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Report:
Commerce Sec. Lutnick’s Family Business Dumped At Least $300M More Into Largest Corporate Bitcoin Holder As Lutnick Helped Establish Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
WASHINGTON - An Accountable.US review of Q1 2025 SEC filings posted this week for Cantor Fitzgerald – billionaire Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s family-run financial services firm – reveals that while Lutnick was playing a leading role in President Trump’s national Bitcoin reserve effort, Lutnick’s family business empire dramatically deepened its investment in Microstrategy (now called Strategy), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world. From Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, Lutnick’s family-run Cantor Fitzgerald increased its holding of regular Strategy stock by $304 million, to a total of $1.3 billion, even amid being publicly criticized for the egregious conflict of interest. Including puts and calls, Accountable.US found Cantor boosted its total investment by over $568 million to over $2.1 billion, representing 44.5% of the firm’s portfolio.
“President Trump’s billionaire Commerce Secretary has been playing the ultimate Washington insider game to pad his family’s riches,” said Accountable.US Executive Director. “From the White House, Howard Lutnick has played a leading role in orchestrating Trump’s Bitcoin reserve policy at the same time his family company was pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the biggest corporate Bitcoin holder in the game – pushing up their stake by at least $300 million. While both the Lutnick and Trump families seem to be self enriching from positions of power with their massive crypto interests, their bumbling tariff policies and harsh budget plans stand to leave millions of working people with less health and financial security.”
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:In early March 2025, President Trump held the first White House Crypto Summit, where industry leaders discussed “regulations, stablecoins, and Bitcoin’s potential role in the financial system.”
Ahead of the summit, Trump’s billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick broke news by saying the summit would likely reveal a “unique status” for Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, in an unprecedented national crypto strategic reserve Trump announced days earlier. Then, the day before the summit, Trump signed an executive order establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” plus a separate “U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile” for other types of cryptocurrencies. Ahead of the policy announcement, critics called Trump’s crypto plans a “gift to the industry,” “open corruption,” and possibly a “blatant insider trading scam.”
Lutnick, who was CEO of “titan” financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, helped lead Trump’s crypto reserve and sovereign wealth fund, which was expected to invest in crypto. After his confirmation, Lutnick gave control of the business to his two 20-something-year-old sons—though insiders said his “grip on his various businesses is bolted tight” ahead of his confirmation, and expressed skepticism about his ability to truly relinquish control.
In a new filing for Q1 2025, Cantor Fitzgerald revealed holding up to $2.1 billion in Microstrategy Inc. (now called Strategy), which has “the largest corporate Bitcoin holding in the world” and was seen as “‘a big beneficiary’” of Trump’s crypto reserve announcement, also made in Q1 2025. Ahead of Trump’s official announcement, Lutnick notably said the reserve would give Bitcoin a “unique status” over other cryptocurrencies.
From Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, Cantor Fitzgerald increased its total holding in Strategy by over 1.9 million shares valued at over $568 million, to a total of over 7.4 million shares valued at over $2.1 billion. Excluding puts and calls, Cantor still bought over 1 million more shares valued at $304 million in Q1 2025.
In Q1 2025, Strategy continued to be Cantor Fitzgerald’s largest holding, according to Fintel, with the company representing 44.5% of Cantor’s portfolio, including puts and calls.
CNN previously reported Accountable.US research revealing Cantor Fitzgerald’s total investment of $1.5 billion in Strategy in Q4 2024.
On March 7, 2025, the day after he established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, President Trump held a White House crypto summit—with Howard Lutnick and Strategy’s Executive Chairman Michael Saylor in attendance. Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald’s holding in Strategy’s Class A shares soared by 20% from the day before Trump’s reserve announcement to the day Lutnick announced Bitcoin’s unique status in the fund.
In Q1 2025, Cantor Fitzgerald also reported nearly $88 million in other Bitcoin-related investments, including over $86 million in iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.
In March 2025, after the Bitcoin strategic reserve announcement, Cantor Fitzgerald announced a new $2 billion Bitcoin financing partnership, with Cantor’s Head of Bitcoin Financing saying they “‘expect to substantially grow the operation over time.’” The move was seen as an expansion of Cantor’s bitcoin business “in the wake of Trump administration changes.”
