A derivative lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington on October 22 accuses former President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial and related entities of unconstitutional dealings with Abu Dhabi over the USD1 stablecoin and a $2 billion Binance investment.
The case, Greenberg v. Trump, No. 26-cv-03686, was brought by J. Benjamin Greenberg, a former Circle software engineer, according to CNBC. It targets two transactions tied to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser.
In the first deal, an entity backed by Tahnoon agreed to pay $500 million for 49% of World Liberty four days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. In the second, announced in May 2025, MGX, an Abu Dhabi state-backed fund chaired by Tahnoon, used World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance.
The complaint argues the second transaction violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bars federal officeholders from accepting benefits from foreign states without congressional consent. It also names U.S. official Steve Witkoff, holding companies WLF Holdco and Stablecoin Holdco, and DT Marks DEFI LLC, described as the vehicle through which the Trump family collects World Liberty revenue.
Greenberg also cites administration decisions he claims helped the Trump family, including a 2025 Commerce Department approval of advanced Nvidia chip sales to an Abu Dhabi AI company chaired by Tahnoon and a Treasury bureau’s conditional approval in August 2026 of a World Liberty trust bank co-owned by the Trump family and the UAE government. ‘He needs to be held accountable,’ Greenberg said in a statement.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly called the case ‘frivolous’ and said there are no conflicts of interest. A World Liberty spokesperson said the company complies with all U.S. laws, called the claims without merit, and said it looks forward to resolving them in court.
The financial injury claim rests on stablecoin reserve income. Stablecoins such as USD1 and USDC are designed to stay at $1, so issuers earn interest on reserves rather than token price gains. In the second quarter of 2026, Circle reported $668 million in reserve income out of $701 million in total revenue and reserve income, about 95%, at a reserve return rate of 3.48%. The complaint estimates that a $2 billion allocation at that rate would generate roughly $70 million per year in gross reserve income before costs and revenue sharing.
The suit alleges presidential influence steered demand toward USD1 and away from USDC. However, Greenberg will need to show the $2 billion would otherwise have gone to Circle. Binance had already agreed in December 2024 to expand USDC availability and adopt it for its corporate treasury, but Circle said it did not initiate, direct, authorize, or participate in the filing.
Greenberg says he holds about 10,000 Circle shares and did not ask the board to act, arguing a demand would have been futile because of Circle’s dependence on regulators and commercial relationships. The filing also notes that Binance deepened its Circle ties on September 22 with a $100 million equity investment and a renewed five-year commercial agreement.
Earlier Foreign Emoluments Clause cases against Trump ended without a ruling on the merits: CREW v. Trump and D.C. and Maryland v. Trump were dismissed as moot after Trump left office in 2021, while Blumenthal v. Trump was dismissed for lack of standing.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the deals unconstitutional, bar further violations, order an accounting of foreign-linked benefits, and require private-company defendants to give up gains to the U.S. Treasury or as the court decides. It also seeks unspecified damages and restitution. No court response from the defendants has been reported yet.
