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EFCC threatens to arrest ex-gov Yahaya Bello with soldiers

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₦80bn Fraud case: Ex-Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello granted ₦500m Bail

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has vowed to arrest the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and bring him before the Federal High Court Abuja for arraignment to answer to the charges preferred against him.

This came on the heels of Bello’s counsel, Abdulwahab Muhammed, SAN, refusing to be served in the place of his client who is on the run from the EFCC.

The anti-graft agency, while addressing the court on Thursday through its team of lawyers led by Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, stressed that operatives would execute the arrest warrant against the former governor even if it has to be done by the use of force.

Pinheiro said, “We have to arraign him in court even if we have to use the military. Immunity is only attached to a person and not the building.

“The law allows to break down walls to arrest an evading defendant. Section 284 says all persons are to obey the service of charge.”

Pinheiro had narrated to the court how all efforts to get Bello arrested and bring him before the court for arraignment were obstructed by “someone with immunity.”

“My Lord, I have made an oral application, and I tried to get him arrested yesterday but was prevented by someone with immunity.

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He said, “My Lord, what happened yesterday was that he was whisked away by a person with immunity, and we know he is in the home of that person. We will send security agents there to get him even if we have to break in because immunity is not attached to a building.

“If he wants to play games, we will show him that the Constitution is above every individual, and you cannot fight the Constitution.”

Pinheiro continued, “A former President of the United States was charged to court, and he has been appearing for his trial. He did not file all sorts of things to frustrate the case.

“A former governor is filing a fundamental human rights suit. If he says he is innocent, let him come and prove it instead of filing frivolous applications to delay his trial.”

Responding, Bello’s counsel, Muhammed, informed the court that his client had obtained an order from a High Court in Kogi State restraining the anti-graft agency from inviting, arresting or prosecuting him over the instant charge against him.

“Respectfully, My Lord, the defendant had approached a court for his fundamental human right. The High Court in Kogi State,” he said.

Muhammed held that the court had no jurisdiction to do any other thing rather than to take his client’s motion, challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the subsisting charge.

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He faulted the EFCC ‘s move to try to get Bello arrested in his Abuja residence while judgment was being delivered on the fundamental human rights suit.

“What happened at Zone 4 Abuja yesterday, where they laid siege to the house of the former governor while he was in Lokoja waiting for judgment in his fundamental right enforcement suit, was unfortunate You don’t issue a warrant against a defendant who is already before the court and who has also briefed lawyers to defend him.

“They wanted the Court of Appeal to vacate the restraining order, but the Appeal Court refused.

“That a court gave an order in the morning, and another court of the same coordinate jurisdiction issues a contrary order in the evening is an invitation to anarchy. The defendant is not a fugitive. He is relying on an order of court to take protection,” Muhammed argued.

He told the court that the issue of arraignment shouldn’t be the bone of contention when his client had not been served.

“We don’t need the arraignment to take place. Your Lordship has to determine the issue of jurisdiction first because it is a threshold issue.

“Moreover, we are yet to be served with any process by the prosecution. You cannot be talking of arraignment when you have not been served,” Bello’s counsel cautioned.

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Meanwhile, all efforts to serve Bello’s counsel in the courtroom by the EFCC lawyer were met with stiff rejection as he insisted that he had no authority to take the charge.

Pinheiro said that since Bello’s counsel was in court on behalf of his client, he would proceed to serve him.

“We will now make our service to the counsel who has unconditionally announced his appearance for the defendant,” Pinheiro said.

Responding, Muhammed stated, “My Lord, we will accept their service if they bring a formal application, not a process.”

Muhammed then told the court they would be challenging the arrest warrant.

After listening to both parties, Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the matter till Tuesday, April 23, 2024, for ruling and arraignment.

 

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‘I can do 20 rounds in a day’ – Nigerian Pastor with 3 wives revealed

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'I can do 20 rounds in a day' - Nigerian Pastor with 3 wives revealed

Does Christianity permit polygamy? For Pastor Joseph Apata, a prominent prophet from Lagos who has three wives, the answer is an emphatic yes.

