Editor’s Note: Catherine recently co-authored an article with Mike Robinson of UK Column that described the extraordinary levels of grift in the U.S. government. In preparation, Catherine wrote this catalog of 21 popular models of political grift, with examples to help the reader understand and identify what is happening.

The 21 models include:

1. Insider Trading
2. Support of Industry Legislation and Promotions
3. Bribes and Kickbacks
4. Undisclosed Gifts
5. Enforcement and Pardons
6. Contracting
7. Venture and Investments
8. Transfer of Market Share
9. Real Estate Acquisition and Development
10. Oil and Gas Development
11. Metals and Mining Development
12. Piratization
13. Starting Wars
14. Litigation Tribute (Settlements as Tax)
15. Self-Compensation
16. Access Selling / Pay-to-Play Donations
17. Bailouts for Friends
18. Government Equity Stakes (Crony State Capitalism)
19. Tariff Favoritism and Arbitrage
20. Family and Official Portfolio Conflicts (Revolving Door)
21. Disguised Payments (Licensing and Side Deals)

1. Insider Trading

Description

This category includes:

• Purchases with the benefit of insider information.
• Sharing inside information with family, allies, friends, donors, and subscribers who subsequently trade.

Insider trading can be applied to all markets:

• Currency
• Crypto: Bitcoin, Stablecoins, Digital Tokens
• Stocks
• Bonds
• Mortgages and Mortgage-Backed Securities
• Precious Metals
• Oil
• Commodities
• Derivatives
• Private Equity and Credit

Examples

Tariff-pause trading: The day before Trump announced his 90-day tariff pause, his investment accounts made 327 stock purchases worth up to $12.8 million near the market low—disclosed more than a year late. Hours before the pause, Trump posted “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” signed “DJT,” his company’s ticker; Trump Media stock jumped roughly 22% on the pause announcement. Sen. Adam Schiff and others called for an insider-trading/market-manipulation investigation; legal experts noted that because the post was public, a classic insider-trading claim is legally difficult.

• Trump made 327 stock purchases the day before he announced “This is a great time to buy” and paused tariffs (Yahoo!Finance, July 2, 2026)
• Trump’s commerce secretary loves tariffs. His former investment bank is taking bets against them (Wired, July 21, 2025)

Intel: Trump’s accounts bought $250,000–$500,000 of Intel stock four days before announcing a nearly $9 billion federal equity stake in the company, after which Intel shares rose 6%.

Palantir/Micron/Dell: Trump bought Palantir stock while increasing its federal contracts; publicly thanked Micron after it pledged $250 million to his “Trump Accounts” program following a stock jump; bought Dell stock after Dell pledged $6.2 billion to the same program.

Prediction markets/Iran and Venezuela: Oil futures markets saw over $500 million in trades roughly 15 minutes before Trump announced a pause in plans to strike Iranian power plants; Polymarket saw suspiciously well-timed bets ahead of the Iran and Venezuela actions.

• “Tehran has documented a pattern of oil market manipulation tied to Axios reports and Trump administration insiders….” (@HormuzReport, Aug. 3, 2026)

GEO Group: Trump’s disclosure shows his investment accounts bought shares of GEO Group, a private Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention contractor, starting 10 days after inauguration, increasing purchases as detainee numbers rose.

Truth PSI/Truth API (paid, millisecond access to posts): Trump Media announced plans (July 2026) to sell paid, priority, high-speed access to Truth Social posts—including possibly the president’s own—to Wall Street trading firms, letting subscribers act in milliseconds on posts that move markets (e.g., his Iran war and tariff posts). Critics note this effectively monetizes advance access to market-moving statements made from the office of the president. Update: The service launched August 1, 2026 as “Truth API” at $100,000 per month ($60,000 per month on a three-year contract), with more than 10 customer agreements signed at launch. It has since drawn a federal lawsuit from The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation (August 12), an investigation by House Judiciary Democrats, a bill from Sen. Mark Warner to ban the practice, and a September 22 lawsuit by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu alleging insider-trading violations. Subscribers also get early access to posts from Vice President Vance and others.

• Trump is selling millisecond access to his Truth Social blasts—and traders are already lining up (Fortune, July 17, 2026)
• Wall Street finds new edge behind Trump’s presidential paywall (Axios, Aug. 4, 2026)
• Trump sued over Truth Social advance access sale (CNBC, Aug. 12, 2026)
• Lawsuit seeks to ban Trump Media from charging for early access to president’s posts on US policy (AP, Aug. 13, 2026)
• Trump’s Truth Social charges $100K a month to see his posts early. SF says that’s illegal (The San Francisco Standard, Sept. 22, 2026)
• San Francisco sues over Truth Social “insider trading” (Courthouse News Service, Sept. 22, 2026)

2025 financial disclosure totals: Trump’s Office of Government Ethics (OGE) disclosure filed June 30, 2026 (covering calendar year 2025) reported over $1 billion in income from crypto ventures alone; outlets’ tallies range from $580 million (CNBC) to $1.4 billion (NBC), depending on how memecoin and equity income is counted, out of roughly $2.2 billion in total reported income. Golf course and resort revenue rose 15% to more than $500 million for the year (Mar-a-Lago alone brought in $77 million, up from $50 million in 2024). The president reported $52 million from licensing the Trump name to overseas property developers, largely in the Middle East—all disclosed while he was in office. Update: An Aug. 10 CNBC report cites “$59.5 million in foreign real estate licensing income in 2025, up 71% from 2024 and nearly tenfold from 2023.”

