Cryptocurrency company WLFI, of which US President Donald Trump is among its partners and partly owned by his family, is on the agenda with a recent collaboration. The company faced new scrutiny after it was revealed that some names sanctioned by the USA and the UK were involved in the project in the past.
Cooperation and past connections with the EU DAO
WLFI is known as a cryptocurrency company founded in September 2024. The company recently announced that it has integrated its US Dollar-pegged stablecoin USD1 into the Southeast Asia-based blockchain platform AB DAO. Just before the announcement of the partnership, it became known that some members of the Prince Group, which is sanctioned by the USA and the UK, were involved in a resort project supported by the EU DAO.
Prince Group has a broad footprint in Cambodia and has been described by U.S. authorities as an international criminal network. In particular, the founder of the group, Chen Zhi, and some of his relatives were accused of large-scale fraud and were sanctioned towards the end of 2023. It was stated that these names were active within the scope of the holiday village project introduced by the EU DAO until a few weeks ago, but were removed from the project after the sanctions.
WLFI’s disclosures and management processes
WLFI claimed that it had made the necessary investigations before the collaboration. In the statement made by the company, it was stated that “We do not have any relationship or connection with any person subject to sanctions.”
In a statement sent to The Times, WLFI said it had no ties to any sanctioned individuals.
However, after these developments, questions arose regarding the audit processes and management approach that the company applied when choosing its business partners. In a news article published in January, it was reported that a company supported by the National Security Advisor of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan made a $500 million purchase for a 49 percent stake in WLFI just before Trump returned to office.
Experts evaluated that a deal of this size was unprecedented in American politics and raised the possibility of a conflict of interest. The White House made a statement that there was no irregularity.
However, after the recent cooperation and EU DAO connection, the adequacy of WLFI’s control mechanisms and its transparency in international relations are being discussed.
In the latest report published by The Times, it was stated that WLFI had no direct ties with the Prince Group. However, it seems that question marks in the partnership processes continue.
The company is expected to make more statements regarding its security and legal compliance approaches in the future.