Pastor Apata, who identifies as a prophet and serves as the General Overseer of the Vineyard of Deliverance Ministry—more commonly known as The Rock Church—resides in Ibeju Lekki, Nigeria, with his three spouses.

He staunchly defends his lifestyle with strong convictions, drawing on biblical references and making bold claims about receiving divine instructions. But who exactly is Pastor Apata, and what led him to become a prophet?

(FULL LIST): Wizkid beats Davido, Burna Boy as most streamed Nigeria artist in 2025

Early Life
Apata was born into an Ebira Christian family in Kogi State that later embraced Islam. His father had five wives, and his mother, wife number three, gave birth to seven sons, most of whom tragically died young. Apata, too, reportedly died at the age of two along with his twin brother.
However, he claims he was resurrected five days later by a prophet who declared he would be a mouthpiece of God. That prophecy, Apata believes, shaped the course of his life. After his father died in 1986, Apata struggled with loneliness and nearly joined a cult. But in 1988, a friend led him to a Baptist church in Ibadan, where he gave his life to Christ. From there, his spiritual journey began.
Ministry
In 1995, Apata moved to Lagos, where he briefly worked with a church in Somolu. However, he exited the church when the pastor wanted to monetise his spiritual gifts. In an interview with Punch, he said:
I operated as a prophet there and when I prayed for people who didn’t have a child, they would become pregnant. At one point, the pastor wanted to turn it into a business, stating that we should collect N1m for males and N500,000 for females. I did not agree with him. He then sent me out of the church and collected all that he gave me. I left the church and I became stranded in Lagos.
He later began preaching under a tree in Bariga in 1998. The church experienced a long period of instability until 2009, when Apata relocated it to its current base in Lekki. According to Apata, a divine directive in 2010 instructed him to stop identifying as a pastor and embrace his calling as a prophet.
He also began a one-year fast, which has extended for over 14 years, fasting daily and breaking at 6 p.m. The ministry has since grown, with members showing loyalty and generosity, often donating millions without being asked for tithes or offerings.
How He Married His Three Wives
Apata’s first wife, Pastor Margaret Tani, met him while he was still ministering under a tree. They married in 1999 and weathered several years of financial hardship. In 2011, Apata said he received a divine instruction to marry a widow in his church, Omowunmi.
In 2011, I told God that I needed help. God told me that what a woman destroyed in my hand, it was another woman who would repair it. God instructed me to marry a widow in my church then.
Their union, he claims, marked a turnaround in his fortunes. He acquired a car and began enjoying financial stability. In 2020, following another spiritual prompting, he married a third wife from Benin City. Each of his wives plays a key role in the ministry: Margaret is a Computer Science graduate from UNILAG and serves as Assistant General Overseer; Omowunmi coordinates the women’s ministry; and the third wife leads the choir.
He claims they all live in harmony and receive monthly salaries, with none lacking emotional, spiritual, or even sexual support.
 If I’m not fasting, they would be the ones running. I can do 20 or 70 rounds in a day.
Apata attributes his financial success solely to his church members. “My members are my source of wealth,” he said. He receives spontaneous gifts in millions of naira from devoted followers, and insists that the church doesn’t preach tithing or offering. Instead, members give as led by the Spirit, a practice he believes sustains him and the church.
Biblical Views on Polygamy
Pastor Apata is vocal in his rejection of monogamy as a biblical mandate. On his church’s Facebook page, he questions the scriptural basis of wearing wedding rings and insists that prophets are not restricted to having only one wife. He frequently refers to Old Testament figures like Abraham, Jacob, and David, men who had multiple wives and were still regarded as righteous by God.
He argues that being a polygamist requires a large heart, spiritual insight, and fairness. He cautions men not to enter polygamy unless divinely called and encourages aspiring polygamists to marry “high-value” women and treat each one equally.
Prophet Joseph Apata’s unapologetic stance on polygamy raises eyebrows and ignites conversations. It provokes one central question: Where does personal revelation end and religious accountability begin?
There is no where in the Bible that says a man must marry only one wife. No where!
Punch
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2027: No presidential ticket, Wike declares war on Northerners

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2027: No Presidential ticket, Wike declares war on Northerners

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has issued a warning statement addressing the Northern stakeholders regarding the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential aspirations for the 2027 election, saying the party must not repeat the errors it made during the 2023 electoral cycle.

