Senate Democrats are demanding that Trump’s senior adviser Steve Witkoff provide details about cryptocurrency investments and the lack of divestment

“Your failure to divest these assets raises serious questions about your compliance with federal ethics laws and, more importantly, your ability to serve the American people at the expense of your own financial interests,” the senators wrote.

World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company that Witkoff co-founded with the president in 2024, He said Last May, the special envoy was “in the process of fully exiting” from the project. Witkoff has since stripped A.J 120 million dollars stake in his real estate company but has not yet sold his cryptocurrency holdings, according to his latest statements Revealing moralsOn August 13th.

The Trump advisor still owns World Liberty Financial’s cryptocurrency as well as shares in WC Digital Fi LLC, an entity mentioned in World Liberty Financial’s report. Documents As “one belonging to Steve Witkoff and certain members of his family.” As of August, the special envoy held parts of two other companies that appear to be linked to cryptocurrencies: WC Digital SC LLC and SC Financial Technologies LLC.

Senate Democrats claimed that Witkoff’s ongoing business interests in cryptocurrency raise a potential conflict of interest, as his role as top diplomat in the Middle East allegedly overlaps with World Liberty Financial’s business ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Spokespeople for World Liberty Financial and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two deals

The investigation into Witkoff’s business properties comes one month later New York Times published An investigation into how he became involved in a multi-billion-dollar artificial intelligence deal between the US government and the United Arab Emirates at the same time that World Liberty Financial was negotiating a multi-billion-dollar deal with a UAE government projects company.

In May in the United States I fell An agreement with the United Arab Emirates to build the largest artificial intelligence campus outside the United States. Two weeks ago, World Liberty Financial Announce A $2 billion investment from UAE state investment firm MGX in cryptocurrency exchange Binance was paid in World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, USD1.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to underlying assets such as the US dollar. The deal with MGX and Binance not only made USD1 one of the largest stablecoins by market capitalization, but also brought World Liberty Financial to reaped The interest could potentially reach tens of millions of dollars in assets backing the $2 billion of stablecoins it just issued.

The timing of the two deals raised concerns among Democrats. Soon after New York Times published its investigation, and two senators he asked Inspectors General to investigate whether there has been an ethics violation.

Wednesday’s letter contains a wide range of signatories from senators outside Schiff, including Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Katherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Elissa Slotkin (D-New York) and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey).

They have asked Witkoff to respond by October 31.