Senate Democrats demand top Trump advisor Steve Witkoff provide details on crypto investments, lack of divestment

“Your failure to divest these assets raises serious questions about your compliance with federal ethics laws and, more importantly, your ability to serve the American people at the expense of your own financial interests,” the senators wrote.

World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency company that Witkoff co-founded with the president in 2024, said in May that the special envoy was in the “process of fully divesting” from the project. Witkoff has since divested a $120 million stake in his real estate company, but has yet to sell his cryptocurrency holdings, according to his most recent ethics disclosure, dated Aug. 13.

The Trump advisor still owns World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency as well as shares in WC Digital Fi LLC, an entity mentioned in World Liberty Financial documents as “an affiliate of Steve Witkoff and certain members of his family.” As of August, the special envoy held parts of two other companies that appear to be linked to cryptocurrencies: WC Digital SC LLC and SC Financial Technologies LLC.

Senate Democrats claimed that Witkoff’s ongoing business interests in cryptocurrency raise a potential conflict of interest, as his role as top diplomat in the Middle East allegedly overlaps with World Liberty Financial’s business ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Spokespeople for World Liberty Financial and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two deals

The investigation into Witkoff’s business properties comes one month after New York Times He published an investigation into how his involvement in the multi-billion-dollar AI deal between the US government and the United Arab Emirates came at the same time that World Liberty Financial was negotiating a multi-billion-dollar deal with a UAE government projects company.

In May, the United States signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to build the largest artificial intelligence campus outside the United States. Two weeks ago, World Liberty Financial announced that a $2 billion investment from UAE government investment firm MGX in cryptocurrency exchange Binance was paid in World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, USD1.00.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to underlying assets such as the US dollar. The deal with MGX and Binance not only made USD1 one of the largest stablecoins by market cap, but also made World Liberty Financial able to potentially earn interest on tens of millions of dollars in assets backing the $2 billion of stablecoins it had just issued.

The timing of the two deals raised concerns among Democrats. Shortly after New York Times It published its investigations, and two senators asked inspectors general to investigate whether there was an ethics violation.

Wednesday’s letter contains a wide range of signatories from senators outside Schiff, including Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), Katherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Gary Peters (D-Michigan). Elissa Slotkin (Democrat, Michigan) and Cory Booker (Democrat, New Jersey).

They have asked Witkoff to respond by October 31.

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