• Trump’s foreign licensing business booms to $59.5 million as Gulf developers pay (CNBC, Aug. 10, 2026)

Congressional stock trading during Covid-19: Several senators, including Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler, sold significant stock holdings shortly after receiving classified briefings on the emerging Covid-19 threat in early 2020, ahead of the market crash—prompting a joint investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into Burr in particular (closed in 2021 without charges), and renewed calls for a broader ban on congressional stock trading. Status: On July 22, 2026, the House passed H.R. 7008 (232–198), which bars members, spouses, and dependents from buying new stock but lets them keep existing holdings; it was bundled with voter-ID language and faces long odds in the Senate.

• Congressional stock-trading bill passes the House (Roll Call, July 22, 2026)

Scale of Trump’s own trading: Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Robert Garcia count more than 17,000 trades worth up to $1.56 billion, including 3,555 trades in Q1 2026 and a $25 million Meta sale ahead of a data-center announcement, and flagged 30 suspicious transactions. Update: According to Bloomberg, “Trump or his money managers made nearly 28,700 trades in the 17 months between his second inauguration and the end of June [2026],” with the president trading “more securities than every member of Congress combined” since returning to office.

• Warren, Garcia press Trump on thousands of stock trades, question him on self-enrichment from government actions (Sen. Warren, Aug. 13, 2026)
• Trump has made more trades than all of Congress combined (Bloomberg, Sept. 15, 2026)

June and July 2026 disclosures: June showed more than 1,000 trades, including a Boeing purchase of $250,000–$500,000 on the same day as an $880 million Navy contract. July showed 1,156 trades worth $79–$270 million, with Microsoft and Amazon each sold in the $5–$25 million range.

• Trump’s stock disclosure shows more than 1,000 trades in June (Fortune, Aug. 22, 2026)
• Trump discloses more than 1,100 July trades, including up to $25 million each in sales of Microsoft, Amazon (CNBC, Sept. 22, 2026)

Oil holdings during the Iran war: Trump’s nine largest energy holdings gained $1.5–$4.4 million between February 27 and August 31, 2026; Democrats estimate his 2026 oil and gas gains at up to $15.5 million, while consumers paid about $71.5 billion more for gasoline.

• Trump’s oil investments have gained millions during Iran war as his accounts keep trading (CNBC, Sep. 9, 2026)

White House staff on prediction markets: A former White House teleprompter operator paid about $172,000 to settle Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charges over Kalshi “mention market” trades and accepted a three-year trading ban.

• Former White House teleprompter operator ordered to pay $172,000 for Kalshi trades on mention markets (The Block, Aug. 29, 2026)
• Trump teleprompter pays $170,000 to end insider trading probe (Bloomberg, Aug. 29, 2026)

Additional Headlines

• Trump’s commerce secretary loves tariffs. His former investment bank is taking bets against them (Wired, July 21, 2025)
• “Barron is up $150,000,000 in personal wealth since his father got back into office.” (@ImBreckWorsham, Aug. 12, 2026)

2. Support of Industry Legislation and Promotions

Description

This category includes:

• Legislation to support and benefit private and family interests.
• Regulations to support and benefit private and family interests.

Examples

World Liberty Financial (WLF): Family-linked venture (Trump “chief crypto advocate”; Eric Trump/Don Jr. “Web3 ambassadors”; Barron Trump “DeFi visionary”). Trump’s 2025 disclosure reported over $500 million from World Liberty Financial token sales, plus about $65 million from selling equity in the business and about $196 million from a Stablecoin Holdco equity sale.

• Trump made over $1 billion on crypto ventures last year, financial disclosure shows (CBS News, July 2, 2026)

Binance ties: WLF’s USD1 stablecoin relies heavily on Binance. Sen. Blumenthal opened an inquiry into $1.7 billion in USD1 flows to Iranian proxies and Russia’s shadow fleet, and DOJ opened a probe into Iran’s use of Binance to evade sanctions. Trump later pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve executive order: In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order creating a U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile and hosted the first White House crypto summit—a policy that directly benefits a crypto market in which the Trump family holds major, actively growing personal positions (including a Trump Media plan to raise $2.5–$3 billion for its own “Bitcoin treasury”).

GENIUS Act: Trump signed the GENIUS Act, the first major federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, into law—legislation directly relevant to WLF’s USD1 stablecoin business, from which the family draws ongoing interest income on reserve assets.

World Liberty bank charter: On August 14, 2026 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted World Liberty Trust Co. preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank charter (Corporate Decision #1385). The bank will take over issuing the USD1 stablecoin from BitGo, without FDIC insurance or a Fed master account. Senate Democrats responded with the “Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act.”

• Corporate Decision #1385, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC, Aug. 14, 2026)
• Trump-backed World Liberty wins conditional bank charter from federal regulator (CoinDesk, Aug. 14, 2026)

3. Bribes and Kickbacks

Description

This category includes receiving payments in exchange for political favors. These raise serious questions that warrant investigation.

Examples

Alt5 Sigma deal: The Trump family was entitled to roughly $500 million from a 2025 crypto transaction in which Alt5 Sigma acquired $1.5 billion of World Liberty Financial tokens; the stock fell more than 90% afterward, and watchdogs asked the SEC to investigate disclosure issues.

Pakistan deal: Zach Witkoff negotiated a crypto-integration agreement with Pakistan’s finance minister; a month later, Zach’s father Steve Witkoff negotiated a U.S.-Pakistan deal on redeveloping a Manhattan hotel that Pakistan’s government owns.

$TRUMP memecoin: A New York Times report found nearly one million investors lost a combined $3.8 billion on the coin, while Trump reported $635 million from a “Celebration Coins” royalty arrangement tied to the memecoin.

