Ahead of Committee Crypto Market Structure Markup, Warren and Reed Call for Investigation Into World Liberty Financial’s Latest Apparent Failure to Detect Ties to Sanctioned[...]

Ahead of Committee Crypto Market Structure Markup, Warren and Reed Call for Investigation Into World Liberty Financial's Latest Apparent Failure to Detect Ties to Sanctioned Criminals

"WLF has repeatedly failed to maintain safeguards needed to prevent illicit actors from exploiting its platform."

"As Congress considers crypto market structure legislation, it must include provisions that protect our national security, guard against illicit finance, and support law enforcement efforts to hold criminal actors accountable."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, requesting an investigation into World Liberty Financial (WLF), the Trump family crypto company, following Wall Street Journal reporting that WLF partnered with a crypto venture whose flagship project had been led by U.S.-sanctioned individuals. The individuals were sanctioned by the Trump Administration in October 2025 for their ties to the Prince Group, a massive transnational criminal enterprise.

"This reporting once again raises serious questions about whether WLF maintains meaningful sanctions and counter-illicit finance controls. As Congress considers crypto market structure legislation, it must include provisions that protect our national security, guard against illicit finance, and support law enforcement efforts to hold criminal actors accountable," wrote the Senators. "The company's apparent lack of awareness raises serious questions about whether and to what extent WLF vets the firms it 'partners' with-let alone the parties that WLF merely transacts with, or parties that use WLF to carry out financial activity."

The Senators continued: "WLF's conduct appears to fall glaringly short of the basic standards expected from any financial institution, especially as it seeks to have its 'assets accessible at the most established financial services platforms globally.' WLF has repeatedly failed to maintain safeguards needed to prevent illicit actors from exploiting its platform. Throughout 2025, WLF reportedly sold tokens to buyers conducting business with North Korean state-sponsored hackers, sanctioned Russian money-laundering entities, and other illicit actors-giving them 'a seat at the table' to set WLF's forward-looking governance policies."

In light of this new reporting and the failure to respond to the original inquiry, the Senators are requesting written responses detailing considerations around potential enforcement actions against companies that fail to maintain adequate controls by May 26, 2026.

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