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★ Private Action

Russian-linked DWF Labs buys $25M in Trump crypto tokens

Presidential Self-DealingTrump Crypto Conflicts

Filed April 2025$25,000,000

★ The Brief

What happened

UAE-based crypto market-making firm DWF Labs announced on April 16, 2025 that it had purchased $25 million in governance tokens from World Liberty Financial, the Trump-family-controlled crypto venture; blockchain analysts had identified the underlying USDC transfer twelve days earlier.

Who enabled it

Who benefits

Deal or steal?

DWF Labs is a Russian-linked crypto firm whose managing partner has a 2015 Moscow fraud conviction. Thirty-six members of Congress demanded DOJ investigate the purchase; DOJ declined. Roughly 75% of the $25 million flowed to Trump-family entities under the company's published proceeds structure.

On April 16, 2025, UAE-based crypto market-maker DWF Labs announced it had purchased $25 million in World Liberty Financial governance tokens (WLFI) in a "strategic private transaction," and was opening a New York City office. The $25 million USDC transfer to WLF was identified on-chain by blockchain analysts on April 4, twelve days before the announcement. Because WLFI tokens are non-transferable and non-sellable, The Nation characterized the purchase as "essentially a donation" to the Trump-family-controlled DeFi protocol; DWF managing partner Andrei Grachev told reporters, "It cannot be a scam, right? And we have to invest." DWF Labs has been documented by the Wall Street Journal and The Block as engaging in market manipulation and "price management" services rather than legitimate market-making; Binance internally concluded DWF was artificially inflating token volumes to drive up prices. Grachev was convicted of fraud by a Moscow criminal court in 2015 (cargo-theft scheme, suspended three-year sentence, five-year probation) and is alleged to have run three failed crypto ventures during probation (Shoptimizer, B2B United Trade, Export.Online) in which investors collectively lost millions of rubles. His prior institutional roles tie him to Russian state banks VEB and VTB via the RACIB industry group (founded by Putin adviser German Klimenko) and VRM Trade co-founders. DWF Labs also said it would provide liquidity for USD1, the Trump-family stablecoin behind WLF's $2 billion MGX/Binance deal. In May 2025, Senator Richard Blumenthal sent WLF an inquiry letter specifically flagging that "DWF Lab's management previously managed Russian firms accused of enabling Russian banks to bypass sanctions"; Accountable.US filed a Congressional complaint the prior month, and 36 members of Congress demanded a DOJ investigation, which DOJ declined to address.

Actors

Who pushed it · 2

Who initiated, paid, or pushed the action.

  • Andrei Grachev

    DWF Labs managing partner who orchestrated the $25 million WLFI purchase and was photographed in Dubai with Eric Trump. Uzbek-born, based in the UAE and Switzerland; convicted of fraud by a Moscow criminal court in 2015 (cargo-theft scheme, suspended sentence, five-year probation) and alleged to have run three failed crypto ventures during probation. Prior roles tie him to Russian state banks VEB and VTB through RACIB and VRM Trade. Publicly told reporters of the WLFI deal: "It cannot be a scam, right? And we have to invest."

  • DWF Labs

    UAE-registered crypto market-making firm whose $25 million purchase of non-transferable WLFI tokens was characterized as "essentially a donation" to the Trump family. DWF has been documented by the Wall Street Journal, The Block, and an internal Binance review as engaging in market manipulation and "price management" services — including artificial volume inflation — rather than legitimate market-making.

Beneficiaries

Who gained · 4

Who stood to gain.

  • Donald Trump
    Donald Trump

    Listed as "chief crypto advocate" on World Liberty Financial, with ownership of the protocol routed through DT Marks DEFI LLC (per his disclosures, personally held 70% as of end-2024). The Trump family's economic interest in WLF generated hundreds of millions in token-sale proceeds, fees, and investments across the 2025 wave of WLFI-token purchases by foreign and crypto-linked entities.

  • Eric Trump
    Eric Trump

    World Liberty Financial co-founder and board member; photographed with Grachev in Dubai. Benefits as a member of the Trump family, whose entities (DT Marks DEFI LLC, DT Marks SC LLC) hold the bulk of WLF's upside.

  • Zach Witkoff
    Zach Witkoff

    World Liberty Financial CEO and co-founder; benefits alongside the Witkoff family from inflows to the protocol he runs.

  • World Liberty Financial
    World Liberty Financial

    Received the $25 million USDC transfer in exchange for non-transferable WLFI governance tokens. Because the tokens cannot be moved or sold, the inflow functions as a one-way payment to the Trump-family-controlled DeFi protocol.

Sources

Further reading