Qatari jet: Trump accepted a roughly $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One, which a Columbia Law ethics scholar called “a pretty textbook case of a violation of the Emoluments Clause.” The jet entered service as Air Force One in July 2026, and its first overseas trip was expected in September 2026.

• Trump expected to use Qatari-gifted Air Force One for overseas travel next week: Sources (ABC News, Sept. 4, 2026)

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) (Non-Trump): Convicted in the gold-bars bribery case, including acting as an agent of Egypt; sentenced to 11 years in January 2025 and reported to prison in June 2025.

• Former Sen. Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years in prison in gold bar bribery case (CNBC, Jan. 29, 2025)

Additional Headlines

• Memecoin dinner offers foreign, anonymous donors access to Trump (The Dispatch, May 22, 2025)
• Boss of Trump Jr-backed start-up donated to Republicans after winning US contract (@FT, Aug. 25, 2026)


4. Undisclosed Gifts

Secrecy protects a lot of insider dealings. This is one of the reasons why the refusal of the federal government to obey financial management laws as well as its keeping of secret books creates so many opportunities for secret grifting. One simple item in this area is undisclosed gifts.


Example

Clarence Thomas: ProPublica reporting from 2023 onward revealed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received years of undisclosed luxury travel, real estate transactions, and gifts from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, raising questions about judicial ethics disclosure requirements that Supreme Court justices are not legally required to follow in the same way as other federal officials.



• Harlan Crow provided Clarence Thomas at least 3 previously undisclosed private jet trips, Senate probe finds (ProPublica, June 13, 2024)

5. Enforcement and Pardons

This category includes:

• Canceling investigations of companies owned by donors or colleagues.
• Firing investigation heads who are investigating companies owned by donors or colleagues.
• Targeting acquisition targets with investigations and enforcement to pick them up cheap.
• Targeting competitors with investigations and enforcement to bankrupt them, then taking their market share.
• Issuing pardons in exchange for donations or the promise of expected donations or bribes and kickbacks.

The greatest tactic of all is simply not enforcing against criminal behavior such as pedophilia or egregious antitrust violations. Immunity from enforcement and prosecution is what results in $29 trillion of bailouts and $21 trillion missing from U.S. government accounts.

Examples

Firing Inspectors General: Trump fired 17 Inspectors General at the start of his administration, including at least five who were leading investigations of Elon Musk’s companies.

Regulatory rollback benefiting the family’s holdings: The DOJ dissolved its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and dropped or paused numerous crypto enforcement cases. Kraken, Coinbase, and Gemini cases were dismissed after each donated $1 million to Trump; the Binance case was dismissed after the $2 billion WLF stablecoin deal. Deputy AG Todd Blanche ordered the shutdown while personally holding up to $485,000 in crypto investments, which ethics experts said violated conflict-of-interest law.

Pardons of crypto figures: Trump pardoned BitMEX’s founders, and Changpeng Zhao—Zhao had pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering as Binance CEO and served time before Binance became central to WLF’s stablecoin business.

Scale of dismissals: Within Trump’s first month back in office, investigations against at least 89 crypto-related companies were dismissed; the SEC also froze a fraud case against Justin Sun after he purchased $75 million of WLF’s token and attended a White House dinner for top memecoin buyers.

Broader corporate rollback: The administration reportedly dropped or paused enforcement actions against roughly 165 corporations in its first year, including about 40 investigations into Elon Musk’s companies (SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink) after Musk’s election spending.

Public Integrity Section gutted: The DOJ’s public-corruption unit shrank from 35-40 attorneys to two, and its open cases dropped from about 200 to around 20.

Pardons for donors/allies: Democratic lawmakers sent letters to recipients of pardons asking whether clemency followed a “pay-to-play” arrangement; examples cited include Changpeng Zhao (Binance), Trevor Milton (after roughly $2 million in campaign donations), Paul Walczak (tax fraud; his mother attended a MAGA fundraiser), and the Chrisleys. Some pardons or commutations also erased court-ordered restitution owed to fraud victims.

Latest clemency: Trump granted clemency to 30 more people on September 4, 2026, bringing his total grants past 1,700.

• Trump grants clemency to 30 people, White House pardon czar says (Reuters, Sept. 4, 2026)

Restitution erased: A House Judiciary Democrats report finds about $1.7 billion in fines, forfeitures, and restitution wiped out by Trump’s clemency. The September 2026 commutation of union leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty erased about $1.6 million he owed to IBEW Local 98.

• Trump pardons of fraudsters cost victims nearly $2 billion (The New Republic, Aug. 21, 2026)
• Trump commutation frees convicted Philadelphia labor leader John Dougherty after less than two years (Northeast Times, Sept. 5, 2026)

Donor favors: Pilgrim’s Pride made a $5 million inauguration donation and subsequently got a salmonella regulation reversed.

Bipartisan beneficiaries: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), charged with taking about $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani oil company and a Mexican bank, was pardoned December 3, 2025. New York Mayor Eric Adams’s corruption case was dismissed with prejudice April 2, 2025 after Trump’s DOJ moved to drop it.

