An analysis has revealed the extent to which President Donald Trump’s deep-pocketed donors have benefited from his return to the White House.
The Financial Times determined that “dozens” who have given big to the president have enjoyed pardons, dropped investigations, and fruitful policy decisions.
The renowned paper wrote of its findings, “The volume of favorable outcomes for donors raises the question of whether a culture of quid pro quo exists at the heart of the administration.” However, it also noted there is “no evidence” of illegal conduct.
Among the wealthy benefactors in MAGA 2.0 are the Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron. The brothers, who own the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, donated a combined $3 million to PACs supporting Trump, including $1 million in January.
The FT reports that the Winklevosses received good news in February, a month into Trump’s presidency, when the SEC closed a long-running probe into their exchange.
Cameron, 44, celebrated the dropped investigation in a lengthy post to X, writing, “Here’s to continuing to reform our government and fighting the good fight.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast, but rejected any notion that the president was participating in any pay-for-play schemes in a statement given to the FT.
“Any allegations of special treatment are false and lack any basis in reality—the Trump administration and the president make decisions based on what is in the best interest of the American people, and nothing else,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
Trump has been repeatedly accused of doling out preferential treatment to donors, but he is not the only president to face such allegations. As noted by FT, a $1.5 million donation to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign by First Solar preceded it benefiting from massive green energy subsidies in his flagship Inflation Reduction Act.
Still, allegations of quid pro quo have spiked during Trump’s second term—especially as he actively solicits and accepts gifts out in the open in what experts say is a break from presidential tradition. Increasing scrutiny on the White House is the scandal that has engulfed its border czar, Tom Homan, who was caught on camera allegedly accepting $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents.
Calls of quid pro quo also exploded in August after the Bureau of Prisons broke its own policies to transfer the sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein and an old friend of Trump’s, to a minimal-security prison camp where inmates live in dorms, not cells. Maxwell’s controversial transfer came the same week she met with Todd Blanche, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, for two days.
Among the most damning instances of a donor benefiting after donating to Trump came in May when the president pardoned Paul Walczak, a tax cheat who stole from his employees to purchase a yacht and other lavish items. That pardon came a month after his mom, Elizabeth Fago, donated $1 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc. and attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
Among other benefactors in FT’s analysis was the Tobacco company RAI Services, which donated $10 million to a pro-Trump PAC in 2024. Once Trump returned to office, his administration scrapped a Biden-era plan to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.
Also benefiting after a donation was UnitedHealthcare Services. It gave $5 million to MAGA Inc. in January. Three months later, the Trump administration approved higher 2026 Medicare Advantage rates than initially proposed—a price hike which stands to make the country’s largest insurer more money, according to FT.
Another healthcare company, Extremity Care, reportedly donated a total of $10 million to MAGA Inc., between the company and its two owners. Six weeks later, the Trump administration delayed a policy change that would have limited Medicare coverage of the “extremely costly, paper-thin bandages from waste human tissue” that the company manufactures, the FT reports.
Critics say Trump, 79, has acted differently from his predecessors in not even trying to hide the fact that favors can be bought.
“Past administrations have confronted accusations that money buys favors,” Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under Barack Obama, told the FT. “What is unique about this presidency is the open transactionalism that characterizes Donald Trump’s governance style.”
