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World Liberty Financial took $80 million in June 2025 from a wallet tied to a UK money-laundering suspect, netting Trump family $75 million

In June 2025, Aqua 1 Foundation -- a United Arab Emirates-based crypto fund -- publicly announced a $100 million purchase of tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family's crypto venture. The New York Times reported in August 2026, based on blockchain analysis by Arkham Intelligence, that a wallet likely controlled by Aqua 1 actually purchased $80 million of those tokens in June, with roughly $75 million of WLFI's combined proceeds from Aqua 1 and a related entity flowing to a company controlled by President Trump and his three sons. Aqua 1 has disputed reporting linking it to that related entity.

Part of: World Liberty Financial Self-Dealing

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

Aqua 1 Foundation, a United Arab Emirates-registered crypto fund, publicly announced on June 26, 2025 that it was purchasing $100 million in governance tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto venture co-founded by President Trump's sons, becoming WLFI's largest outside investor at the time. The New York Times reported in August 2026 that blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence had traced the actual token purchases differently: a wallet linked to a separate entity, Web3Port, bought $20 million of WLFI tokens in January 2025, and a second wallet Arkham determined was "likely controlled by" Aqua 1 bought $80 million in June -- together accounting for the combined $100 million WLFI had received from the two entities (Web3Port's January purchase recorded separately: entries/2025/01/27/federal-self-dealing-15bd09c3.yaml). Web3Port is controlled by businessman Guren "Bobby" Zhou, who has been under an active United Kingdom money-laundering investigation since a March 2021 arrest, first disclosed in UK court records made public in February 2024; two of his longtime employees have since been charged, though Zhou himself has not. Aqua 1 founder Dave Lee publicly denied, in July 2025, reporting that linked him to Zhou or Web3Port, saying Aqua 1 "operates independently and has no equity, financial, or operational ties to any unrelated entity."

Under WLFI's revenue-sharing structure, roughly $75 million of the combined $100 million WLFI received from the Aqua 1- and Web3Port-linked wallets flowed to a company controlled by Trump and his three sons, with additional benefits reported to the family of Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, whose son co-founded WLFI. Zhou's UK money-laundering investigation was already a matter of public record, along with an unpaid $5 million debt from his collapsed flooring business and a failed prior crypto venture, before WLFI accepted the money now traced to his associated wallets. Former U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark's team said it declined a separate business arrangement with Zhou after a background check turned up the same investigation.

A WLFI spokesman told the Times the company followed all applicable laws and maintained compliance standards exceeding industry norms, and did not dispute the amounts involved.

Why we recorded this

Federal officials are expected to keep their public duties free of financial leverage from patrons whose backgrounds raise money-laundering or national-security concerns. Here, the president's family crypto venture accepted $80 million in June 2025 from a wallet blockchain analysts later linked to a businessman under an active UK money-laundering investigation -- information that was publicly available before the purchase -- sending roughly $75 million to a company Trump and his sons control. This archive records the transaction because a sitting president's family enterprise taking large, unexplained sums from a red-flagged foreign investor is the kind of undisclosed financial exposure conflict-of-interest norms exist to prevent.

Sources

  1. Trump Crypto Took $100 Million From a Businessman With Red Flags — DNYUZ (New York Times syndication) investigative accessed August 9, 2026
  2. Trump's World Liberty Tokens Get $100 Million From UAE-Based Crypto Fund — Bloomberg investigative accessed August 9, 2026
  3. Trump sons profit handsomely from 'shady' money-laundering suspect: report — Raw Story secondary accessed August 9, 2026
  4. Trump Crypto Business Got Millions From Chinese Tycoon Under Investigation — The Daily Beast secondary accessed August 9, 2026
  5. Trump's Crypto Business Took $100 Million From a British Money Laundering Suspect — Eastern Herald secondary accessed August 9, 2026
  6. World Liberty Financial's $100 million investor Aqua 1 denies connection to Web3Port — The Block investigative accessed August 10, 2026

See also