• Donald Trump pardons Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar (The Texas Tribune, Dec. 3, 2025)
• Judge dismisses criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams (CNBC, Apr. 2, 2025)

Additional Headlines

• Trump’s newest grift: building a cryptocurrency empire while destroying its regulators ([citation needed] newsletter, Apr. 17, 2025)
• The leniency lobby: How the U.S. lets global corruption off the hook (Anti-Corruption Data Collective, July 2026)
• “Now, his marquee NBA franchise is magically being sold to a member of Trump’s family” (@5149jamesli, Aug. 12, 2026) [Note: The buyers are Josh Kushner (Jared Kushner’s brother) and former Disney CEO Bob Iger, at a record $12.5 billion.]
• “Last night in House Appropriations, all Republicans present voted to allow themselves to get settlements from the January 6th Slush Fund” (@RepMikeLevin, May 21, 2026) [Context: The $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was created May 18, 2026, the same day Trump dropped his $10 billion IRS lawsuit; DOJ now says the order was rescinded, but litigation continues and no payouts have been reported.]
• “The Trump and Witkoff families are opening a bank in Florida” (@PiperK, Aug. 15, 2026)[Update: This is World Liberty Trust Co., which won preliminary conditional OCC approval for a national trust bank charter on Aug. 14, 2026.]
• The Trumps’ crypto project just got one step closer to becoming a bank (The Daily News, Aug. 17, 2026)
• Looking the other way: How Wall Street banks enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking (Sen. Ron Wyden, Ranking Member Senate Finance Committee, Aug. 4, 2026)
• Half of Americans think Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes (YouGov, Feb 10, 2026)

6. Contracting

Description

This category includes:

• Issuing contracts to donors or colleagues.
• Issuing contracts to companies in which the administration, donors, families, or colleagues own stock.
• Canceling contracts with companies that compete with businesses owned by the administration, donors, families, or contractors.
• Funding development of technology with the private company that owns the technology.

Examples

Government contracts to associates: Stephen Miller held up to $250,000 in Palantir stock around the time ICE awarded Palantir a $30 million no-bid surveillance contract.

Palantir: A Pentagon memo directs up to $244 million to Palantir through March 2027, possibly on a sole-source basis.

• Pentagon wants to spend millions on Palantir with few details (Federal News Network, Aug. 12 2026)

Ballroom donors: Of 27 corporate donors to the White House ballroom, 14 received $50 billion in new or increased federal contracts within six months of the East Wing demolition (see Access Selling below).

• Corporate donors to Trump’s White House ballroom have received $50 billion in government contracts since the East Wing was demolished (Public Citizen, June 4, 2026)

7. Venture and Investments

Description

This category includes:

• Issuing grants or contracts to startups that fund their creation.
• Transferring government functions to private companies (e.g., weather services to a private firm, DARPA-funded technology to Palantir).
• Transferring technology developed with public funds to a private startup.
• Transferring data subject to privacy, national security, and other laws to private parties illegally.
• Shutting down government operations so that private companies run by friends, family, and donors can provide the service on a profitable basis.
• Helping companies and countries that reinvest in family or donor businesses.

Examples

UAE stake: A firm linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought a 49% stake in WLF, paying $187 million to Trump family entities and at least $31 million to Witkoff family entities, raising conflict-of-interest questions since Tahnoon’s chip-access interests coincided with a U.S. approval to export advanced AI chips to a company he backs.

• “Bombshell! Top journalist Ana Kasparian drops a massive revelation” (@FurkanGozukara, Jul. 2, 2026)

Trump Media’s Bitcoin treasury raise: Trump Media & Technology Group raised roughly $2.5-$3 billion in equity and convertible debt specifically to build a corporate “Bitcoin treasury,” directly tying the president’s flagship public company’s balance sheet, and his own controlling stake in it, to the value of an asset class his administration is simultaneously deregulating and stockpiling at the federal level. In August 2026, Trump Media unwound its separate Crypto.com “CRO Strategy” treasury deal and said it is pursuing a roughly $6 billion merger with fusion company TAE Technologies. Devin Nunes left as CEO in April 2026; Kevin McGurn is interim CEO.

• Exclusive: Trump Media unwinds crypto deals (Axios, Aug. 7, 2026)

UAE stake in the Trump family bank: A vehicle tied to Sheikh Tahnoon (StringZ Holding RSC) and co-investors hold 49% of WLTC Holdings, the holding company of World Liberty Trust Co.; USD1 has grown to about $4 billion, the fourth-largest stablecoin.

• UAE “spy sheikh” takes 49% stake in Trump family’s bank venture: WSJ (The Block, Aug. 27, 2026)
• Trump-backed World Liberty wins conditional bank charter from federal regulator (CoinDesk, Aug. 14, 2026)

World Liberty token economics: WLF took in about $594 million from token sales, 75% of which flows to the Trump entity DT Marks DEFI LLC; it sold or moved most of its reserve positions, and promised Aave, Ethena, and Ondo integrations never launched.

• Trump’s crypto venture got rich while big promises fell short (Bloomberg, Sept. 22, 2026)

Additional Headlines

• Next phase of surveillance grid: Tech startup backed by president’s son pitches its humanoid robot soldiers to “almost all national security agencies” (Leo’s Newsletter, Aug. 18, 2026)

8. Transfer of Market Share

Description

This category pertains to the political shutdown of small businesses and farms while publicly traded companies are allowed to remain open.

Examples

Covid 1.0: The Covid-19 lockdowns (2020–2021).

Covid 2.0: Hormuz oil and fertilizer supply and price shocks (2026–).

9. Real Estate Acquisition and Development

Description

This category includes:

• Using taxpayer-funded weather warfare and/or biowarfare to clear an area out—through genocide or displacement of inhabitants via fire, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, or tsunamis.
• Using military and covert intelligence operations to clear an area out, or kill or displace inhabitants.
• Cutting federal subsidies, contracts, and credit to outsiders.
• Shifting federal subsidies, contracts, and credit to donors and families, including to “redevelop” land acquired after clearance.

