Ethics Loopholes #3: A Foreign Fund Paid In, Then a Pardon Followed.

I am writing as your constituent to urge you to close a dangerous gap in our federal ethics framework: the practical unenforceability of the Foreign Emoluments Clause against a sitting President who personally profits from a private business taking money from foreign governments. The Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause exists specifically to bar federal officials from accepting benefits from foreign states without congressional consent. In practice, it lacks a direct statutory enforcement mechanism. Past emoluments lawsuits were dismissed on procedural standing grounds without reaching the merits, leaving the door wide open for the arrangement now unfolding through World Liberty Financial—a cryptocurrency venture where an entity affiliated with the President and his family holds roughly 38 percent ownership. In May 2025, MGX, a state-owned investment fund controlled by Abu Dhabi, used World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin to settle a $2 billion investment into Binance. The transaction delivered massive volume into a stablecoin from which the President’s family profits. At the time, Binance was actively seeking clemency for its founder, Changpeng Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to federal anti-money laundering violations as part of a historic $4.3 billion corporate settlement. Following reporting that the President's crypto venture was benefiting from trading arrangements with Binance, the President granted Zhao a full pardon. Financial disclosures show the President personally earned over $57 million in a single year from the crypto venture. This sequence creates an unassailable case for structural reform: - Foreign State Investment in an Executive Business: A foreign state fund moving $2 billion through a venture linked to a sitting President violates the anti-corruption principles the Framers enshrined in the Constitution. - The Pardon Followed the Capital: Clemency was granted to the founder of a platform whose major investor had just routed billions through the President's family stablecoin. - Congress Lacks Direct Enforcement Tools: While members of Congress have requested investigations, without a binding statutory emoluments enforcement mechanism or mandatory divestment laws, formal oversight requests remain virtually powerless to stop it. I urge you to co-sponsor and pass legislation to: 1. Establish Statutory Emoluments Standing: Create a statutory private right of action and clear congressional standing rules so Foreign Emoluments Clause violations can be adjudicated in federal court on the merits. 2. Mandate Blind Trusts or Divestment: Require the President, Vice President, and their immediate families to place stakes in private businesses capable of receiving foreign capital into an independently managed blind trust. 3. Require Real-Time Foreign Disclosures: Mandate that any business substantially owned by the President or Vice President’s family report foreign government investments or transactions exceeding $100,000 to Congress within 48 hours. Close this loophole before foreign money paying into executive family ventures becomes a normalized tool of foreign influence.