Accountable.US has previously documented billions of dollars of interests Cantor Fitzgerald is involved in that could directly benefit from Lutnick’s role as Commerce Secretary – including urging a national television audience to “buy Tesla” stock in March while his family-run firm Cantor Fitzgerald reported holding nearly $840 million in Tesla Inc. in its most recent holdings report. Conveniently, Lutnick’s appeal to would-be average investors came on the same day Cantor Fitzgerald analysts upgraded Tesla to a “buy” rating.
Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.
'Soft underbelly': Investigative reporterd detail 'biggest area of corruption for the Trump family'
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures, as he attends the annual National Memorial Day Observance in the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., May 26, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures, as he attends the annual National Memorial Day Observance in the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., May 26, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
May 28, 2025
ALTERNET
New York Times reporter Ezra Klein spoke with Bloomberg reporter Zeke Faux about the “shocking” potential for corruption surrounding the Trump family’s involvement in the world of crypto.
“It’s like muzzle velocity for political corruption here,” said Klein. “There are so many stories that, on their own, seem like they should be era-defining political scandals. But the big picture— from Trump trading cards, where he looks like a firefighter or whatever, all the way to the Trump stablecoin, Trump media launching (exchange-traded funds) — is that the Trump family has been groping its way, evolving, learning how to open up a lot of avenues to let people invest in various crypto schemes of theirs.”
“They can’t deny that people are giving them money, but their claim is that they are still acting in what they believe to be the U.S.’s best interest. But the conflicts of interest are so obvious,” said Faux. “… And in fact, once Trump’s appointees took over at the S.E.C., they announced that memecoins were collectibles, like Beanie Babies, and that the rules did not apply.”
Faux estimates the Trump family has generated “at least $700 million” off crypto. It was not clear how much of this included purchases from foreign leaders and billionaires seeking favor.
World Liberty, for example, produces a coin that should not seem appealing to investors because Faux says they are “literally impossible to resell.” However, 75 percent of all the money World Liberty makes is paid to the Trump family as a fee, which provides a motivation all by itself. Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who is facing an S.E.C. investigation, bought $30 million of these “unresellable World Liberty tokens” right after the election, and then later bought another $45 million, “which meant that the Trumps were going to get something like $56 million in a payout based on just what he bought,” Faux said.
“A few weeks after Sun finished his $75 million purchase, his S.E.C. case was put on hold. No explanation was given,” Faux said
The controversy over people spending money at the Trump Hotel in D.C looks “quaint” by comparison, Faux added. “That was a couple hundred thousand dollars. Now people are sending millions to buy Trump’s coins.”
“Tens of millions,” said Klein. “The thing about the crypto play here is it’s so much more scalable. The number goes up."
"Yes. And they ended up selling out. They sold all the (World Liberty Financial) tokens that they had offered — a total of $550 million worth. So that meant $400 million to the Trumps, based on the terms of the offering as I read them,” said Faux.
A company called Freight Technologies also recently announced it was buying $20 million of Trump’s memecoin, phrasing it as “an effective way to advocate for fair, balanced and free trade between Mexico and the U.S.”
“So, what is a company like that doing, publicly announcing a multimillion-dollar investment in the Trump memecoin? What are they saying this memecoin investment is buying them?” asked Klein.
“It seems like those guys are talking about using it to buy access,” said Faux.
Klein said the U.S. system is still trying to find a way to deal with a figure so effortlessly corrupt, backed by a political party so willing to enable the corruption.
“This guy, with his bizarre genius for shamelessness, is just doing it all so unbelievably directly. The coin is called $TRUMP. He’s just promoting it himself. It’s all for him… He has control of the Republican Party, so they’re not going to do anything to him. And they control Congress,” said Klein. “He sort of overwhelms the system’s capacity to know what to do about him, because it never had any defense for something so over the line that the administration refuses to treat as a problem."
“The thing that is supposed to happen in government is somebody says: ‘Hey, you’re taking a bribe. You’re trying to make yourself rich off this,’" Klein added. "And he says: ‘Oh, of course I’m not. I would never do that. How dare you impugn my integrity. But Trump is instead like: ‘Yeah, I mean, wouldn’t you?’"
