UAE-backed Aryam buys 49% of Trump crypto venture four days before inauguration

On January 16, 2025 — four days before Donald Trump's second inauguration — Eric Trump signed a deal selling 49% of World Liberty Financial to Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi-backed entity, for $500 million. Aryam paid $250 million up front: $187 million flowed to Trump family entities DT Marks DEFI LLC and DT Marks SC LLC, $31 million to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff (then-incoming US Middle East envoy), and $31 million to an entity tied to co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro. The deal was signed for Aryam by G42 general counsel Martin Edelman and G42 CEO Peng Xiao, who took two seats on WLF's five-person board. Two Aryam entities — one in Delaware, one in Abu Dhabi — were registered two days apart in December 2024, with no public record of ownership. The buyer's identity was not publicly disclosed at the time, despite WLF's website later showing the Trump family's equity stake had fallen from 75% to 38%.