While Trump and his billionaire bros plot to cut federal lifelines for everyday Americans, he and his family have plans galore to use the White House as a personal ATM, filled with conflicts of interest.
From The New York Times:
In the wake of Donald J. Trump’s election victory, his family business is poised to capitalize on his presidency with a variety of new ventures, according to a New York Times review of financial records and interviews with people knowledgeable about his finances. And unlike in his first term, the people said, the Trump Organization aims to issue a more limited ethics plan that is unlikely to significantly curb its growth.
One of those “new ventures” is World Liberty Financial, which The Times describes as “a new cryptocurrency platform that the Trumps helped create” and which “recently received a lucrative investment from a Chinese entrepreneur, a deal that could ultimately pay the family about $22 million.”
That entrepreneur is Justin Sun. Many paragraphs later, The Times got around to telling us that the SEC sued him last year, “claiming that he fraudulently manipulated the price of his own cryptocurrency by rapidly buying and selling it to make it appear as if it was being actively traded.” Also, “The company has disputed those accusations, asserting the government is overstepping its authority.”
How convenient for Sun to have invested millions in a company owned by the family of the guy who could make that SEC problem go away, eh? It just so happens Trump’s pick for SEC chair, Paul Atkins, is “known as a strong backer of cryptocurrencies, and could help shape key regulations for an industry Trump has avidly courted,” per NPR.
Justin Sun is also the guy who just spent $6.2 million to buy, and then eat, the banana that had been taped to the wall at a Sotheby’s art auction.
But that’s the least important thing you need to know about him. According to Sun, he is now the largest investor in World Liberty Financial and, essentially, Trump’s business partner.
From The New Republic:
The newsletter Popular Information reports that Sun … paid $30 million for cryptocurrency tokens from World Liberty Financial, which is backed by Trump. In a pinned post on his X profile, Sun bragged about the purchase, saying his own blockchain start-up, TRON, was “committed to making America great again and leading innovation.”
Until Sun’s purchase, Trump’s crypto start-up appeared headed for failure with only $22 million in tokens sold, far short of its goal of $300 million in sales. The purchase not only keeps the WLF going, but also guarantees a windfall for Trump. A filing from the venture in October states that “$30 million of initial net protocol revenues” will be “held in a reserve … to cover operating expenses, indemnities, and obligations.”
After that reserve is met, a company owned by Trump is then entitled to 75 percent of WLF’s revenues from the sale of all other tokens. As of Sunday, WLF has sold $24 million in tokens, giving Trump a solid $18 million payoff. Sun’s purchase has also gotten him an advisory position in Trump’s venture, making him business partners with the president-elect.
We can expect much, much more of that sort of corruption from President-Elect 34 Felonies. The Trump Organization “will also continue to mix business and politics like they did in Mr. Trump’s first term, when his supporters spent lavishly at his private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago,” The Times also reported. “Later this month, a Trump-aligned SuperPAC will hold a $1 million-a-plate ‘candlelight dinner’ at Mar-a-Lago.
Meanwhile, “the company’s domestic footprint has receded as it looks abroad for growth,” The Times said. “Eric Trump is currently working on Trump-branded projects in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates. He is also expected to negotiate additional deals with the Saudi Arabia-based real estate company Dar Al Arkan, which has become his most frequent new business partner and has close ties to the royal family there.”
By wild coincidence, I’m sure, Sun is to speak at the same cryptocurrency conference in Abu Dhabi next week where Eric Trump will also be speaking. The Times noted that Eric Trump’s “headlining performance will also represent a golden opportunity to signal that the Trump Organization is wide open for business.”
You can say that again.
And all those Republicans itching to impeach President Joe Biden over his son’s foreign business interests, despite a lack of evidence of any presidential wrongdoing? You can rest assured they’ll find excuse after excuse to cheerlead the real, dangerous-to-America corruption right under their noses.
