Circle shareholders sue Trump and WLFI: accusing him of profiting through related cryptocurrency transactions in the UAE

Joel Greenberg, a shareholder of Circle Internet Group and a former software engineer at the company, filed a lawsuit on Thursday in a U.S. federal court, accusing U.S. President Trump and his family of benefiting from two transactions involving the United Arab Emirates through the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial (WLFI), allegedly violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This clause restricts the president from accepting money or other benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval.

The lawsuit states that the first transaction occurred before the start of Trump's second term, in which he sold 49% of WLFI for $500 million, with the related funds reportedly coming from the UAE, and Trump earned millions from this transaction after taking office. The second transaction involved an investment fund established by the UAE government purchasing $2 billion worth of digital currency from the Trump family. The plaintiff alleges that this transaction inflated the value of the cryptocurrency assets held by Trump and generated millions in interest income for him, while significantly expanding the circulation of his stablecoin.