Wike explained the need for PDP to make a definitive decision regarding the upcoming presidential election, urging that there should be an explicit declaration that the candidate for the 2027 presidency must be selected from the southern region. He stressed that this stance is vital for fostering unity and ensuring equitable representation within the party.

He emphasised that such a move would avoid internal conflict and the backlash that the party faced in the previous election, The Cable reported.

Wike criticised the party’s reluctance to openly zone the ticket to the south, warning that the party’s attempts at ‘smartness’ would backfire.

“You can’t send the presidency to the north. I told them. Selfishness can kill a system,” he said, urging the PDP to learn from past mistakes. He argued that if the PDP were to fail to zone the ticket to the south, it would set a dangerous precedent, pointing out that the All Progressives Congress (APC) might send its own presidential ticket to the north in 2031.

Wike questioned the logic of the PDP then coming back to say it would follow suit and zone the presidency to the north as well.

Impact of zoning decision on Atiku Abubakar

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Wike’s comments have significant implications for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who has made clear his intention to continue contesting for the presidency.

If the PDP opts to zone the ticket to the south, Abubakar, who is from the north, would be ineligible to run for the presidency under the party’s platform.

Abubakar, who was the PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has previously stated that he would keep contesting for the Nigerian presidency as long as his health allows, Vanguard reported.

The PDP’s ongoing zoning crisis

The issue of zoning has been a point of contention within the PDP for several years. In the lead-up to the 2023 election, the party faced internal wrangling over the decision of whether to zone the presidential ticket to the south or the north.

While some party stakeholders, including five governors led by Wike, pushed for the southern zoning of the ticket, the PDP ultimately ditched zoning altogether, opening up the contest for all candidates.

This decision deeply divided the party, leading to widespread dissatisfaction and Wike’s refusal to back Abubakar during the 2023 election.

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Wike’s recent statements highlight the ongoing crisis within the PDP regarding zoning, and his call for the party to make a definitive decision on the 2027 ticket is likely to continue sparking debate among party members. As the 2027 election approaches, the issue of zoning remains a crucial factor in shaping the party’s direction.

Additional report from Legit.ng

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₦500/litre: Marketers give fresh updates on fuel price crash

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“No More N1,120 Per Litre:” Fuel prices getting low as petrol landing costs crash again

Oil marketers and other petroleum industry experts have forecast a reduction in petrol prices in 2025 to as much as N500/litre.

The resumption of operations of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries will drive this anticipated crash in price.

They highlighted that petrol, currently priced between N900 and N950 per litre at many filling stations, could drop to as low as N500 per litre during the year.

Oil marketers believe a steady supply of petroleum products would encourage competition, leading to further price reductions in the coming year.

According to industry experts, this anticipated decline is attributed to the strengthening of the downstream sector, driven by the federal government’s deregulation policy.

Other factors contributing to the expected price reduction include a stable foreign exchange rate, increased price competition, the Naira-for-crude initiative, and the expected operations of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Dangote refineries.

IPO Stakeholders also noted that if these refineries supply the domestic market and accept payments in naira, it would further drive down petrol prices.

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Marketers share why fuel prices may reduce further

The national publicity secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Ukadike Chinedu, described the upcoming operations of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries as transformative for the downstream sector.

In an interview with Saturday Sun, he emphasised that these refineries would foster healthy price competition, a trend already becoming evident.

He noted that both the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC) and Dangote have reduced petrol prices in recent weeks, highlighting the benefits of having multiple production sources rather than a monopoly.

Ukadike expressed optimism that this development could drive petrol prices below N500 per litre by 2025 as more players enhance refining capacity.

He also identified the federal government’s naira-for-crude policy as a critical factor in shaping petrol prices, predicting that it would curb inflation and ease pressure on foreign exchange.

