The Dirty Little Crypto-Crooks And Two-Bit Hustlers Who Bribed Trump Got Stiffed… Awww
- Howie Klein
- 8 hours ago
- 7 min read
The World’s Most Gauche Gathering Since Marie Antoinette’s Cake-Fueled Rager
Did you miss the most exclusive dinner in the world? Apparently, you didn’t miss much. Lots of whining from the suckers who thought they were buying meaningful access to Trump—or even a memorable time— with their 6 and 7 figure bribes. Those who attended the event at the Trump National Golf Club outside DC, like most people who have entered into transaction relationships with Trump over the decades, feel they were stiffed. He and his crooked family may have raked in close to $3 billion from his crypto shenanigans but, as always, the suckers got… nothing much. Unless they were one of the 25 whales, who had a somewhat more exclusive reception with Señor T. Everyone says the dinner sucked and all Trump gave the guests was a grotesque little YMCA bump and grind and a dull, winding retread of a speech with a bunch of old crypto talking points tacked on at the end. (Trump restaurants have always been famous for serving atrocious, third-rate food prepared in filthy kitchens filled with rodent droppings.)
Wired reported that “On the menu for the evening was pan-seared halibut with a citrus reduction, a filet mignon with demi glaze— and, the attendees hoped, a chance to speak to the US president... By comparison to Trump’s previous banquets, thronging with DC insiders and members of the Silicon Valley elite, the crypto dinner attracted a mismatched collection of oddballs: independent traders rubbed shoulders with crypto executives, diehard Trump fans and even professional sportspeople— former NBA player Lamar Odom towered overhead. A handful wore bowties in Bitcoin orange; others sported gold Trump sneakers.”
How typical is this of the old Times Square hustler from Queens? “We’ve got some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room. You believe in the whole crypto thing. A lot of people are starting to believe in it … This is really something that may be special— who knows, right? Who knows— but it may be special.”
After the competition deadline, a few of the dinner attendees identified themselves publicly, including the largest $TRUMP holder: crypto magnate Justin Sun. The China-born entrepreneur has become increasingly entangled in the Trump family’s expanding web of crypto ventures; in addition to investing in the memecoin, Sun previously disclosed a combined $75 million investment in a separate crypto coin issued by World Liberty Financial, a company affiliated with the Trump family and promoted by Eric and Donald Trump Jr. In early May, Eric Trump announced a partnership between World Liberty Financial and TRON, a crypto network developed by Sun.
Under the Biden administration, US regulators had charged Sun and several of his companies with market manipulation and offering unregistered securities. In February, after Trump had returned to the White House, a district judge granted a joint request to stay the case in order for both sides to negotiate an out-of-court resolution.
… For some, the dinner represented a chance to network with other deep-pocketed crypto figures, and to hear directly from Trump about his plans to bring an end to the regulatory uncertainty that crimped the industry’s expansion under Biden.
“You don’t get to meet the president easily,” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at trading firm Kronos Research, told Wired a few days before the dinner. “To be able to hear his message on crypto directly— I’m definitely looking forward to that.”
Others hoped to run into famous members of Trump’s inner circle— perhaps Elon Musk or David Sacks, the venture capitalist now serving as crypto and AI czar to the White House. “If it’s someone from the PayPal Mafia, I’ll probably tell them that Peter Thiel’s book changed my life,” said 25-year-old TikTok prankster Nicholas Pinto, who purchased around $300,000 in $TRUMP to earn his seat at the dinner.
To celebrate winning a place at the dinner, Pinto had spraypainted “Hold $Trump” onto the chassis of his blue Mercedes G-Wagon. But hoping to win credit with the cryptoheads, rode his Lamborghini Urus to D.C. instead.
… Between mouthfuls, the attendees discussed trading and investment strategies— and Trump’s speech. “To feel his personal charisma to me was very inspiring,” says Liu. But others complained about the brevity of Trump’s appearance: After his speech, Trump had departed immediately in a golf cart bound for his helicopter. “Trump could have at least given the top people their watches himself,” says Pinto. “He didn’t.”
The food itself had left a bitter taste in the mouth, too. “It was the worst food I’ve ever had at a Trump golf course,” says Pinto, who added he left hungry. “The only good thing was bread and butter.” Another attendee described the meal as “Okay, but not top-class.”
During the dessert course, the organizers invited Sun to make a speech of his own as the largest coin holder. He toasted the other attendees— and Trump— and declared a new dawn for the crypto industry in the US. “I appreciate like everything the Trump administration done for our industry [sic],” said Sun.
… The presiding memory for one attendee remains the “warm welcome” that they received at the start of the evening. As they made their way through the security checkpoint at the front gate, they were greeted by a horde of protesters, brandishing signs reading “Stop Crypto Corruption” and “Don the Con” emblazoned with the orange bitcoin logo. “Shame on you,” the protesters shouted.
