Key Highlights
- World Liberty Financial partnered with AB to enable USD1 stablecoin usage.
- Sanctioned individuals were connected to a separate resort project tied to AB, not the core venture.
- WLFI maintains that its compliance checks did not reveal any issues at the time of agreement.
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto venture associated with the Trump family, partnered with a Southeast Asian crypto project, AB. One of AB’s initiatives, a planned “blockchain”-themed resort, had been led by two men later sanctioned in a U.S. crackdown.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration came under scrutiny last fall after issuing broad sanctions and indictments against the Prince Group, one of Asia’s biggest criminal outfits. The sanctioned individuals were allegedly linked to work connected with the group.
As per reports published by the DOJ and Treasury Department, the group was indicted for running “pig butchering” scam facilities in Cambodia that swindled their victims out of billions of dollars. More than 140 entities and individuals were penalized.
FBI director Kash Patel described the action as one of the biggest financial fraud crackdowns in history. Barely three weeks later, on November 12, 2025, WLFI announced its partnership with AB on X. The deal aimed to enable the use of WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin on AB’s blockchain network.
Defending the case
The owner of the resort project, Yang Jian, who is also the controlling shareholder, and the resort’s general manager, Yang Yanming, were among those blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury for alleged links to the operations of Prince Group. According to the lawyer representing World Liberty Financial, the company had no dealings with the sanctioned individuals.
The lawyer added that the collaboration with AB was limited to non-exclusive technology integration meant to use USD1. The firm carried out due diligence that was relevant to the nature of the transaction and didn’t reveal any of the sanctioned persons. WLFI said it became aware of the allegations linking AB to the East Timor project only in January 2026.
Responses from sanctioned parties
AB representative Sui Chenggang stated that the resort project was an individual company and was not connected in any way with the WLFI deal. AB canceled its preliminary contract with the resort upon the announcement of the sanctions and informed WLFI that there was no relation between the sanctioned persons and AB.
Yang Yanming said he had never had any commercial relationship with Prince Group and that he was fired from his post immediately after the sanctions.
Questions revolving around transparency
Although WLFI insists on the restricted scope of its technical and compliance activities, the timing, which is right after substantial sanctions were imposed by the United States against the biggest scam crypto network, makes people suspect the possible dangers of crypto collaborations.
Both companies emphasize that the cooperation will be devoted exclusively to the integration of stablecoins and that there are no illegal ties to the crypto projects at all, but questions persist around transparency and risk management in Trump-family-linked crypto ventures.
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