Read the full NY Times interview at this link. (subscription needed)
New York Times reporter Ezra Klein spoke with Bloomberg reporter Zeke Faux about the “shocking” potential for corruption surrounding the Trump family’s involvement in the world of crypto.
“It’s like muzzle velocity for political corruption here,” said Klein. “There are so many stories that, on their own, seem like they should be era-defining political scandals. But the big picture— from Trump trading cards, where he looks like a firefighter or whatever, all the way to the Trump stablecoin, Trump media launching (exchange-traded funds) — is that the Trump family has been groping its way, evolving, learning how to open up a lot of avenues to let people invest in various crypto schemes of theirs.”
“They can’t deny that people are giving them money, but their claim is that they are still acting in what they believe to be the U.S.’s best interest. But the conflicts of interest are so obvious,” said Faux. “… And in fact, once Trump’s appointees took over at the S.E.C., they announced that memecoins were collectibles, like Beanie Babies, and that the rules did not apply.”
Faux estimates the Trump family has generated “at least $700 million” off crypto. It was not clear how much of this included purchases from foreign leaders and billionaires seeking favor.
World Liberty, for example, produces a coin that should not seem appealing to investors because Faux says they are “literally impossible to resell.” However, 75 percent of all the money World Liberty makes is paid to the Trump family as a fee, which provides a motivation all by itself. Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who is facing an S.E.C. investigation, bought $30 million of these “unresellable World Liberty tokens” right after the election, and then later bought another $45 million, “which meant that the Trumps were going to get something like $56 million in a payout based on just what he bought,” Faux said.
“A few weeks after Sun finished his $75 million purchase, his S.E.C. case was put on hold. No explanation was given,” Faux said
The controversy over people spending money at the Trump Hotel in D.C looks “quaint” by comparison, Faux added. “That was a couple hundred thousand dollars. Now people are sending millions to buy Trump’s coins.”
“Tens of millions,” said Klein. “The thing about the crypto play here is it’s so much more scalable. The number goes up."
"Yes. And they ended up selling out. They sold all the (World Liberty Financial) tokens that they had offered — a total of $550 million worth. So that meant $400 million to the Trumps, based on the terms of the offering as I read them,” said Faux.
A company called Freight Technologies also recently announced it was buying $20 million of Trump’s memecoin, phrasing it as “an effective way to advocate for fair, balanced and free trade between Mexico and the U.S.”
“So, what is a company like that doing, publicly announcing a multimillion-dollar investment in the Trump memecoin? What are they saying this memecoin investment is buying them?” asked Klein.
“It seems like those guys are talking about using it to buy access,” said Faux.
Klein said the U.S. system is still trying to find a way to deal with a figure so effortlessly corrupt, backed by a political party so willing to enable the corruption.
“This guy, with his bizarre genius for shamelessness, is just doing it all so unbelievably directly. The coin is called $TRUMP. He’s just promoting it himself. It’s all for him… He has control of the Republican Party, so they’re not going to do anything to him. And they control Congress,” said Klein. “He sort of overwhelms the system’s capacity to know what to do about him, because it never had any defense for something so over the line that the administration refuses to treat as a problem."
“The thing that is supposed to happen in government is somebody says: ‘Hey, you’re taking a bribe. You’re trying to make yourself rich off this,’" Klein added. "And he says: ‘Oh, of course I’m not. I would never do that. How dare you impugn my integrity. But Trump is instead like: ‘Yeah, I mean, wouldn’t you?’"
Read the full NY Times interview at this link. (subscription needed)
'Rise' in white collar crimes: Expert warns of 'Golden Age of Scams' under Trump
REUTERS/Leah Millis
Sharing a series of articles published in The Prospect Tuesday, journalist and author David Dayen noted that the Trump administration has effectively ended white-collar crime enforcement, warning that "ripoffs, deceptions, and cons will rise as a result to part the public from their money."
Titled "The Golden Age of Scams," one of the pieces in the series, written by Dayen, who serves as the publication's executive editor, highlighted how President Donald Trump’s second term "will unleash dishonesty and abuse across the economy."
