Trump’s crypto partners bailed on old clients to chase MAGA money

Two months after their crypto platform was hacked and wiped clean, Chase Herro and Zak Folkman turned up with a new venture, this time with Trump and his three sons on board.

Herro and Folkman, previously running the now-defunct Dough Finance, had quietly abandoned hundreds of investors who lost millions in the collapse, and re-emerged with World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that now flows money straight into the Trump family’s pockets.

According to Reuters, Jonathan Lopez, a 31-year-old crypto trader and motivational speaker from Miami, invested $1 million in Dough in May 2024. He was introduced to high-risk strategies like “looping,” which lets users borrow against crypto assets repeatedly.

Herro guided him through it personally, telling him, “We get reward(s) for the risks we take. Lfg.” Then on July 12, everything was gone. Lopez’s funds and over $2.5 million in total were drained in a hack that Dough later admitted was caused by vulnerabilities in its own code.

Herro promised to fix Dough while planning World Liberty with Trump

In the aftermath of the breach, Herro texted Lopez saying, “I said we’d take care of it,” and claimed the team needed the weekend to sort things out. Folkman told users in Dough’s Telegram group that “We will not stop until everyone is made whole.”

But by August 18, both founders went silent. Dough’s Telegram and X accounts were abandoned, and one private chat group was deleted entirely, according to former members.

While investors waited, Herro and Folkman were already building World Liberty. They were introduced to Trump, Don Jr., and Eric Trump through presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, and the Trump family quickly jumped in.

Trump took the title “Chief Crypto Advocate,” while his sons were labeled “Web3 Ambassadors.” None of them commented on the Dough scandal.

When asked about Herro and Folkman’s roles, Eric Trump replied in an email, “They have overachieved our wildest goals and our current trajectory is nothing short of incredible.”

The new venture has already pushed over $550 million worth of tokens. Of that, Herro and Folkman collected at least $65 million, while the Trump family reportedly received around $400 million. That money flowed even as former Dough users struggled to recover their losses.

Lopez filed a lawsuit while Trump’s partners partied in DC

In January 2025, Lopez sued Herro in Miami federal court, alleging fraud, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and securities violations. His attorney, Joseph Pardo, said Lopez invested based on promises Herro made about Dough’s safety and performance.

Herro’s legal team responded by calling Lopez a “sophisticated” investor who should have understood the risks, and claimed the hack was outside Herro’s control. A trial is scheduled for April 2026.

Before Dough collapsed, Herro called himself “the dirtbag of the internet” in a recorded pitch to investors, bragging, “I do what’s legal… besides that I don’t give a fuck.” Folkman’s earlier project was “Date Hotter Girls,” a site offering dating advice. Despite that track record, their new partnership with Trump has drawn little public scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the Dough website is now locked and nearly empty, as tracked by DeFiLlama. In July, the company said $281,000 of the stolen assets had been recovered with help from security group SEAL 911, and promised pro-rata payouts.

In September, data from CertiK showed that only $180,000 was sent to 134 wallets. Eight Dough users interviewed said they received nothing and didn’t know how payouts were selected.

The legal challenges are stacking. Jonathan Cogan, attorney at Kobre & Kim, explained that most victims file negligence claims because they’re easier to prove than fraud. Joseph Cioffi, a partner at Davis+Gilbert, said promises to “make users whole” aren’t legally binding without a formal agreement.

And Dough’s disclaimers–calling their tech “novel, experimental, and speculative”–don’t necessarily shield them from liability. On January 20, as Herro and Folkman’s victims waited for answers, the pair were seen in Washington, DC, celebrating at a black-tie inaugural ball for Trump’s return to the White House.

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