Tiny Red HandsBack

Tahnoon-backed company reportedly buys 49% of WLF

Date
2025-01-16
Entry type
foreign-equity-transaction
Current status
49% WLF stake reportedly acquired for $500 million on January 16, 2025
Last reviewed
2026-09-03

Independent reporting separates the $500 million equity price from $187 million reportedly routed to Trump family entities and from the later MGX transaction.

Entities and roles

Relationships in this file

  1. Donald J. TrumpTrump-hosted UAE official backing WLF equity purchaserSheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Money trail

  1. paymentReported price for 49% WLF stake$500 million
    Paid by / source
    Tahnoon-backed UAE company
    Received by
    World Liberty Financial equity sellers
    realized · 2025-01-16 · observedPopulation Reported purchase price for a 49% equity stake in World Liberty Financial by a Tahnoon-backed companyPeriod 2025-01-16 to 2025-01-16Basis Use the $500 million price and 49% stake reported by Public Citizen from the Wall Street Journal investigation and corroborated by AP's description of a nearly half stake.Limits The reviewed sources did not publish the underlying agreement, capitalization table, payment schedule, or all recipient allocations; this is reported equity value, not firm revenue or personal income.Open cited evidence
  2. paymentReported UAE-linked payment to Trump family entities$187 million
    Paid by / source
    Tahnoon-backed UAE company
    Received by
    Trump family entities
    realized · 2025-01-16 · observedPopulation Portion of the Tahnoon-backed WLF equity purchase reportedly routed to Trump family entitiesPeriod 2025-01-16 to 2025-01-16Basis Use Public Citizen's attributed transaction tracing for the $187 million entity-level payment as a component of the $500 million equity price. The component is not added to the $500 million total.Limits The underlying agreement and complete recipient ledger were not available in the reviewed sources; no individual allocation, personal Trump income, or causal policy exchange is inferred.Open cited evidence

Claims and evidence

  1. factreported

    Public Citizen, citing the underlying Wall Street Journal investigation, reported that a company backed by Sheikh Tahnoon purchased 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million four days before Trump's inauguration and that $187 million was routed to Trump family entities. AP independently confirmed that a UAE government-linked company run by a royal-family member paid $500 million for nearly half of WLF. WLF denied a connection to the separate U.S. chips decision.