A gold-leaf statue of President Donald Trump that’s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars has been held hostage by the man who made it.
Alan Cottrill says he wouldn’t hand over the $360,000 artwork to the bosses of a memecoin until they settled a dispute over image rights, after they used it to sell their cryptocurrency by building hype and anticipation.
That excitement came crashing down when Eric Trump, the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, publicly distanced the family from the coin in February.
$PATRIOT commissioned the work in August 2024, and despite paying $300,000 for the structure and $60,000 for the additional golf leaf, Cottrill said they weren’t settled up because of their prior use of his work, which he claimed amounts to copyright infringement.
His reaction was to keep the art, named Don Colossus, under lock and key.
“It’s in an undisclosed location in Muskingum County, Ohio,” Cottrill told USA Today. “I don’t say any more than that.”
Backers of the coin had hoped to unveil the work at one of Trump’s golf courses, even sharing pictures of a plinth on which the 15-foot bronze likeness would supposedly stand.
“The team at Trump Doral will be busy cladding the pedestal, installing a ton of up/down lighting and landscaping in the coming days,” Patriot wrote in a post on X in January. “What @realDonaldTrump has in store for the $PATRIOT community and his inner circle for this unveiling will surely be spectacular!”
According to USA Today, there had been lofty ambitions for the statue, including a tour across the country and, finally, its installation at either the Trump National Doral Golf Club, the Republican National Committee HQ, or a presidential library.
Less than a month after Patriot’s post, Eric Trump put daylight between the project and the family it is fawning over.
“The Trump Organization has no association of any kind with the Patriot Token or meme coin ($PATRIOT) referenced below,” he said on X, reposting and referencing Patriot’s earlier post directly. “We appreciate the support and enthusiasm, but we want to be crystal clear—we are not involved in this coin.”
Speaking to the New York Times at the time, Trump Organization spokesperson Kimberly Benza said the company had “no knowledge” of the coin.
Cottril said that the plans for the statue had changed as the timeline had progressed, telling USA Today, “The crypto bros have been flaky as hell from the start.”
Now, Patriot claims that an anonymous donor stepped in to pay Cottrill, alleging that he drove it from his studio in Ohio to Florida to hand-deliver it.
The Daily Beast has contacted Cottrill to verify.
“We were notified... that an anonymous donor stepped up and wanted to cover the balance of the IP owed to our sculptor Alan Cottrill,” Patriot said on X.
“We can now confirm the balance has been paid. We can also confirm Alan and his foreman are driving with the truck and the statue to Miami right now!”
Meanwhile, Patriot says it hopes Trump will hold a special unveiling, adding, “The details haven’t been disclosed, but it seems like something special is coming.”
In a breathless effort to generate hype, Patriot said following the alleged payment: “The biggest global news story is ramping up.”
Patriot did not immediately reply to the Daily Beast’s message asking for comment.
