A Shadowy Global Network Helped Trump Make Millions in Memecoins

A few days before Donald Trump returned to the White House, George Santos was walking up the steps of the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium nearby. It was Jan. 17, the kickoff to inauguration weekend, and the disgraced former US representative was headed into the $2,500-per-ticket Crypto Ball.

Illustration: George Wylesol for Bloomberg Businessweek

Santos strutted past a line of men in tuxedos and entered the neoclassical building. Inside, House Speaker Mike Johnson posed for photos with crypto influencers and lobbyists, and Donald Trump Jr. shot a TikTok. There was Brock Pierce, the former Mighty Ducks child actor who co-founded what’s now a $180 billion ...