President Donald Trump denied knowledge of foreign investment in his family’s cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, while acknowledging that he remains a co-owner of the business, which has drawn scrutiny over a reported $500 million investment linked to the United Arab Emirates.

During a 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, Trump was questioned by CBS News Correspondent Ross Douthat about potential conflicts of interest arising from World Liberty Financial’s connections to investors associated with the UAE government.

Douthat asked why Trump’s business relationships should be viewed differently from a hypothetical arrangement involving former President Joe Biden and foreign investors, suggesting Trump would likely consider such dealings corrupt.

“Because I know nothing about it,” Trump responded, after confirming that he co-owns World Liberty Financial.

The exchange comes amid mounting scrutiny of the Trump family’s cryptocurrency interests, particularly a previously undisclosed investment that reportedly gave UAE-backed investors a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial.

According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, Abu Dhabi-based Aryam Investment 1 agreed to acquire the stake for $500 million just days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. The investment vehicle was backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and a member of its ruling family.

Eric Trump reportedly signed the agreement, which included an initial $250 million payment. Of that amount, approximately $187 million flowed to Trump family-controlled entities, while at least $31 million went to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder who subsequently became Trump’s Middle East envoy.

Trump previously denied knowing about the investment when questioned in February, explaining that his sons handled the family’s cryptocurrency business.

During Sunday’s interview, he again defended their involvement.

“I have a company. My sons run the company,” Trump said, arguing that it would be unreasonable to prevent them from conducting business during his presidency.

When Douthat suggested that Trump could simply divest his personal holdings while allowing his sons to continue operating the business, the president shifted to discussing his broader investments through Wall Street firms and index funds.

“How do you divest from cash?” Trump asked.

Douthat also questioned whether foreign investors might believe they were purchasing influence over the administration through their financial involvement in a company co-owned by the president.

“I don’t know,” Trump replied, adding that every president faces questions about people seeking influence.

As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, World Liberty’s UAE connections have already become the subject of federal scrutiny—and litigation.

In August, Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the Trump administration’s decision to grant the United Arab Emirates license-free access to advanced U.S. technology, including AI chips. The inquiry cited the reported investments in World Liberty Financial by UAE entities, as Warren questioned potential conflicts of interest and national security risks.

In October, Circle shareholder J. Benjamin Greenberg filed a lawsuit accusing Trump, World Liberty Financial, and associated parties of violating the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause through transactions linked to the UAE.

The complaint centers on the $500 million ownership agreement and a separate $2 billion investment in cryptocurrency exchange Binance by Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX, chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon. That transaction was settled using World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin.

The lawsuit alleges that the arrangements improperly benefited Trump’s cryptocurrency interests and disadvantaged Circle, whose USDC stablecoin competes with USD1. World Liberty and the White House have rejected the allegations, while Circle has distanced itself from the shareholder’s lawsuit. No court has determined that the transactions violated the Constitution.

World Liberty’s ownership structure has also emerged as an issue in its separate legal dispute with Tron founder Justin Sun.

Bitcoin.com News reported last week that Sun is seeking approximately $264,000 in court sanctions against World Liberty and its lawyers, alleging that the company failed to disclose UAE-linked ownership interests until months into federal litigation over his frozen WLFI tokens.

The dispute involves amended corporate disclosures identifying 22 individuals and entities in World Liberty’s ownership chain, including UAE connections. Sun argues that the delayed disclosure undermined federal jurisdiction and unnecessarily prolonged the lawsuit. World Liberty’s attorneys have said they only recently learned of the additional citizenship information.

Despite Trump’s claims that he is removed from day-to-day decisions, World Liberty’s website identifies a Trump-affiliated entity, DT Marks DEFI LLC, as holding approximately 38% of the equity interests in the project’s parent company. The entity is also entitled to a substantial share of WLFI token sale proceeds, while Trump-linked interests hold billions of WLFI tokens.

The president’s latest comments leave unresolved questions about his knowledge of World Liberty’s foreign investors and whether his continued financial stake creates potential conflicts between his public responsibilities and private business interests.

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