PANews reported on February 3 that, according to Decrypt, Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy warned of “potential criminal activity” in a transaction involving secret payments from UAE investors to Trump-affiliated crypto companies. Murphy alleged that four days before Trump's inauguration, Aryam Investment, linked to UAE Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, agreed to acquire a 49% stake in Trump-affiliated crypto company World Liberty Financial for $500 million. Of this, approximately $187 million went to entities affiliated with the Trump family, and at least $31 million went to entities affiliated with the family of Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. Subsequently, the Trump administration approved expanding the UAE's access to advanced US AI chips, which had been restricted under the Biden administration.

In his Senate testimony, Murphy summarized the allegations as: the secret transfer of massive sums of money to Trump and his envoy's family, followed by the U.S. sharing restricted security technology with the UAE. He stated, "This is corruption, it constitutes elements of bribery, it is a potential criminal act," and warned that while accountability may be delayed, the consequences are inevitable, "the rule of law is about to return," and those who exchanged power for money "will go to jail."

Earlier reports indicated that close associates of the Abu Dhabi royal family secretly invested $500 million to acquire a 49% stake in the Trump family's WLFI company . Trump responded that he was unaware of the $500 million investment in WLFI by Abu Dhabi and that his sons were handling the matter.