The Gaza situation, including the issuance of oil and gas licenses and the Board of Peace redevelopment plan, is a prime example.

See also, Oil and Gas Development and Metals and Mining Development.

Board of Peace Examples

Structure and financing: Trump chairs the Board of Peace, an international body established alongside the Gaza ceasefire plan, with membership requiring a $1 billion contribution to renew past the first three years. Watchdogs have flagged that this fee structure could create conflicts of interest, though the administration says the effort is about peace, not profit.

• “The UN Security Council handed the deed of Gaza to Donald J. Trump.” (Norman Finkelstein on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sept. 14, 2026)

Kushner’s dual role: Jared Kushner sits on the Board of Peace Executive Board (alongside Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Tony Blair)—while simultaneously running Affinity Partners, which is funded by several Gulf governments (Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia) that are Board of Peace donors and members. Kushner has also presented a $30 billion Gaza redevelopment “master plan,” with the Gulf states as the intended source of inflows; as a Board member with billions in Gulf capital already under management, he has been described as “an obvious conduit” for that money.

Financial opacity: By May 2026, the Board had no funds in its official World Bank account despite $17 billion in pledges—the money has instead gone into a J.P. Morgan account with no disclosed oversight. Update: An August 25, 2026 letter from Reps. Raskin and Meeks reports that Morocco and the UAE have transferred more than $100 million into the J.P. Morgan accounts, and that a $50 million State Department transfer was attempted and then rescinded; the World Bank disclaims oversight.

• Ranking members Meeks, Raskin demand accounting of Trump’s shadowy “Board of Peace” global slush fund (House Judiciary Committee Democrats, Aug. 25, 2026)

No stated conflict-of-interest rules: The Carnegie Endowment noted the Board of Peace charter sets out no oversight, auditing mechanisms, or conflict-of-interest rules for how the chairman and Executive Board members manage donor funds, and it remains unclear whether they could withdraw from the account even after Trump leaves office.

Governance concentration: The charter vests most authority in the chairman personally—Trump—rather than in an institutional structure, and does not limit how long he may serve as chairman.

Gaza recovery plan: On September 23, 2026, the Board unveiled a $2.45 billion, 66-project, six-month Gaza recovery plan, including an “Emirati Neighborhood” pilot in Rafah; long-term reconstruction needs are estimated at $71.4 billion, and the $2.45 billion is not yet secured.

• Scoop: Trump’s Board of Peace to unveil $2.45 billion Gaza recovery plan (Axios, Sept. 23, 2026)

Additional Examples

Gulf licensing deals: Trump reported $38 million in licensing fees from Gulf real estate projects in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, including $21.9 million from Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan and $12.5 million from UAE’s Damac.

Qatar golf resort: The Trump Organization partnered with Saudi and Qatari firms (Dar Global and Qatari Diar, funded by Qatar’s government) on a golf and villa project, despite an earlier pledge to make no new deals with foreign governments while Trump is in office.

Congressional response: Democrats introduced a resolution declaring these foreign real estate arrangements unconstitutional under the Foreign Emoluments Clause because Congress never consented, and are demanding that proceeds be transferred to the U.S. government.

Trump Tower Tbilisi: A 62-story tower anchoring a $2 billion downtown development district in Georgia, was announced in September 2026, with completion planned for 2031.

• Trump Tower Tbilisi anchors $2 billion downtown development (Highways Today, Sept. 18, 2026)

Vietnam resort: A $1.5 billion Trump golf resort on 2,446 acres, for which more than 3,500 graves were exhumed and about 4,000 families relocated.

• Trump resort rises on Vietnam graveyard as US links grow (Asia Times, July 7, 2026)

Foreign licensing growth: CNBC reports Trump’s foreign licensing income has grown to $59.5 million as Gulf developers pay.

• Trump’s foreign licensing business booms to $59.5 million as Gulf developers pay (CNBC, Aug. 10, 2026)

10. Oil and Gas Development

Description

This category includes:

• Using taxpayer-funded weather warfare and/or biowarfare to clear an area out, or kill or displace inhabitants (fire, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis).
• Using military and covert intelligence operations to clear an area out, or kill or displace inhabitants.

See also, Real Estate Acquisition and Development and Metals and Mining Development.

Examples

Gaza: The Gaza situation and the issuance of oil and gas licenses.

Venezuela (who sells the oil?): After Maduro’s removal on Jan. 3, 2026, commodity traders Vitol and Trafigura sold about 100 million barrels (about $8 billion) in the first four months; proceeds moved first through a Qatar account, and trader contracts remain undisclosed.

• The U.S. took over Venezuela’s oil industry. Where has all the money gone? (Council on Foreign Relations, June 3, 2026)

Venezuela (donor link): The first sale, about $500 million, went to Vitol, whose senior trader John Addison gave about $6 million to support Trump.

• Ranking member Robert Garcia demands answers from big oil after Trump administration’s half billion dollar sale of Venezuelan oil (House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Democrats, Jan. 29, 2026)

Venezuela oil deal: The “biggest oil deal in world history” was announced Aug. 29, 2026, claiming majority U.S. control of 65 billion barrels of reserves. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital is taking 35% of North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), controlled by Alejandro Betancourt, a Chávez-era contractor investigated in several countries but not charged.

