Leading Wall Street executives and government officials will gather Wednesday at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, for a discussion on the “future of finance and technology.”
The World Liberty Forum, sponsored by the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial, will feature high-profile speakers including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson (who oversees $1.7 trillion in assets), New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin, and Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman.
Government representatives scheduled to participate include Trump appointees Michael Selig, who chairs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Kelly Loeffler, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration; and Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.
The gathering will be led by the president’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, both co-founders of World Liberty, along with Zach and Alex Witkoff, sons of White House special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Ethics experts who spoke with Reuters offered mixed opinions on whether the forum creates significant conflicts of interest. Some critics view it as problematic mixing of regulators, financial companies, and a Trump family enterprise, suggesting participants might appear to endorse the business to gain political favor. Others argue all presidents face inherent conflicts and see no constitutional violations.
World Liberty spokesperson David Wachsman defended the event, stating it focuses on “deepening relationships and extending U.S. dollar dominance in the digital economy.” He likened it to established conferences like the Milken Institute Global Conference or Sun Valley gatherings.
Wachsman emphasized that media will attend the event, speakers receive no payment for participating, and all announcements will be made public. The company also plans to invite prominent online supporters of its “WLFI” crypto token and USD1 stablecoin.
Several organizations declined comment or didn’t respond to inquiries, including the CFTC, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, NYSE, and Nasdaq.
A Small Business Administration representative noted that Loeffler is “attending the event in her personal capacity” and referred additional questions to World Liberty. The State Department explained that “a core component of Mr. Helberg’s mandate is to engage the nation’s most prominent business leaders.”
President Trump is not expected to attend the conference, unlike a dinner he hosted in May for major purchasers of his meme coin.
The forum represents a meeting point of Trump family business interests, regulatory officials, political appointees, allied lawmakers, and financial leaders who influence developing cryptocurrency policies.
Chris Swartz, formerly with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics during both Trump administrations, expressed concern about the appearance of the Trump family leveraging the president’s position for their private crypto ventures.
“Any reasonable person would have serious questions about the propriety of this event,” said Swartz, now senior ethics counsel for Democracy Defenders Action, a legal advocacy organization.
University of Iowa law professor Andy Grewal noted it’s typical for business leaders to seek alignment with current administrations.
“The presidency has inescapable conflicts. It’s up to the voters to decide who they believe will or will not ethically handle those,” Grewal explained.
Wachsman responded that “there is nothing unprecedented about leaders in finance, technology, and government convening to discuss the future of critical markets,” arguing that “characterizing standard cross-sector dialogue as a ‘conflict of interest’ misrepresents both the event and its participants.”
World Liberty Financial has become a significant source of Trump family wealth since launching shortly before the 2024 presidential election, drawing criticism from Democratic politicians and others who claim President Trump is using his public position for personal benefit.
Reuters analysis shows the Trump family has earned over $1 billion from cryptocurrency projects during the president’s first year in office. Much of this income stems from World Liberty, whose primary offering, the USD1 stablecoin backed by U.S. dollars, has reached more than $5 billion in circulation, making it the world’s fifth-largest stablecoin, according to Wachsman.
Just days before President Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, an investment entity connected to an Abu Dhabi royal family member acquired a 49% equity stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Wachsman.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly stated that the president’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and “there are no conflicts of interest.”
White House Counsel David Warrington added that “the president has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities.”
As a beneficiary of the trust that controls the Trump Organization, Trump will receive income from these ventures after leaving office.
