Jonathan Gould, the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) appointed by Donald Trump, suggested that the US president had not ordered him to approve or give special consideration to a request for a national trust charter linked to his family’s financial interests.
At a hearing Thursday of the House Financial Services Committee on “oversight of prudential regulators,” New York Rep. Gregory Meeks. interviewed Gould on the Trump family’s crypto company World Liberty Financial’s ties to foreign governments and the Binance exchange. The company, whose co-founders include Trump and his sons, filed an application for an OCC charter in January, prompting backlash from many Democratic lawmakers alleging conflicts of interest.
Rep. Gregory Meeks during a hearing Thursday.
Source: House Financial Services Committee
Meeks said the company is “actively lining the pockets of the president’s family,” pressuring the comptroller to hold World Liberty to the same standards as other companies in consideration of its national bank trust charter application, “to prove whether [he’s] still working on behalf of the American people, or [ceded his role] to serve as a fixer for the Trump family.
Meeks and Gould spoke during the hearing, with the New York lawmaker accusing the OCC chief of being a “Trump fixer,” signaling his belief that World Liberty’s application would be approved.
“Your attempts to continue to pressure me are the only political pressure I have felt from anyone other than your Senate colleagues,” Gould said. “This is very unfortunate and unprecedented.”
Gould’s remarks came after the OCC already approved or conditionally accepted several national trust charter applications from crypto companies including Coinbase, Ripple, BitGo, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos. The comptroller took office in July 2025 after being confirmed by the Republican-majority Senate along partisan lines.
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The head of the OCC said in January, days after World Liberty’s application was filed, that the agency would be “apolitical and nonpartisan” in its review. However, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who also asked Gould to suspend consideration of World Liberty’s application, stated that the approvals were intended for “apparently ineligible businesses,” violating federal banking laws.
Four of World Liberty’s co-founders, including two of Donald Trump’s sons. Source: World Liberty Financial
Approval of a National Trust Bank Charter allows crypto companies to provide certain services without being subject to the same regulatory requirements as traditional banks. In addition to World Liberty, Kraken’s parent company, Payward, the cryptocurrency exchange, filed an application with the OCC in May.
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