I have some news

News on the return of Donald Trump's for-profit presidency

Mar 01, 2026

After 10 years reporting on Trump's conflicts, I've reached a conclusion.

After reporting almost exclusively on Trump’s business interests for the last decade, I’ve come to a verdict: The conflicts are massive and they need to be stopped.

On Monday I joined Public Citizen as research director of its Trump accountability project.

I’m incredibly thankful to have worked with such talented colleagues at Forbes. Easily the most fulfilling years of my career.

If you are a reporter working on a piece about Trump’s business conflicts, please consider me a source—I’m always happy to talk about Trump’s entanglements. (Weird affliction, I know.) Email zeverson@citizen.org or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

And, if anyone has information about Trump’s businesses, I remain very interested in hearing it!

My bio page at Public Citizen — Source: Public Citizen

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‘Binance—Whose Founder Was Pardoned—Now Holds 87% Of Trump’s Stablecoin’

From my final piece for Forbes, published earlier in February:

Between its own wallets and its users’ accounts, Binance holds approximately 87% of all USD1 in circulation—roughly $4.7 billion of the $5.4 billion total supply—the highest concentration at any third-party exchange among the top 10 stablecoins by market cap as of Monday, according to a Forbes analysis of data from Arkham Intel, a blockchain analytics platform.
World Liberty Financial may be deepening that concentration: In late January, two days after Binance announced a promotion where USD1 holders would be awarded $40 million in one of World Liberty Financial’s other crypto products, $WLFI, Trump’s crypto venture transferred about that much worth of $WLFI to Binance, according to Arkham.
Binance is prohibited from serving U.S. customers under the terms of its 2023 settlement with the Treasury Department, meaning if the rules are properly followed, the 87% of USD1 kept in Binance-controlled wallets would mostly be held on behalf of customers outside the United States.
A Trump-affiliated LLC owns about 38% of World Liberty Financial, which stands to profit from its stablecoin by investing the dollars backing USD1 in assets like U.S. Treasurys, keeping the interest (currently around 3.6%).

‘Why The Trump-UAE Crypto Deal Made No Financial Sense—For The Emiratis’

Kyle Khan-Mullins and I (but mostly Kyle) analyzed a pre-inauguration deal between World Liberty Financial and the UAE’s spymaster:

Right before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, he and his family were spurring a crypto frenzy. On January 17, three days ahead of his swearing in, he released a memecoin, a hype vehicle that eventually added an estimated $1 billion or so to his net worth in 2025. Thanks to a Wall Street Journal investigation published on Saturday, we now know that just one day earlier, one of the family’s other crypto ventures—World Liberty Financial, launched in September 2024—penned a deal with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who heads up multiple United Arab Emirates investment funds and serves as the country’s national security advisor and the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi; his brother is the UAE’s president.
Forbes first reported the likelihood that the Trumps had secretly sold a stake in World Liberty Financial back in June. According to the Journal’s reporting, Aryam Investment 1, a “Tahnoon-backed company,” purchased 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million delivered in multiple installments. Before the deal, which was later confirmed by World Liberty, the Trump family owned about 75% of World Liberty Financial through a company called DT Marks Defi LLC, and that company was split 70-30 between Trump and his family members, according to Trump’s most recent financial disclosure. It’s likely that Trump’s cut of the $500 million sale, before any taxes, would thus have been roughly $260 million in all. His three sons would have split another $100 million or so, Forbes estimates.
Here’s the problem: While the Trumps got to fill their pockets with royal cash, it’s unclear what, if anything, the Emiratis got out of the deal, at least from a financial perspective.

‘Trump’s properties remain an epicenter of his conflicts and corruption in second term’

An exhaustive look from Rebecca Jacobs at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington at how’s Trump’s properties are benefiting from his presidency:

In his first 365 days back in office, Trump visited his properties 198 times, and visited his golf courses 116 times, sending a message to those looking to influence his administration that his properties are open for business. Foreign government officials visited his properties 55 times, pouring money into Trump’s pockets, and special interest groups held 57 events at them. Trump and his family profit financially.

‘Days after $5M donation, Trump administration backs Crypto.com in lawsuit’

Great catch here by Judd Legum for Popular Information:

In a document quietly filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday night, MAGA Inc., the primary Super PAC supporting President Trump, revealed that it received a $5 million donation from Crypto.com on January 23, 2026. The donation was made in the name of Crypto.com’s parent company, Foris Dax, Inc.1
25 days later, on February 17, the Trump administration’s Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), intervened on Crypto.com’s behalf in high-stakes lawsuit in federal court.

Get in touch

Have a tip? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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