Key Takeaways:
World Liberty Financial received a $100 million investment in its WLFI governance tokens from a businessman under an active UK money laundering investigation, the largest single publicly disclosed purchase of the tokens. The New York Times reported Sunday that Guren "Bobby" Zhou, the man behind the UAE-based Aqua1 Foundation that made the June 26 purchase, was arrested in Britain in 2021 on suspicion of money laundering and remains connected to an investigation British officials confirmed was active as of late July.
Zhou has not been charged. A British court record filed last November accused him of participating with five other people in a money laundering operation dating to 2019, the Times reported. Two of his longtime employees were charged in the case last September, and one defendant has pleaded guilty. A trial for the charged defendants is scheduled for 2028.
Under World Liberty's revenue-sharing arrangement, as much as $75 million from the purchase was distributed to a company controlled by President Trump and his three sons, the newspaper reported. The transaction also benefited the family of co-founder Zach Witkoff, whose father, Steve Witkoff, serves as a Trump administration special envoy. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence determined that a wallet controlled by Web3Port bought $20 million of WLFI in January 2025 and that a second wallet likely controlled by Aqua 1 purchased another $80 million in June.
The revelation lands as Congress debates whether Trump-linked crypto projects should face enhanced disclosure requirements. A $100 million investment from an entity connected to a foreign national under money laundering investigation is the kind of case study regulators cite when arguing for stricter oversight of the sector.
Zhou's path to the purchase ran through a series of failed ventures. He previously ran a British flooring retailer that entered restructuring without repaying about $5 million owed to his father's company, according to the Times. He later launched Caduceus, a crypto project whose token became effectively worthless by 2024 after the company spent about $7.6 million in funding. Caduceus announced backing from China Merchants Securities UK and the Bin Zayed Group, founded by a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family; both organizations told the Times the representations were "unauthorized and materially false."
After relocating to the UAE, Zhou led Web3Port, a crypto venture fund that announced a $10 million World Liberty investment shortly after Trump's January 2025 inauguration. A Web3Port entity registered in the British Virgin Islands later changed its name to Aqua 1 GP Limited. Two weeks after the name change, Aqua 1 announced the $100 million WLFI purchase. Aqua 1 previously denied having a connection to Web3Port.
Standard anti-money laundering protocols, the kind traditional financial institutions follow routinely, typically flag individuals with active investigations. Know-your-customer requirements exist to prevent potentially illicit funds from flowing into financial products. WLFI tokens function as governance tokens for the World Liberty Financial protocol, giving holders voting rights over protocol decisions; they do not represent equity or ownership in the traditional sense.
World Liberty spokesperson David Wachsman told the Times that the company followed all applicable laws and regulations and maintained a compliance program that "meets or exceeds industry standards." He declined to say whether World Liberty knew the source of Zhou's funds. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told the newspaper that Trump had no conflicts of interest. Zhou did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump's latest financial disclosure listed more than $65.6 million from the sale of equity in WLF Holdco and $236.25 million in distributed World Liberty token-sale proceeds, according to The Block. The Times said it could not determine the source of the $100 million.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
