Senator Warren and US OCC Head Clash Over WLFI-Related Crypto Bank Application

Odaily News U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Acting Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) Jonathan Gould engaged in a heated debate during a Senate Banking Committee hearing regarding World Liberty Financial's (WLFI) application for a national trust bank charter.

Warren called the application the "most disgraceful" presidential corruption scandal, pointing out that an investment firm linked to UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan invested $500 million in WLFI four days before Trump's inauguration, acquiring a 49% stake, with approximately $187 million flowing to Trump family entities. Warren urged Gould to reject or suspend the review of the application, stating that approval would make him a "complicit in corruption." Gould, however, declined to intervene, stating the application would be processed through regular procedures and countered that the only political pressure he felt came from Warren. Forty-one House Democrats had previously written to the Treasury Secretary, warning that approving the charter could threaten "the legitimacy of the U.S. banking system and its independence from foreign actors." (Decrypt)