Trump Claims He Knows ‘Nothing’ About WLFI’s UAE Ties as Justin Sun Challenges Court Filings

President Donald Trump says he knows nothing about World Liberty Financial’s dealings with UAE government-linked investors, while confirming that he co-owns the crypto company.

His comments came in a CBS 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, Nov. 8. Meanwhile, Tron founder Justin Sun is seeking court penalties over late ownership disclosures in his lawsuit over frozen WLFI tokens.

Trump Defends Keeping His Stake in the Family Business

Using a hypothetical example, interviewer Ross Douthat suggested Trump would call it corrupt if Joe Biden co-owned a company receiving investments from the Middle East. He then asked why Trump’s own situation was different. Trump responded:

“[…] I know nothing about it.”

When pressed to sell his stake, Trump pointed to investments managed by Wall Street firms and said his sons should be able to keep running family businesses while he is president. When asked whether foreign investors thought they were buying influence, he said he did not know.

The questions follow a reported $500 million deal for a 49% stake in World Liberty by an entity backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser. The agreement was reportedly signed by Eric Trump four days before his father’s January 2025 inauguration.

World Liberty’s products include the USD1 dollar stablecoin and the WLFI governance token. Its ownership is now also at the center of a fight over where Sun can challenge the company’s decision to freeze his tokens.

Revised Ownership Filing Adds Two UAE Entities

Sun and two companies he controls sued World Liberty on April 21, alleging fraud and the unlawful freezing of tokens tied to his $45 million investment. Since then, the legal battle has also expanded to whether the California federal court can consider his allegations at all.

World Liberty’s June 2 filing named WLF Holdco LLC as its parent and listed Florida as the company’s citizenship. Its lawyers said they were unaware of other parties that needed to be disclosed.

But an Aug. 26 update listed 22 people and entities in its ownership chain. It attributed citizenship in Delaware, Florida, Puerto Rico and the UAE to World Liberty, including through two Aryam Investment 1 entities with UAE citizenship.

For this type of lawsuit, courts trace a limited liability company’s citizenship through its owners. World Liberty argues that having foreign parties on both sides means the federal court cannot hear Sun’s case.

The revised disclosure came six days after U.S. District Judge James Donato questioned sending all of Sun’s claims to arbitration at an Aug. 20 hearing. Challenging that timing in a Nov. 3 post on X, Sun wrote:

“World Liberty was proudly American when it was selling tokens. It discovered its UAE roots only when it needed a way out of an American federal courtroom.”

Sun Seeks $263,821 in Legal Costs Over Disclosure Dispute

Sun’s Nov. 2 sanctions motion asks for $263,821.20 in legal fees and costs. His lawyers say World Liberty should have disclosed its ownership before they spent months fighting the company’s attempt to move his claims into private arbitration.

World Liberty’s lawyers said they had only recently learned of the additional citizenship information, according to Sun’s motion. His legal team argues that the original filing reflected inadequate checks or a misleading disclosure.

World Liberty has defended its token freeze, saying that power was disclosed in its sale terms. In a separate Florida defamation lawsuit filed in May, it accused Sun of improper token transfers, short-selling, and spreading false claims. Sun denies those allegations.

Sun says he intends to pursue his claims in California state court after the sanctions issue is resolved. A hearing on his sanctions motion is scheduled for Dec. 10 before Donato.