• Trump announces “biggest oil deal in world history” with Venezuela (Al Jazeera, Aug. 29, 2026
• What’s in the US-Venezuela “biggest oil deal in world history”? (Al Jazeera, Aug. 29, 2026)
• White House unveils more details of Trump’s Venezuela oil deal (Al Jazeera, Sept. 1, 2026)
• Who is Alejandro Betancourt, ex-Chavez ally now Trump’s Venezuela oil man? (Al Jazeera, Sept. 1, 2026)

Reliance: After investing at least $100 million in America First Refining (in which Don Jr. holds a stake), Reliance received a license to buy Venezuelan oil and a waiver to buy Russian crude.

• An Indian billionaire was targeted by Trump. Then he poured money into a startup secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr. (ProPublica, June 9, 2026)

11. Metals and Mining Development

Description

This category includes:

• Using taxpayer-funded weather warfare to clear an area out, or kill or displace inhabitants (fire, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis).
• Using military and covert intelligence operations to clear an area out, or kill or displace inhabitants.

See also, Real Estate Acquisition and Development and Oil and Gas Development.

Examples

Ukraine: Under the April 30, 2025 minerals deal, the first award in January 2026—the Dobra lithium deposit—went to TechMet (backed by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation) and Rock Holdings, with Ronald Lauder involved; minimum investment $179 million.

• Ukraine officially awards lithium deposit to Trump-linked investors, $179 million set for development (The Kyiv Independent, Jan. 13, 2026)

DRC and Rwanda: Following the June 2025 peace deal, KoBold Metals (backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates) received more than 1,600 km² of permits, including Manono lithium.

• US companies rush into Congo before ink is dry on peace deal (Responsible Statecraft, Aug. 18, 2025)

Greenland: Cantor Fitzgerald is an investor in Critical Metals Corp, which controls the Tanbreez rare-earth deposit; Ronald Lauder is part of Greenland Development Partners.

• Trump-linked figures set to profit from Greenland’s untapped mineral resources (Global Witness, June 15, 2026)

USA Rare Earth (USAR): Commerce committed $1.6 billion in January 2026 for about a 10% stake plus a loan; Cantor Fitzgerald, run by Secretary Lutnick’s sons, was placement agent on the accompanying $1.5 billion private placement. A congressional probe opened July 7, 2026.

• Warren, Wyden, van Hollen, Lofgren lead new probe into Cantor Fitzgerald, USAR after $1.6 billion Trump administration deal (Sen. Warren, July 7, 2026)

12. Piratization

Description

Privatization is when a government asset is transferred at fair market value. Piratization occurs when the asset is transferred at far below market price—or even for free.

Examples

TikTok US: Trump’s September 25, 2025 executive order valued TikTok US at about $14 billion, against analyst estimates of $30 to $40 billion. The joint venture (formed January 22, 2026) gave Oracle (Larry Ellison), Silver Lake, and MGX 15% each. (A forced sale of a private asset; also fits Transfer of Market Share.)

• Trump’s new executive order declares TikTok’s value, and it’s far lower than analysts’ estimates (Fast Company, Sept. 26, 2025)
• Here’s what you should know about the US TikTok deal (TechCrunch, Jan. 23, 2026)

Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac (watch item): A release or IPO is being planned while donor hedge funds (Ackman’s Pershing Square, Paulson) hold large stakes; treatment of the government’s senior preferred stake will determine whether this becomes piratization.

• Privatizing Fannie Mae is risky. Would it be a win for taxpayers or Trump’s donors? (NPR, Feb. 3, 2026)

Public lands (attempted): Sen. Mike Lee’s provision to sell more than one million acres of federal land was pulled from the reconciliation bill on June 28, 2025.

• “Over the weekend, Senator Mike Lee withdrew his proposal to sell off public lands from the Senate budget reconciliation bill….” (Outdoor Alliance, June 30, 2025)

Additional Headlines

• What happens to BitMEX’s $3 billion fund once the exchange sunsets (Bloomberg, Aug. 4, 2026)
• Today’s global choice – A U.S. ruler-based order or international law (The Unz Review, Mar. 7, 2026)
• Corporate America got billions of dollars in tariff refunds. Where’s your cut? (CNN, Aug. 5, 2026)
• “The UN Security Council handed the deed of Gaza to Donald J. Trump.” (Norman Finkelstein on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sept. 14, 2026)

13. Starting Wars

Description

This category involves attacking countries for the benefit of investment and corporate interests.

Iran War Examples

Kushner conflicts of interest: Multiple conflicts involving Jared Kushner and his partners.

Iran war and the president’s portfolio: Trump’s energy holdings gained millions during the Iran war (see Insider Trading).

• Trump’s oil investments have gained millions during Iran war as his accounts keep trading (CNBC, Sep. 9, 2026)
• Trump, big oil, and “too much money” (The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 4, 2026)

Private Equity (Kushner/Affinity Partners) Examples

Foreign sovereign funding: Affinity Partners, formed by Kushner in 2021, draws its funding overwhelmingly from the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) ($2 billion), with UAE and Qatar as other major investors; the firm returned no profits to investors through 2024. PIF officials who screen investments objected, but Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally overruled them.

Management fees: Affinity has collected about $157.5 million in management fees from foreign governments, including $87 million from Saudi Arabia alone, despite investing only a fraction of committed funds. The Senate Finance Committee reportedly told DOJ it found “significant evidence” that Kushner acted as an unregistered foreign agent of Saudi Arabia under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Conflicts while serving as envoy: A March 2026 congressional letter found Affinity backed by billions tied to the Saudi, Emirati, and Qatari governments while Kushner simultaneously led U.S. Middle East negotiations without Senate confirmation or standard security vetting. The New York Times reported that Kushner’s firm met with Saudi officials—the same government he had earlier publicly promised not to solicit funds from during Trump’s second term. Kushner also met with Iranian officials on the administration’s behalf around the same period.

