据报道，一位被称为“间谍酋长”的阿布扎比王室成员在特朗普总统就职前四天，秘密斥资五亿美元购入了特朗普家族加密货币公司的大量股份。
两个月后，据《华尔街日报》报道，特朗普政府允许阿联酋每年获得50万枚最先进的人工智能芯片——这与拜登时代的出口限制政策截然相反。
据《华尔街日报》援引公司文件和消息人士报道，谢赫·塔赫努恩·本·扎耶德·阿勒纳哈扬（一位蓄着胡须、身材精瘦、几乎总是戴着标志性黑色墨镜的男子）与特朗普家族达成协议，收购了世界自由金融公司49%的股份。
据《华尔街日报》报道，这项由总统之子埃里克·特朗普签署的协议将向特朗普家族预付1.87亿美元。
据报道，该协议还将拨出3100万美元给与史蒂夫·威特科夫家族有关联的实体。威特科夫是世界自由组织（World Liberty）的联合创始人，也是特朗普多年的高尔夫球友，就在几周前被任命为美国中东特使。
塔赫努恩是阿联酋国家安全顾问，也是这个海湾君主制国家总统的兄弟。此前，拜登政府曾试图限制人工智能芯片的出口，理由是担心这些芯片可能被转移到中国。塔赫努恩一直在游说美国允许阿联酋使用人工智能芯片。
《华尔街日报》指出，这引发了人们对该协议是否违反宪法中薪酬条款的质疑。该条款禁止总统通过其企业从外国政府获取利润。
据报道，塔赫努恩的人工智能公司G42此前曾因与华为等受制裁的中国公司关系密切而引起美国议员的担忧。
据《华尔街日报》报道，特朗普连任后，塔赫努恩曾多次与特朗普、维特科夫和其他美国官员会面，包括3月份访问白宫。
仅仅几个月后，据《华尔街日报》报道，特朗普政府就允许阿联酋每年获得50万枚先进芯片——这相当于两座胡佛水坝的发电量，足以建造有史以来最大的数据中心之一。
报道称，这些芯片中约有五分之一计划交付给G42集团。
白宫发言人安娜·凯利告诉《华盛顿邮报》，特朗普的资产由他子女管理的信托基金持有，不存在“利益冲突”，维特科夫“自费花费大量时间远离家人”，以推进“世界和平目标”。
她指责传统媒体散布谎言，并对特朗普政府官员进行“抹黑”。
白宫法律顾问戴维·沃灵顿告诉《华盛顿邮报》：“特朗普总统以合乎道德的方式履行其宪法职责，任何相反的说法要么是出于无知，要么是出于恶意。”
沃灵顿表示，维特科夫已从世界自由金融公司撤资，并且“不参与任何可能影响其经济利益的官方事务”。
据《华尔街日报》援引文件报道，此次出售49%的股份将使塔努恩的公司Aryam Investment 1成为世界自由金融公司的最大股东，并将两名Aryam高管（他们也曾在G42担任要职）加入世界自由金融公司的五人董事会。
在5月份宣布阿联酋芯片交易的几周前，世界自由金融公司首席执行官扎克·维特科夫（史蒂夫·维特科夫之子）宣布，另一家由塔努恩支持的公司MGX将使用世界自由金融公司的稳定币完成对币安的20亿美元投资。
据《华尔街日报》报道，这助力World Liberty的稳定币——与美元挂钩的USD1——迅速攀升至最大稳定币排行榜前列。
2025年10月，特朗普赦免了币安创始人赵长鹏，后者此前承认违反了反洗钱规定。《华尔街日报》报道称，与阿联酋王室关系密切的人士一直在向特朗普政府施压，要求赦免赵长鹏。
塔赫努恩的MGX也是在特朗普政府斡旋下成立的TikTok美国合资企业的投资者之一。
MGX还是Stargate的投资方之一，Stargate是一个价值5000亿美元的数据中心项目，由OpenAI和软银共同投资，特朗普在其就职首日便宣布了该项目，但至今尚未公布任何进展。
据《华尔街日报》报道，特朗普的女婿贾里德·库什纳在 2024 年也从一家由塔努恩支持的公司为其投资公司筹集了 15 亿美元。
An Abu Dhabi royal known as the “spy sheikh” reportedly bought a massive stake in the Trump family’s crypto firm for half a billion dollars in secret just four days before President Trump took office.
Two months later, the Trump administration allowed the United Arab Emirates access to 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips each year – a sharp reversal from Biden-era export curbs, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan – a bearded, wiry man almost never seen without his signature dark sunglasses – entered into a deal with the Trump family to purchase a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, The Journal reported, citing company documents and sources.
The deal – which was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son – would pay $187 million to the Trump family upfront, according to the Journal.
It would also set aside $31 million for entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder and Trump’s longtime golfing buddy who was named US envoy to the Middle East just a few weeks prior, according to the report.
Tahnoon – the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and brother to the Gulf monarchy’s president – had been pushing the US for access to AI chips after the Biden administration sought to restrict exports over concerns they could be diverted to China.
It raised questions around whether the deal violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which blocks the president from receiving profits from foreign governments through his businesses, The Journal noted.
Tahnoon’s AI firm G42 had earlier raised concerns among American lawmakers for its close ties to sanctioned Chinese firms like Huawei, according to the report.
After Trump’s re-election, though, Tahnoon met with Trump, Witkoff and other US officials several times, including a visit to the White House in March, sources told the newspaper.
Just a few months later, the Trump administration granted the UAE access to 500,000 advanced chips yearly – demanding the equivalent of more than two Hoover Dams worth of power, and enough to build one of the largest-ever data center sites, according to The Journal.
Roughly one-fifth of those chips were slated to go to G42, the report said.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Post that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children and there are “no conflicts of interest,” and that Witkoff has “spent considerable time away from his family” on his own dime to advance “goals of peace around the world.”
She accused legacy media outlets of spreading lies and “lodging smears” against Trump officials.
“President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner and to suggest so otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious,” White House counsel David Warrington told The Post.
Warrington said Witkoff has divested from World Liberty Financial and does not “participate in any official matters that could impact his financial interests.”
The 49% stake sale would make Tahnoon’s firm Aryam Investment 1 the largest shareholder in World Liberty Financial, and add two Aryam execs – who also held top roles at G42 – to World Liberty’s five-person board, The Journal reported, citing documents.
A few weeks before the UAE chips deal was announced in May, World Liberty CEO Zach Witkoff – Steve Witkoff’s son – announced that MGX, another Tahnoon-backed company, would use World Liberty’s stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in Binance.
That helped skyrocket World Liberty’s stablecoin – USD1, which is pegged to the US dollar – up the rankings of the largest stablecoins, according to The Journal.
In October 2025, Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering rules. People close to UAE royals had been pressuring the Trump administration to pardon Zhao, The Journal reported.
Tahnoon’s MGX is also one of the investors behind the new joint venture operating TikTok in the US, under a deal negotiated by the Trump administration.
MGX is also one of the investors backing Stargate, a $500 billion data center project involving OpenAI and SoftBank that Trump unveiled on his first full day in office, but has yet to announce much progress.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also raised $1.5 billion for his investment firm in 2024 from a Tahnoon-backed company, according to The Journal.
