FILE – Eric Trump, Executive VP of The Trump Organization, from right, speaks as Co-founder of World Liberty Financial Zach Witkoff and Founder of TRON Justin Sun look on during Token 2049, a Crypto event, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)
Investment and financial advisory firms usually end their ads with a warning or disclaimer that goes something like, “Investing in securities involves the risk of loss.” But with respect to the Trump family financial schemes, an appropriate disclaimer might be, “Investing in Trump securities involves the risk of (huge) loss.”
Recent reports have revealed how much money President Trump and his sons have made since entering the White House — some $2.2 billion, according to his 2025 tax return. But it is astounding how much more money investors — some of whom are wealthy foreigners — have lost. And a reasonable person might wonder why there aren’t more complaints about those loses.
Take the Trump meme coin, $TRUMP. It was released in January 2025. It quickly peaked at $75, then started a steady decline — by 98 percent. It’s worth about $1.57 today. On Jan. 21, the day after the inauguration, the value of the coin had dropped to $44. By Feb. 12 it was down to about $15, and by mid-April last year it was around $8.
According to the New York Times, nearly 1 million investors lost about $3.8 billion by the end of June. Yet the president made $636 million in fees managing the transactions.
Some investors pumped in big money. In May 2025, Trump and his sons hosted an exclusive invitation-only dinner at the Trump National Golf Club.
Attendees were the largest investors in Trump’s meme coin. China-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun was given the seat next to the president for investing $18.5 million in Trump’s coin.
Reuters reported, “In total, investors spent an estimated $148 million on the $TRUMP meme coin to secure their seats at the dinner, with the top 25 holders spending more than $111 million.” Now, the coin is almost worthless. Wouldn’t investors normally be angry over those losses? Wall Street investment firms would likely fire any manager who lost that kind of money.
Wall Street Journal reporters investigated the issue. Some of those who lost millions of dollars seemed to shrug it off. That’s in part because some “bought $TRUMP memecoin to secure invitations to Trump’s memecoin events,” according to the Journal.
And now we’re getting to the real reason some investors doled out big money for $TRUMP. If the price of the meme coin went up, they would make money. If it went down, well, they would have had the opportunity to rub elbows and exchange cellphone numbers with the president and his sons. Access to the most powerful person (or people) in the world — people who can make or break a company’s finances or a country’s economy — can be worth millions of dollars, especially to foreign governments.
However, one prominent investor hasn’t accepted his loses: Justin Sun.
In September 2024 — some six weeks before the presidential election — Trump and longtime friend and now special envoy Steve Witkoff created World Liberty Financial, a “decentralized finance platform designed to bridge traditional financial systems with blockchain technology through a community-governed ecosystem,” whatever that means.
Trump, who had previously been very critical of Bitcoin and crypto currency, apparently had no background in crypto finance. Once Trump won the election, he quickly handed the business off to Witkoff’s son, Zach, and Eric Trump.
Investors, many foreign, poured millions of dollars into the venture. But the value of World Liberty Financial is down 81 percent since last September, with most of the drop coming before the Bitcoin selloff. Yet Trump reported $1.2 billion in income from World Liberty and his meme coin.
Sun was also an investor in World Liberty Financial — $45 million. Yet last April he sued the company for breach of contract and fraud. Sun’s lawyer says World Liberty’s operators are “engaging in an illegal scheme to seize property … [causing] Sun and his companies to incur hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.” Zach Witkoff reportedly says the claims are meritless. And the Trumps have countersued.
Who knows how all of this will play out, but the American people tend to be very critical of politicians who engage in rampant financial self-dealing. Recall how critical many people, especially Republicans, were of Hunter Biden’s numerous shady deals.
For its part, the White House released its standard disclaimer: “Neither the president nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest. All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.”
The Trump financial schemes may not be illegal, but they are certainly unseemly. They may be good economics for Trump, but they are bad politics for Trump — and Republicans, who remain largely silent about Trump’s financial dealings.
If Democrats win the House of Representatives in November, they will initiate investigations into Trump’s multiple financial dealings. With Trump soon entering lame-duck status, it’s entirely possible that some of those investors who lost millions of dollars will be ready to express their real feelings.
Read the original article on TheHill.com