Electronic Arts buyout: Affinity partnered with Saudi Arabia’s PIF on a $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts (EA), with the Saudi fund ending up owning roughly 93% of EA. The deal closed in August 2026 at $210 per share, the largest leveraged buyout on record.

• EA announces completion of acquisition by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners (Electronic Arts, Aug. 4, 2026)

Investigations: House Judiciary and Senate Finance Committee Democrats have opened investigations into Kushner’s fundraising while in a diplomatic role.

Albania: Affinity paid more than $120 million for disputed coastline at Zvernec; Albanian prosecutors froze assets tied to the purchase. A Raskin letter says 97% of Affinity’s capital comes from foreign sovereign funds.

• “You may have been too busy causing a new foreign policy fiasco in Albania after your yachting foray in the Adriatic to get back to us….” (House Judiciary Committee Democrats, Aug. 24, 2026)

Gulf money in U.S. media: On September 18, 2026 the FCC approved $24 billion from Saudi, Qatari, and UAE funds (nearly 50% non-voting equity) in Paramount’s $81 billion Warner Bros. Discovery buyout. Affinity had exited the bid in December 2025.

• FCC grants Paramount’s indirect ownership request for Gulf funds in Warner Bros. Discovery buyout (AP, Sept. 18, 2026)

Additional Headlines

• Amid $41B shortfall, Pennsylvania teachers’ pension cites private equity as biggest drag (Williamsport Sun-Gazette, Oct. 1, 2026)

14. Litigation Tribute (Settlements as Tax)

Description

A company or institution facing the president’s lawsuits or regulatory pressure pays money or services to vehicles the president controls or favors—often while a merger or approval is pending.

Examples

Media settlements: ABC paid $15 million, Paramount $16 million, Meta $25 million, X about $10 million, and YouTube $24.5 million ($22 million to the ballroom via the Trust for the National Mall). Florida dissolved the Trump Presidential Library Fund, and where the money went is undisclosed.

• YouTube to pay $24.5 million to settle lawsuit over Trump’s account suspension after Jan. 6 attack (PBS, Sept. 30, 2025)
• Warren, Blumenthal, Stansbury press big tech CEOs on Trump settlements to now-dissolved library fund (Sen. Warren, Mar. 11, 2026)

Paramount-Skydance: The FCC approved the merger on July 24, 2025, about three weeks after Paramount’s $16 million 60 Minutes settlement.

• Trump administration approves sale of CBS parent company Paramount after concessions (NPR, July 24, 2025)

Law firms: Nine firms pledged about $940 million in pro bono work (Paul Weiss $40 million; Skadden, Willkie, Milbank and Cadwalader $100 million each; Kirkland, Latham, A&O Shearman and Simpson Thacher $125 million each). The four firms that fought the executive orders in court won.

• In Trump’s $940 million deals with firms, the jury is still out (Bloomberg Law, Aug. 15, 2025)

Universities: Universities paid the federal government to have suspended funding restored or to resolve investigations (Columbia $221 million; Northwestern $75 million; Brown $50 million; Cornell $60 million).

• Tracking the Trump administration’s deals with colleges (Higher Ed Dive, Oct. 22, 2025, updated Dec. 2, 2025)

15. Self-Compensation

Description

The president or his family seek payment from the Treasury through claims decided by his own appointees.

Examples

$230 million DOJ claims: Filed over the Russia probe and the Mar-a-Lago search; approval rests with officials who previously defended Trump personally. No payment has been reported.

• Trump demands DOJ pay him $230 million for past cases (CBS News, Oct. 21, 2025)

$10 billion IRS lawsuit and the $1.776 billion fund: Trump and his sons dismissed their IRS suit on May 18, 2026; the same day, DOJ created the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” A federal judge accused DOJ of “collusive behavior.” DOJ now says the fund is rescinded; litigation continues.

• Settlement agreement, President Donald J. Trump, et al., v. Internal Revenue Service, et al. (DOJ, May 18, 2026)
• Judge questions whether aim of “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is really dead (ABC News, Sept. 18, 2026)

16. Access Selling / Pay-to-Play Donations

Description

Donors pay into presidential projects, funds or tokens, gain access, and have business pending before the government.

Examples

White House ballroom: Of 27 corporate donors, 14 received $50 billion in new or increased contracts within six months, and 16 face (or had suspended) federal enforcement actions; some donors remain anonymous under a private agreement. The Supreme Court allowed construction to continue in August 2026; the promised donor list had not been released.

• Corporate donors to Trump’s White House ballroom have received $50 billion in government contracts since the East Wing was demolished (Public Citizen, June 4, 2026)
• Supreme Court allows White House ballroom construction to continue for now (SCOTUSblog, Aug. 21, 2026)

Inaugural fund and dinners: A record $239 million inaugural fund; $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. dinners; the $TRUMP memecoin dinner for top holders, led by Justin Sun.

• Donald Trump raised nearly $240 million for his inauguration (CNN, Apr 20, 2025)
• White House denies conflicts of interest as Trump joins dinner for meme coin investors (NPR, May 22, 2025)

17. Bailouts for Friends

Description

This category includes public financial rescues whose private gains flow to investors connected to the officials who arrange them.

Example

Argentina $20 billion swap line (October 2025): Funds tied to Treasury Secretary Bessent’s former circle, including Rob Citrone of Discovery Capital, who lobbied for the rescue, held Argentine bonds that recovered. For balance: Argentina repaid its $2.5 billion drawdown in full, so the issue is gains to connected bondholders rather than taxpayer losses.

