Guren “Bobby” Zhou, the businessman identified as the person behind Aqua 1’s $100 million purchase of World Liberty Financial tokens, has remained linked to an active British money laundering investigation after his 2021 arrest, despite not being charged.
- Zhou was arrested in Britain in 2021 on suspicion of money laundering but has not been charged.
- Aqua 1 bought $100 million of World Liberty Financial’s WLFI tokens in 2025.
- The source of the $100 million used for the WLFI purchase remains unclear.
- Up to $75 million from the Aqua 1 purchase went to a Trump controlled entity.
- World Liberty has faced congressional scrutiny over separate UAE linked investments.
The New York Times reported Sunday that British authorities arrested Zhou in 2021 on suspicion of money laundering, while a court record filed last November accused him of participating with five other people in a laundering operation dating to 2019.
Two of Zhou’s longtime employees were charged in the case in September 2025, according to the report. One defendant has since pleaded guilty, while the trial involving the charged defendants is scheduled for 2028.
Zhou himself has not been charged with a crime.
The case has drawn attention because Zhou was identified as the businessman behind Aqua 1, the UAE-based investment vehicle that bought $100 million worth of WLFI governance tokens from World Liberty Financial. Reuters previously identified Zhou as the person behind the fund, while the purchase was publicly announced in June 2025.
Aqua 1’s $100 million World Liberty investment remains unexplained
A review of court records, confidential documents and interviews with Zhou’s former associates led the Times to examine how the businessman went from a series of troubled ventures in Britain to overseeing one of the largest publicly known investments in World Liberty.
The newspaper said it was unable to determine where the $100 million used for the WLFI purchase came from.
Blockchain activity examined as part of the report also connected Zhou’s earlier crypto business to the World Liberty transactions. According to the Times, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence determined that a wallet controlled by Web3Port bought $20 million worth of WLFI in January 2025.
A second wallet believed to be controlled by Aqua 1 purchased another $80 million in June, bringing the combined purchases to $100 million.
Before Aqua 1 emerged publicly, Zhou had led Web3Port, a crypto venture fund that announced a separate $10 million investment in World Liberty shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.
Corporate records reviewed by the Times showed that a Web3Port entity registered in the British Virgin Islands was later renamed Aqua 1 GP Limited. Aqua 1 announced its $100 million WLFI purchase about two weeks after the name change.
Aqua 1 had previously denied having a connection to Web3Port after earlier reporting linked the operations. The fund did not specify which parts of that reporting it disputed.
Zhou’s previous businesses faced financial problems
Before relocating from London to Abu Dhabi in 2024, Zhou operated businesses that later faced financial or credibility problems, according to the Times.
One was a British flooring retailer that entered restructuring without repaying roughly $5 million owed to a company controlled by Zhou’s father.
Zhou later launched Caduceus, a crypto project that raised about $7.6 million in funding. Its token had become effectively worthless by 2024, according to the newspaper.
Caduceus had announced backing from China Merchants Securities UK and the Bin Zayed Group, an organization founded by a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family. Both organizations told the Times that claims about their involvement were “unauthorized and materially false.”
After moving to Abu Dhabi, Zhou became associated with Web3Port and subsequently Aqua 1, putting him behind investments that made the entities major buyers of World Liberty tokens.
The timing also placed Aqua 1 among several UAE-linked investments involving World Liberty that have drawn scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers.
World Liberty token sale sent millions to Trump-controlled entity
Under World Liberty’s revenue-sharing structure, as much as $75 million from Aqua 1’s $100 million token purchase went to a company controlled by Trump and his sons, according to the Times.
Previous reporting showed that 75% of proceeds from WLFI token sales flow to DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity controlled by Trump.
Trump’s latest financial disclosure listed more than $65.6 million from the sale of equity in WLF Holdco and $236.25 million in distributed World Liberty token-sale proceeds.
The Aqua 1 transaction also benefited the family of World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff, according to the Times. His father, Steve Witkoff, serves as a special envoy in the Trump administration.
World Liberty spokesperson David Wachsman told the newspaper that the company had complied with applicable laws and regulations and maintained a compliance program that “meets or exceeds industry standards.”
Wachsman declined to say whether World Liberty knew where Zhou obtained the money used for the investment. He also disputed the newspaper’s portrayal of Zhou but did not identify specific factual inaccuracies in its reporting.
World Liberty investments have faced congressional scrutiny
Questions surrounding Aqua 1 come as U.S. lawmakers have already examined separate UAE-linked investments in World Liberty and whether foreign financial interests could create conflicts involving the Trump administration.
In June, five Democratic senators asked Republican committee leaders to hold hearings into a reported $500 million investment in World Liberty by Aryam Investment 1, an Abu Dhabi-based company backed by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Citing Wall Street Journal reporting, the senators said Aryam acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty through an agreement signed in January 2025.
Their letter asked Congress to examine events that followed the transaction, including the Trump administration’s May 2025 approval of major arms sales and access to advanced artificial intelligence chips for the UAE. The lawmakers said U.S. national security officials had previously raised concerns that China could gain access to the technology.
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim had separately asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in February to determine whether the reported UAE investment required review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
World Liberty has also faced regulatory questions over its plans to expand its financial operations. During a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Warren questioned Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould about a reported application by World Liberty for a federal bank charter and whether the company had disclosed the foreign investment to regulators.
Gould declined to discuss a pending application and said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would follow its established procedures.
Trump has denied involvement in World Liberty’s daily operations. Speaking to reporters in February, he said he did not know about the reported UAE investment and said his sons were responsible for managing the business.
The White House has separately rejected conflict-of-interest allegations, saying Trump’s assets are held in a trust administered by his children and that administration decisions are made independently of his family’s business interests.
