Attorneys for Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto project pushed back against claims about potential conflicts of interest raised by the Democratic head of a Senate investigative subcommittee.
“The company has exercised rigorous diligence to ensure compliance with applicable legal and regulatory obligations at every stage,” World Liberty lawyers wrote in a letter dated May 15. The crypto project also denied there is any affiliation with Fight, Fight, Fight, LLC, the firm that launched the Trump memecoin, and its chief executive officer, Bill Zanker.
Earlier this month, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters to World Liberty as well as Fight, Fight, Fight seeking information. Blumenthal’s letter, addressed to World Liberty’s co-founder Zach Witkoff, accuses the project of reaping “substantial financial benefits for its founders and the Trump family.” The letter came after Fight Fight Fight promoted a private dinner with President Trump and a VIP White House tour for the top 220 holders of the Trump memecoin that will be held May 22.
“This seriously inadequate response conveniently avoids the fact that foreign governments and others can enrich and compromise the president through World Liberty Financial,” Blumenthal said in statement Friday. “WLFI’s refusal to answer even the most basic questions about President Trump’s financial entanglements with the company raises serious concerns, and I will continue demanding transparency for the American people.”
Trump’s potential conflicts of interest related to crypto have increasingly become a concern for Democratic senators. This week, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley also asked World Liberty to preserve records of communications with the Trump administration and to provide copies of communications regarding its new stablecoin, USD1. The Democratic senators are particularly focused on a deal in which an Abu Dhabi firm, MGX, announced used $2 billion of the World Liberty stablecoin to invest in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, before President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East.
The attorneys writing on behalf of World Liberty Financial and Witkoff are Teresa Goody Guillén and Jonathan R. Barr, partners at law firm Baker & Hostetler LLP. Teresa Goody Guillén, a lawyer who was reportedly among President Donald Trump’s candidates to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, is also a lobbyist for cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao.
Binance, which pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering and sanctions violations less than two years ago, registered Goody Guillén as their lobbyist in late March, according to public filings. While she has a history of working with companies involved in government enforcement actions, representing Binance and Zhao marks the first time she has registered as a lobbyist, according to public records.
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