Trump-linked ALT5 Sigma shakes up leadership amid WLFI scrutiny

ALT5 Sigma, a crypto treasury company with ties to US President Donald Trump, replaced CEO Jonathan Hugh and cut ties with chief operating officer Ron Pitters in November as part of a broader leadership overhaul.

Tony Isaac, the president of ALT5 Sigma and a member of the company’s board of directors, has been appointed as acting CEO, while the company works with Hugh to “finalize the terms of his departure,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing submitted on Wednesday. 

ALT5 Sigma’s crypto treasury strategy includes purchasing tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance platform tied to the Trump family.

The company said that the departures were “without cause.” Cointelegraph reached out to ALT5 Sigma, but did not receive a response by the time of publication

The company raised $1.5 billion in August to create a crypto treasury dedicated to purchasing WLFI tokens, with Eric Trump, the son of US President Donald Trump, serving as a director on its board.

World Liberty Financial and other Trump-linked crypto ventures have come under scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers in the United States, who argue that the president and his family’s involvement with the industry represents a conflict of interest. 

Related: WLFI’s ‘community governed’ image strained as Trump-backed project freezes wallets

Trump-linked crypto projects come under fire from US lawmakers

In August, rumors surfaced that venture capitalist and ALT5 shareholder Jon Isaac was under investigation by the SEC for earnings inflation and insider sales, which the company denied.

“For the record: Jon Isaac is not, and never was, the president of ALT5 Sigma, and he is not an advisor to the company. The company has no knowledge of any current investigation regarding its activities by the US SEC,” ALT5 Sigma said in response.

Eric Trump scaled back his involvement with the company in September to comply with Nasdaq listing rules and was designated as a board observer, according to an SEC filing.

In November, Democratic lawmakers in the US urged Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, to investigate allegations that WLFI sold tokens to sanctioned entities in North Korea and Russia.

The lawmakers said the Trump family’s crypto ventures and the $1 billion in profits from their projects represent a national security threat and a way to peddle influence through selling access to the president. 

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions