Not long after buying and publicly consuming a $6.2m banana as part of an artworld stunt, Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun made another eye-catching purchase, investing $30m ($23.5m) into a cryptocurrency firm called World Liberty Financial.

The company had foundered since its October launch, investors seemingly leery of its prospects and its terms.

But it boasted a potentially enticing feature: the chance to do business with a firm partnering with and promoted by none other than Donald Trump.

Mr Sun’s investment tipped the company over the threshold that allowed the president-elect to begin profiting from the venture. Trump and his family are now in the position to collect roughly $20m – and potentially far more.

Mr Sun, who is currently fighting fraud charges in the US related to his own crypto business, did not respond to questions about what prompted his interest in the tokens, which cannot be traded.

But the episode set off alarm bells among government ethics experts, who see it as an indication that Trump’s expanding business ventures have made it easier than ever for those hoping to influence US policy to steer money his way.

“The conflicts have grown substantially with the scope of his business empire,” said Richard Painter, who served as the White House’s chief ethics lawyer during the George W Bush administration.

In a statement to the BBC, Trump’s team played down the concerns.

In his first term, “President Trump stepped back from his multi-billion dollar real estate empire to run for office and gave up his government salary,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.

“Unlike most politicians, President Trump did not get into politics to make a profit; he is fighting because he loves the people of this country and wants to make America great again.”

But Trump has taken little action in response to concerns about the potential for corruption, or the appearance of corruption, as he prepares to return to the White House.

New opportunities

Trump has faced questions about conflicts of interest before.

During his first term as president, the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., became a symbol of the issue, as a go-to place for lobbyists, foreign diplomats and allies to stay and spend.

Critics argued that the hotel created a way for Trump to indirectly benefit from his office. He faced accusations and lawsuits alleging that he violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on presidents receiving foreign emoluments or profiting from their office.

But experts said the growth of his business empire — which now includes a publicly traded social media company, a cryptocurrency firm and ties to a Saudi-backed golf league — makes it possible for anyone who wishes to curry favor to move money around more quietly and in much larger sums.

“The scale has increased and the ease has increased,” said Michael Ohlrogge, a law professor at New York University who has studied Trump Media, which operates Truth Social and now accounts for the bulk of Trump’s $6 billion fortune. “You can only book so many hotel rooms.”

For example, on Truth Social, Professor Ohlrogge said a foreign government or company could buy ads to convince investors that the company was gaining traction, causing its stock price to rise.

Although Trump Media has a market value of more than $7 billion, there has so far been little sign of such activity. The company reported less than $5 million in ad sales this year.

But given the “amplifying” effect of the stock market, Professor Ohlrogge said it would not take a huge expenditure to generate potentially significant gains for Trump, who owns more than half of the company’s shares.

“His pro-crypto stance”

Nowhere is the entanglement between Trump’s business interests and his public duties more apparent than in the cryptocurrency industry, where he has deepened his personal involvement while vowing to champion it while in the White House.

His plans include a reduction in regulation and ideas like a national Bitcoin reserve, in which the government would store the cryptocurrency.

“One of the biggest issues that will be determined in the next few years is how cryptocurrencies are regulated,” said Virginia Canter, senior ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a nonpartisan organization in Washington. “Well, he’s an active player in the cryptocurrency market now. How it might be regulated [could] affect his personal wealth, what kind of position he takes.”

Nik Bhatia, founder of Bitcoin Layer, a firm that advocates for Bitcoin investments, said it would be a mistake to dismiss Trump’s stance on cryptocurrencies as driven solely by his own financial interests.

“I don’t see these measures as motivated by self-interest; I see them as representing the electorate,” he said.

But still, he said, “I think there’s probably a conflict of interest in the sense that his pro-cryptocurrency stance will benefit his company.”

This week, Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins, who has lobbied on behalf of the industry, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He is expected to scale back enforcement at the agency, which polices publicly traded companies such as Trump Media for issues such as fraud and insider trading. The SEC oversaw a crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry under President Joe Biden.

Sun, the World Liberty Financial investor, was caught up in the SEC crackdown last year, after the agency accused him and his company of failing to properly register with the government while selling certain digital assets, among other charges.

Under new leadership, the agency could very well dismiss the case, said John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School and an expert on securities law.

“Atkins’ main characteristic is that he doesn’t like enforcement and wants to greatly restrict the range of cases the SEC will bring,” he said.

In announcing his investment last month, Sun did not mention the SEC complaint (which he says is baseless), but he did cite Trump’s views on cryptocurrencies.

“America is becoming the center of blockchain, and Bitcoin owes it to @realDonaldTrump!” he wrote on X. “TRON is committed to making America great again and leading the way in innovation. Let’s go!”

Fewer guardrails

In the United States, law sets few limits on conflicts of interest: Presidents are not subject to the same rules that regulate other government employees and Cabinet officials.

Although the U.S. Constitution theoretically bars presidents from accepting gifts from foreign governments while in office, the Supreme Court has already dismissed two previous lawsuits from Trump’s first term involving potential conflicts of interest.

Last summer, in a case involving Trump, it also ruled that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution while in office.

In the past, Trump has argued that his business was actually hurt by his time in the White House, as his partners, concerned about the controversy, cut ties and he faced investigations and lawsuits.

Now, preparing to enter the White House for a second time, Trump has yet to reveal an ethics plan, as is typical, and has given little sign that he plans to budge on such concerns.

He has vowed to retain his stake in Trump Media, continues to sell Trump-branded merchandise and lends his name to companies like World Liberty Financial. His Mar-a-Lago club remains a place where wealthy people willing to pay for membership can access the president with little or no transparency.

Ethics experts fear Trump has opened a door that will be hard to close again.

“Trump has gotten the message that he can do whatever he wants, because he won,” Painter said. “Future presidents will look at this and think, ‘We can do whatever we want.'”