World Liberty Financial ($WLFI), a cryptocurrency company co-owned by the Trump family, announced a partnership with a blockchain network called AB, less than a month after the U.S. government sanctioned more than 140 people and entities associated with what it describes as one of Asia’s largest criminal organizations.
However, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), AB’s flagship resort project in Timor-Leste involves three people who were sanctioned for that crackdown, raising questions about the due diligence of Trump-related cryptocurrency transactions.
Relationship between partnership and authorized reporting
The partnership, announced on November 12, 2025, gives AB the right to operate World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin on its own blockchain network.
AB’s post on X at the time described this as a move to strengthen the platform’s “DeFi and payments ecosystem.” However, according to the Journal, the company was also recently pursuing plans for a “blockchain-themed resort” in East Timor, a Southeast Asian nation with deep ties to people just blacklisted by the US Treasury.
Resort company AB Digital Technology Resorts is majority-owned by Yan Jiang, a Cypriot national who was sanctioned by the US Treasury for allegedly helping Prince Group CEO Chen Zhi develop another resort in Palau, in what the Treasury Department described as a “predatory investment.”
The resort’s general manager, Yang Yangming, and Taiwanese national Shi Tingyu, who is believed to have been involved in the project, were also sanctioned. All three were fired from the company shortly after the sanctions were announced on Oct. 14, according to company documents, and none have been charged.
The Prince Group, based in Cambodia and accused by the U.S. government of operating at least 10 violent fraud facilities, allegedly stole billions of dollars from victims through “pig butchering” schemes. Pig butchering is an online relationship developed over time before the victim’s money is taken.
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Who is behind AB and what does freedom in the world say?
According to the WSJ report, AB Network is described as decentralized, with organizations in Ireland and the Cayman Islands, but investigators identified two Chinese businessmen as its main actors. One is Sui Chenggang, a beneficiary of AB’s Cayman Islands company, and Lin Xiaofan, a Cantonese-born entrepreneur who traveled on a St. Kitts and Nevis passport and introduced Sui to World Liberty executives on his own account.
Sui signed a memorandum of understanding with World Liberty on September 17, 2025, but claims the East Timor resort was “not discussed” during those conversations.
Meanwhile, World Liberty lawyers said the company had conducted due diligence on AB but was “not informed about the resort or the people behind it.” The company said it first learned of AB’s connection to the Timor-Leste project in January 2026.
“Allegations linking World Liberty Financial to the sanctioned parties are baseless and untrue,” the lawyers said.
AB said the resort was subject to a separate memorandum of understanding that was canceled in November before reaching a “substantive implementation stage”.
World Liberty faces increased scrutiny on other fronts as well. The company is also being sued by Tron founder Justin Sun. $WLFI The team member froze his tokens without any valid reason and threatened to burn them, but the company says the dispute will be resolved in court.