• Bessent steps in to protect profits of friendly investors in Argentina (Buenos Aires Times, Oct. 22, 2025)
• Argentina pays US swap line, bondholders in boost for Milei (Bloomberg Law, Jan. 9, 2026)

18. Government Equity Stakes (Crony State Capitalism)

Description

The government takes equity in private companies while connected financiers and family-linked funds profit alongside it.

Examples

Scale: Intel 9.9%; MP Materials (the Pentagon is its largest shareholder); Trilogy Metals 10%; Lithium Americas 5%; a US Steel golden share; a 15% cut of Nvidia/AMD China chip revenue; 20+ CHIPS-funded stakes in 2026.

• The updated list of Trump ownership stakes in private companies (Washington Examiner, Aug. 3, 2026)

USA Rare Earth and Cantor Fitzgerald: See Metals and Mining above.

Vulcan Elements and 1789 Capital: Don Jr.’s fund invested about three months before Vulcan received a record $620 million Pentagon loan plus a $50 million Commerce stake; PsiQuantum, another 1789 portfolio company, received a $100 million Commerce stake.

• Warren, Crow demand answers on federal contracts benefiting Trump family (Rep. Crow, June 4, 2026)

19. Tariff Favoritism and Arbitrage

Description

This category includes:

• Tariff exemptions granted in exchange for pledges or gifts.
• Connected firms trading on the outcome of tariff policy.

Examples

Apple: On August 6, 2025, Apple pledged another $100 billion, Tim Cook presented Trump with a gold plaque, and Apple was exempted from the roughly 100% chip tariff announced the same day.

• Apple’s new $100B US commitment got it a 100% chip tariff exemption (9to5Mac, Aug. 6, 2025)

Tariff refund rights and Cantor: The Supreme Court struck down the International Emeregncy Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs on February 20, 2026, with up to about $180 billion refundable. Cantor documents show it prepared to trade importers’ refund rights at roughly 25 cents on the dollar; Cantor denies executing any trade.

• Meet the quiet winners of the Supreme Court tariff ruling: hedge funds creating a $100 billion market snapping up rights to importers’ tariff refunds (Fortune, Mar. 7, 2026)

20. Family and Official Portfolio Conflicts (Revolving Door)

Description

Officials or their relatives hold stakes in, or advise, firms that benefit from administration decisions.

Examples

1789 Capital: Assets under management grew from about $150 million to more than $3 billion; portfolio companies include Vulcan ($620 million loan), Polymarket (DOJ probe closed; valuation up from $300 million to $15 billion), and Juul (FDA authorization).

• Ranking member Raskin demands answers from Donald Trump Jr.’s 1789 Capital on corrupt insider deals (House Committee on the Judiciary Democrats, Aug. 27, 2026)

Prediction markets: Donald Trump Jr. is a paid adviser to Kalshi and sits on Polymarket’s advisory board while the CFTC shapes both markets.

• Kalshi cracks down on insider trading as Trump family looks to increase prediction market presence (Fortune, Aug. 9, 2026)

David Sacks: The AI and crypto czar holds 400+ AI-linked investments under ethics waivers while shaping AI preemption policy; he denies any conflict.

• Trump tech advisor David Sacks under fire over vast AI investments (NPR, Dec. 12, 2025, updated Dec. 13, 2025)

Steve Witkoff: Earned about $107 million from World Liberty in 2025 while serving as envoy; the White House says he has “fully divested.”

• Steve Witkoff earned nearly $107M from Trump-affiliated crypto venture, disclosures show (ABC News, Sept. 9, 2026)

21. Disguised Payments (Licensing and Side Deals)

Description

Companies with business before the government overpay a family member for commercial rights or stakes.

Examples

Amazon Melania documentary: A $40 million license (outbidding Disney by $26 million) plus $35 million in marketing; per the Wall Street Journal, Melania receives about 70% of the fee.

• “Melania” director defends $75 million documentary price tag—here’s why it’s raised eyebrows (Forbes, Jan. 30, 2026)

Reliance and America First Refining: Donald Trump Jr. holds an undisclosed stake; Reliance invested at least $100 million, then received an India tariff deal, a Venezuelan oil license, and a Russian crude waiver.

• An Indian billionaire was targeted by Trump. Then he poured money into a startup secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr. (ProPublica, June 9, 2026)

Suggested Sources for Further Reading

Investigative/Nonprofit Newsrooms

• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Board of Peace financial oversight and governance analysis.
• Center for American Progress: “Trump’s Take” real-time tracker of Trump’s corrupt earnings, gifts, and crypto gains.
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW): Tracks emoluments and conflicts litigation.
• ProPublica: Pardons, Blanche/DOJ crypto conflicts, and the Clarence Thomas gifts reporting.
• Public Citizen: WLF-Binance-Iran sanctions reporting, government-ethics analysis.
• Wikipedia: “World Liberty Financial,” “Affinity Partners,” and “Board of Peace” pages provide well-sourced running timelines.

Primary/Official Documents

• Trump’s Office of Government Ethics (OGE) annual financial disclosure filings.
• House Judiciary/Oversight/Financial Services Committee Democratic staff reports (e.g., Trump, Crypto, and a New Age of Corruption) and Senate Finance Committee letters.
• White House statements (Anna Kelly, David Warrington): The administration’s position is that assets are managed by a “revocable trust” run by his children and that no conflicts exist.

Congressional/Political Investigations

• Sen. Chris Murphy’s Senate floor “500 days of corruption” remarks
• Gov. Newsom’s “Trump Criminals” tracker
• The American Prospect
• Truthout