"Investigations into any business executive with even a passing relationship to Trump have been scotched, with beneficiaries ranging from the richest man in the world to the husband of the education secretary," the article noted.
"Over 100 active enforcement actions have been either paused or dropped across the executive branch. In March, Trump donor Trevor Milton was pardoned after being sentenced for lying to investors; in April, Trump issued a corporate pardon to BitMEX, a crypto exchange that had pled guilty to failing to prevent money laundering," it adds.
Dayen, author of the book Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud, further wrote in the piece that sectors of legal oversight — ranging from restrictions on American firms bribing foreign officials, to efforts aimed at curbing corruption and workplace discrimination — have largely disappeared.
He added that a sweeping deregulation effort, overwhelmingly favorable to corporate interests, is on the horizon.
Roughly $50 million in contributions to Trump’s inauguration came from corporations facing ongoing federal probes or litigation, per the report. This raises serious doubts that these cases will proceed to trial or that the involved executives will face consequences.
Another article in the series written by journalist Jacob Silverman warned that the Trump administration "is removing every financial guardrail from crypto, in order to enrich the first family and its tech and finance allies while destabilizing the economy."
"Since Trump introduced his meme coin, many observers (including me) have warned that it is an unprecedented vehicle for personal enrichment and potentially for bribery," Silverman wrote.
Trump’s aggressive efforts to roll back regulations on the cryptocurrency market have sparked major controversy, particularly as he and his sons have rapidly grown their involvement in crypto enterprises.
Ethics advocates, Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans are sounding the alarm over potential conflicts of interest. Much of the outrage centers on Trump’s promotion of a self-branded meme coin called $Trump — a digital token with no real utility.
Critics were especially concerned after Trump hosted an exclusive dinner last week at his Virginia golf resort for the top 220 purchasers of the coin, along with a private event for the top 25 investors.
REUTERS/Leah Millis
May 27, 2025
ALTERNET
Sharing a series of articles published in The Prospect Tuesday, journalist and author David Dayen noted that the Trump administration has effectively ended white-collar crime enforcement, warning that "ripoffs, deceptions, and cons will rise as a result to part the public from their money."
Titled "The Golden Age of Scams," one of the pieces in the series, written by Dayen, who serves as the publication's executive editor, highlighted how President Donald Trump’s second term "will unleash dishonesty and abuse across the economy."
"Investigations into any business executive with even a passing relationship to Trump have been scotched, with beneficiaries ranging from the richest man in the world to the husband of the education secretary," the article noted.
"Over 100 active enforcement actions have been either paused or dropped across the executive branch. In March, Trump donor Trevor Milton was pardoned after being sentenced for lying to investors; in April, Trump issued a corporate pardon to BitMEX, a crypto exchange that had pled guilty to failing to prevent money laundering," it adds.
Dayen, author of the book Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud, further wrote in the piece that sectors of legal oversight — ranging from restrictions on American firms bribing foreign officials, to efforts aimed at curbing corruption and workplace discrimination — have largely disappeared.
He added that a sweeping deregulation effort, overwhelmingly favorable to corporate interests, is on the horizon.
Roughly $50 million in contributions to Trump’s inauguration came from corporations facing ongoing federal probes or litigation, per the report. This raises serious doubts that these cases will proceed to trial or that the involved executives will face consequences.
Another article in the series written by journalist Jacob Silverman warned that the Trump administration "is removing every financial guardrail from crypto, in order to enrich the first family and its tech and finance allies while destabilizing the economy."
"Since Trump introduced his meme coin, many observers (including me) have warned that it is an unprecedented vehicle for personal enrichment and potentially for bribery," Silverman wrote.
Trump’s aggressive efforts to roll back regulations on the cryptocurrency market have sparked major controversy, particularly as he and his sons have rapidly grown their involvement in crypto enterprises.
Ethics advocates, Democratic lawmakers, and even some Republicans are sounding the alarm over potential conflicts of interest. Much of the outrage centers on Trump’s promotion of a self-branded meme coin called $Trump — a digital token with no real utility.
Critics were especially concerned after Trump hosted an exclusive dinner last week at his Virginia golf resort for the top 220 purchasers of the coin, along with a private event for the top 25 investors.
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