A shareholder in Circle Internet Group has filed a federal lawsuit against US President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial and associated parties, alleging that cryptocurrency transactions linked to the United Arab Emirates violated the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.
The complaint, filed October 22, 2026, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, was brought by J. Benjamin Greenberg, a former Circle software engineer who holds approximately 10,000 company shares.
Greenberg alleges that two transactions involving World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency business associated with Trump’s family, generated improper financial benefits while undermining Circle’s competitive position. The lawsuit targets a reported $500 million equity investment in World Liberty and a separate $2 billion investment in Binance involving World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin.
Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, confirmed that it neither initiated nor authorized the legal action. The allegations have not been adjudicated, and World Liberty Financial and the White House have rejected the claims.
Two UAE-Linked Transactions Form Basis of Complaint
The first disputed transaction concerns the reported sale of a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million shortly before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. The purchasing entity was reportedly backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser.
According to the complaint, Trump received more than $75.5 million connected to the transaction after assuming office. The second transaction involved MGX, an Abu Dhabi investment company chaired by Tahnoon, which announced a $2 billion investment in cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
That investment was settled using USD1, World Liberty’s dollar-backed stablecoin. Greenberg argues that the transaction increased USD1’s circulation and generated financial benefits for World Liberty’s stakeholders. The lawsuit characterizes those benefits as potentially unconstitutional payments connected to a foreign government.
The Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits federal officeholders from accepting certain benefits from foreign states without congressional consent. However, whether the transactions qualify as prohibited emoluments, and whether Greenberg has standing to pursue the claims, remain questions for the court.
The complaint also references US policy decisions involving advanced artificial intelligence chip exports to the UAE and other government actions that Greenberg argues benefited parties associated with the transactions. Those connections are allegations rather than established findings of improper government conduct.
Shareholder Seeks Recovery of Profits and Damages
Greenberg filed the case as a shareholder derivative action, seeking relief on behalf of Circle rather than through litigation initiated by the company itself. He argues that World Liberty’s alleged access to foreign-government-linked financial advantages distorted competition in the dollar-backed stablecoin market.
Circle’s USDC and World Liberty’s USD1 compete for adoption in cryptocurrency trading, payments and institutional settlement. The complaint seeks a judicial declaration concerning the alleged constitutional violations, an accounting of relevant payments and the recovery of benefits deemed unlawful.
It also requests compensatory and punitive damages without specifying a final monetary amount. World Liberty Financial has described the claims as meritless and indicated that it intends to contest them in court. The White House has denied that Trump’s financial arrangements create conflicts of interest, pointing to the management of his assets through a trust.
The lawsuit arrives as Washington implements the GENIUS Act’s stablecoin framework, increasing regulatory scrutiny of dollar-backed digital assets. It also follows congressional investigations and criticism concerning financial relationships between cryptocurrency businesses and foreign-government-linked investors.
For Circle shareholders, the central issue is whether the alleged transactions caused legally recognizable financial harm to the company. For the broader cryptocurrency industry, the case raises questions about competition, political officeholders’ financial interests and the treatment of foreign-linked stablecoin transactions.
No court has yet determined that the defendants violated the Constitution or that Circle suffered compensable losses.