The next day, reported MackKenzie Sigalos, the price of the memecoin plunged 16%. She also noted that Pinto— whose dad drove him to the event in his Lamborghini— left underwhelmed and still hungry. ‘The food sucked,’ Pinto said. ‘Wasn’t given any drinks other than water or Trump’s wine. I don’t drink, so I had water. My glass was only filled once.’ Trump made only a brief appearance, Pinto said. ‘He didn’t talk to any of the 220 guests— maybe the top 25,’ he said. All in, the president was there for 23 minutes, Pinto said. Trump delivered a brief address rehashing old crypto talking points then left on a helicopter before taking any questions or pictures with his meme coin contest winners, he said… The crowd’s opulence was on full display. ‘Richard Mille watches weren’t even rare,’ Pinto said. ‘I saw at least 16 people wearing them. I never see that unless I’m at a high-end restaurant in Miami or Dubai.’ But the vibe was more muted than expected, he said: ‘Lots of people didn’t even hold the coin anymore. They were checking their phones during dinner to see if the price moved.’”
Outside the gates of Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia, about a hundred protesters gathered, according to NBC News. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), joined them, backing a new End Crypto Corruption Act.
Signs read “Crypto Corruption” and “Trump is a traitor.”
“The Trump family activity in the memecoin space makes my work in Congress more complicated,” Rep. French Hill (R-AR) told CNBC on Friday.
Hill, who’s leading negotiations on a bipartisan stablecoin regulation bill known as the GENIUS Act, called the gala “a distraction from the good work we need to do.”
Now, the GENIUS Act is at risk.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) recently added a controversial rider to the bill that would cap credit card late fees— what’s seen as a poison pill that could alienate banking allies and stall final approval.
On Thursday night as the meme coin contest dinner was underway, a bloc of Senate Democrats announced they’d be pushing for a new provision that would ban presidents and senior officials from profiting off crypto ventures while in office— a direct challenge to the Trump-linked stablecoin USD1 that launched in the spring.
In Washington, there’s growing concern that political infighting over Trump’s crypto ventures could derail the stablecoin bill altogether.
…The White House has tried to draw a line between Trump the president and Trump the private businessman.
“The president is attending it in his personal time. It is not a White House dinner,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when pressed on attendee transparency.
The administration declined to release a guest list. But blockchain data— and a patchwork of guest photos— tell part of the story.
A Bloomberg News analysis found that all but six of the top 25 wallets used foreign exchanges, ostensibly off-limits to U.S. users. More than half of the top 220 wallets were linked to similar offshore platforms.
One Nasdaq-listed penny stock, Freight Technologies, disclosed in an SEC filing that it spent $2 million on Trump’s token to push U.S.-Mexico trade policy. It didn’t make the cut for the dinner— finishing 250th.
Since its January debut, the $TRUMP coin has generated more than $324 million in trading fees. Roughly 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project’s website.
… Abu Dhabi’s MGX Investment fund recently pledged $2 billion in USD1 to Binance, the world’s largest digital assets exchange. It’s the company’s largest-ever investment made in crypto.
The NY Times have a quintet of reporters on the case, including big names like David Fahrenthold, Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany. The guests’ names were top secret but the Times reporters got their hands on one of the paper lists, checked by staffers at the door “and used it to identify people who were present.” Aside from publicity hounds Justin Sun and Nick Pinto, they exposed Elliot Berke, a conservative DC attorney who works for Clarence Thomas and House Republicans (“Republican Lawyer of the Year” in 2021); Evgeny Gaevoy, founder and chief executive of a digital-asset firm, Wintermute; Anil Lullaa and Yan Liberman, co-founders of Delphi Digital, Cheng Lu, a crypto investor from Shanghai; Stephen Dworkin, founder of CTS International which helps military contractors, including Israel Aircraft Industries, recruit employees; Sangrok Oh, chief executive of Hyperithm, a Seoul- and Tokyo-based firm that manages digital assets for institutional investors in Asia; Matthew Liu, co-founder of cryptocurrency company Origin; Caitlin Sinclair, a right-wing media personality who has worked as a reporter for pro-Trump One America News and the young-conservatives group, Turning Point Action; Lamar Odom, the former National Basketball Association star now promoting his own memecoin, $ODOM; Asher And and Lean Sheng Tan, two executives of hedge fund Hyper-Alpha Capital based in the British Virgin Islands; Christoph Heuermann, who runs a consulting company that advises people on how to cheat on their taxes; Daniel Nizar Boubes, Orange County drug dealer on probation and trying his luck in crypto-dealing instead now, which, thanks to corrupt conservative politicians, isn’t illegal yet.
