. According to Greenberg, two deals crossed that line.
The two UAE deals at the center
Deal one is the equity sale. Days before the January 2025 inauguration, an investment vehicle backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser, agreed to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty for $500 million. The complaint says Trump kept receiving payouts from that stake after taking office. One report puts the figure above $75 million, though I have not seen the filing itself to confirm it.
Deal two is the stablecoin trade. In 2025, MGX, an Abu Dhabi fund chaired by Tahnoon, used $2 billion of USD1 to settle its investment in Binance. The lawsuit calls this a scheme to inflate the value of Trump’s crypto holdings, since World Liberty earns yield on the reserves behind every USD1 in circulation. We covered how that revenue model works in our USD1 review.
Together, that is the $2.5 billion in the headlines.
Why a Circle investor is the one suing
This is the clever part. A random citizen usually cannot sue over emoluments, because courts demand a concrete injury. Greenberg argues Circle has one. USDC competes directly with USD1, and foreign state money allegedly flowing into USD1 left Circle “unable to compete” in the stablecoin market.
He asks the court for a lot. A declaration that Trump violated the Constitution. An injunction stopping Trump and Witkoff from similar deals without congressional consent. A full accounting of foreign payments. Disgorgement of the emoluments. Plus compensatory and punitive damages.
Circle wants nothing to do with it. A spokesperson said the company did not initiate, direct, authorize or participate in the filing.
How the White House and WLFI responded
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump has no conflicts of interest and called the lawsuit frivolous. World Liberty spokesperson David Wachsman rejected the allegations as unfounded and said the company will let the court process play out. Witkoff’s office did not respond to press requests.
For now, nothing has been ruled. A judge has yet to look at it, and derivative suits can take months just to clear the standing question.
The timing is not a coincidence
The midterms are less than two weeks away, and early voting has started in several states. Democrats are leaning hard on the Trump crypto angle. Senator Mark Warner ran an ad last week claiming the president made more than $600 million from his memecoin alone. Trump’s own 2025 financial disclosure reported over $1.4 billion in crypto income.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit Public Citizen estimates retail investors lost about $4.7 billion on Trump linked crypto. I was quoted on exactly that split in the press earlier this month. The insiders got rich, the fans got a lesson. Our list of the worst political memecoins shows how that played out coin by coin.
Then there’s the CLARITY Act, which died in the Senate last month. The ethics provision that would have barred federal officials from issuing digital assets died with it. Had it passed, a case like this one would look very different.
What this means for WLFI holders
WLFI slid about 3% on the news, with the token already down roughly 5% on the week. Not a crash, but the trend since the September 1 unlock anniversary has not been kind. I wrote that story up in WLFI one year later.
My read: this suit is the fourth legal front for World Liberty in six months. Justin Sun’s case is still live, as we covered in the Sun vs WLFI arbitration hearing post. Congress has been poking at the UAE connection since spring. Now a federal emoluments complaint lands two weeks before the election.
None of that touches the product directly. USD1 keeps settling trades, and the WLFI bank charter keeps moving through the OCC. Legally, though, the Tahnoon relationship is now on the record in a US court, and discovery would be uncomfortable if the case survives.
As for my own bag, nothing changes. I sold the unlocked 20% last year and the remaining 80% stays locked until 2028 regardless of what any judge decides. I stopped voting in governance a while ago for the reasons I explained before. Lawsuits are just another chapter I get to report on. Our full archive sits on the World Liberty Finance tag.
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Final Words
A Circle shareholder suing the president over USD1 is a storyline nobody had on their 2026 bingo card. Still, the structure of the case is smart. Instead of arguing about ethics in the abstract, it points to a specific competitor, a specific stablecoin, and $2.5 billion in specific deals.
Whether it survives is another question. Emoluments cases have a poor track record in court, and this one adds a derivative twist on top. Expect motions to dismiss before anything substantive happens.
In the meantime, I’ll keep reporting from inside the room. The third Trump dinner is one month away, and I plan to be there. If anyone asks about this lawsuit over dessert, you’ll read about it here first.
FAQ
Who is suing Trump and World Liberty Financial?
J. Benjamin Greenberg, a Circle shareholder and former Circle employee. He filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on October 22, 2026, derivatively on behalf of Circle.
What are the two deals in the lawsuit?
A $500 million purchase of a 49% stake in World Liberty by a Tahnoon-backed entity days before the 2025 inauguration, and MGX’s $2 billion investment in Binance settled in USD1.
What is the Foreign Emoluments Clause?
A constitutional rule that bars US federal officials from accepting payments or benefits from foreign governments without the consent of Congress.
Is Circle behind the lawsuit?
No. Circle said it did not initiate, direct, authorize or participate in the filing.
How did WLFI react to the news?
WLFI dropped around 3% in the 24 hours after the filing and was down about 5% on the week.
