The Corruption Chronicles

A hallmark of the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House has been his repeated sidestepping of longstanding, anti-corruption safeguards.

“President Trump’s unprecedented disregard for the ethical responsibilities that come with being a public official degrades the office of the presidency and raises significant concerns about the threat of corruption,” said Issue One Founder and CEO Nick Penniman. “The evidence is clear that the second Trump administration is a powder keg of corruption scandals, influence-peddling, and profiteering from public service. The American people are the ones bearing the costs of Trump’s self-enrichment and selling of access and influence to the highest bidder.”

As the index below details, Trump — whose net worth, according to Forbes, has increased from $2.5 billion in 2020 to more than $5 billion today — has monetized the presidency in ways that defy both the intent and the letter of Article I of the Constitution, transforming public office into a vehicle for private gain through business enterprises, including multiple cryptocurrency ventures.

The scale and severity of Trump’s conflicts of interest has already far outstripped those of his first term. From selling access to his administration to using presidential visits and trade talks to help garner support for international contracts for his own businesses, Trump has taken numerous actions that have eroded the line between the presidency and his personal financial interests. While ethics watchdogs raised concerns during Trump’s first term that he had violated the ban on accepting “emoluments” from foreign powers during his first term in office, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed those lawsuits after Trump left office in 2021, missing an opportunity to bolster an important anti-corruption guardrail.

Founding Fathers who abhorred the idea of foreign powers corrupting American political leaders would be shocked today to see foreign interests — like Russian oligarchs, members of the Saudi royal family, and members of the Chinese Communist Party — purchasing Trump’s cryptocurrency in an effort to sway U.S. policy, gain sensitive access, and undermine national security.

Below are two dozen statistics and factoids compiled by Issue One that illuminate the most concerning ways Trump has exploited the presidency for personal gain and taken the selling of access to staggering new heights.

Key

$1 billion

Estimated minimum increase in Trump’s net worth due to his crypto ventures since the 2024 election, accounting for nearly 20% of his overall net worth.

3

Days before he was inaugurated that Trump launched a “memecoin,” a type of cryptocurrency product that is widely understood as having no utility but could serve as an attractive vehicle for investors seeking to curry favor with the president.

1

Day before the inauguration that First Lady Melania Trump launched her own memecoin.

$148 million

Estimated total amount of money that investors spent buying Trump’s cryptocurrency memecoin to attend an exclusive dinner with the president in May at his golf club in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.

$320 million

Estimated amount of money generated for Trump and his allies from trading fees alone from purchases of Trump’s cryptocurrency memecoin, in which interest spiked after it was announced in April that the token’s top 220 holders would win a dinner with Trump in May.

92%

Percentage of the top 25 investors of Trump’s cryptocurrency memecoin who appear to be foreign nationals.

$18.5 million

Amount of Trump’s meme coin purchased by Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire who also purchased $75 million worth of crypto tokens from Trump’s World Liberty Financial company after Trump won the 2024 presidential election. After Sun’s massive investments in Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures, the Security and Exchange Commission abruptly paused a fraud case against him. One company that researches crypto transactions estimates that half of all illegal crypto activity takes place on the crypto network Sun founded.

17

Number of federal enforcement actions and investigations against companies that donated to Trump’s inauguration that have since been halted or dismissed.

$1.2 billion

Value of a 15-year government contract awarded to the private prison company GEO Group to reopen an immigrant detention facility in New Jersey, after the GEO Group and its subsidiaries gave a combined $1.25 million to two pro-Trump super PACs ahead of the 2024 election and $500,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee.

12

Number of overseas business deals that the Trump Organization and its partners have announced since Trump was elected to a second term in November 2024.

100%

Portion of countries that Trump visited on the first official foreign trip of his second term that have ongoing business deals with the Trump Organization.

$2 billion

Amount of money that a fund backed by the government of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates said it would invest in May in a cryptocurrency exchange using the cryptocurrency “stablecoin” developed by the Trump family.

$400 million

Value of a luxury jet gifted to Trump in May by the royal family of Qatar to be the next Air Force One and then be used by Trump’s presidential library after Trump leaves office. Qatar depends heavily on U.S. military protection and diplomatic backing to secure its regional interests, yet has faced scrutiny for human rights abuses, ties to extremist groups, and lack of political accountability.

$5 million

Cost of a new “Trump gold card” investment visa announced by Trump in February that would give wealthy foreigners permanent residency status in the United States, a path to citizenship, and the ability to make political contributions.

5

Number of big-dollar fundraising events Trump has attended for the main pro-Trump super PAC since he was elected in November.

100%

Portion of these pro-Trump super PAC fundraising events with the president that have been held at Trump properties.

$1 million

Cost of the membership initiation fee charged to join Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, up from $200,000 in 2017.

$1.8 million

Amount of taxpayer-funded security upgrades that Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida was approved to receive earlier this year.

$50

Cost of a baseball cap in the Trump Organization’s online store featuring the slogan “Trump 2028,” a move that makes light of concerns that Trump may attempt to illegally run for a third term in the White House.

$75,000 to $200,000

Cost of corporate sponsorship packages for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll this year, whose underwriters ultimately included tech companies Amazon, Meta, and YouTube. In what was called an “unprecedented offering of corporate branding opportunities on White House grounds,” corporate sponsors were offered opportunities for “naming rights for key areas,” among other perks.

$28 million

Amount of money that Amazon is reportedly paying to First Lady Melania Trump for an exclusive documentary about her.

$66 million

Amount of money that major companies — including Disney, Meta, Paramount, and X — have said they will pay to settle lawsuits filed by Trump, with much of the funds flowing to Trump’s presidential library.

$940 million

Amount of money that major law firms have pledged for pro bono legal services for conservative causes to avoid being targeted by executive orders signed by Trump.

$500,000

Member initiation fee for a new, Trump-aligned private club in Washington, D.C., which was co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., and has been described as “a sumptuous retreat for rubbing shoulders with cabinet members and West Wing officials, with no danger of running into reporters or Democrats.”

Amelia Minkin, Jeanne Broome, and Mihika Gogate contributed to this report.