The president of the Petroleum Products Retail Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry, expressed agreement with Ukadike’s views. He assured that the operational launch of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries would result in more affordable fuel options for Nigerians.

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Gillis-Harry emphasised that achieving lower petrol prices for consumers is a realistic prospect in 2025. Gillis-Harry said: ‘’As you can see, NNPC has reduced its ex-depot price from N1,045 per litre to N899 per litre for marketers, translating to N925 per litre at the pumps for the end users. This, I must say, is very commendable. These are not small drops, but massive drops from N1,045 to N899 ex- depot is a lot of drop.”

He highlighted that a steady supply of petroleum products would encourage competition, leading to further price reductions in the coming year.

On his part, the publicity secretary of the Crude Oil Refiners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), Iche Idoko, stated that Nigerians would soon start experiencing the benefits of a deregulated market.

Idoko said: “Price drop is one of the characteristics of deregulation we had highlighted. As the industry settles in to the regime of full deregulation, we are bound to see competitions amongst players, which ultimately will benefit the consumers.”

He explained that competition would emerge in pricing, product quality, and credit facilities offered to bulk purchasers. Marketers import 2.3bn litres of petrol In related news,

According to Legit.ng, oil marketers have continued to import petrol into the country despite earlier agreements to patronise local refineries.

Documents obtained from the Nigerian Ports Authority revealed that marketers have persisted in petrol importation. The data collected showed that imported petrol was docked at the Apapa Port, Tin Can Port and the Calabar Port.

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JAMB releases 2025 UTME results, withholds 39,834 others

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JAMB releases 2025 UTME results, withholds 39,834 others

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Friday announced the release of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results, with results of 39,834 candidates being withheld.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this on Friday during the official release of the 2025 UTME results at JAMB headquarters, Bwari.

Oloyede revealed that the seizure of results was due to suspected examination malpractices, and about 80 individuals are being probed for exam-related offences, with Anambra State having the highest number of suspects.

He said JAMB has 39,834 unreleased UTME results, with 1,426 under scrutiny and processing. Out of these, 96 candidates’ results were withheld due to exam malpractices, a decrease from 123 in the previous year.

Oloyede said 2,157 candidates experienced fingerprint rejections due to suspected registration infractions, and the figure is far above margin, and currently under investigation.

He added that a total of 1,957,000 candidates were verified for the exam, with 71,705 candidates absent.

Oloyede said,”The new trends observed this year were in the Registration and Examination processes, and they were mainly in the following categories; Identity Fraud, and Biometric Fraud of Combined Thumbprint of Candidate.

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“Other infractions were impersonator at the point of registration with the active involvement of few CBT Centres, double registration, and attempted substitution of self by candidates.”

He stated that 244 candidates were caught in “WhatsApp runs” and had their results withheld as a deterrent.

The registrar also cited that some CBT centers colluded with syndicates to register candidates with multiple fingerprints, affecting 3,656 candidates whose results were withheld due to “extraneous fingerprints” and every implicated centers will face sanctions.

He identified the centres as Tigh Technologies Limited, Sascon International School, Maitama, Abuja, and Wudil Computer Information Technology. Wudil, Kano State and Penta M &Amp; Centre 2, Tambuwal LGA, Sokoto, Sokoto State.

Oloyede added that 80 suspects were being interrogated by the police for their involvement in the examination malpractices, and most of them would be prosecuted.

The registrar reported 41,027 underage candidates registered, with 467 meeting high-performance criteria and one disqualified for malpractice.

He confirmed the board supported 501 candidates with disabilities through JAMB Equal Opportunity Group, but unfortunately, one of these candidates was involved in impersonation.

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Oloyede also said Four CBT centers were delisted and blacklisted due to technical deficiencies and substandard performance.

He listed the centres as: Adventure Associate, Behind Sheshe Supermarket, Kano, Saadatu Rimi College of Education, Zaria.

Others are Soronara Ventures Nigeria Limited, Foundation Road, Umudagu Mbieri, Mbaitoli, Imo State, and HSS Amazing, Holy Saviour School 30/32, Old Ota Road, Adeleye, Aparadija, Isunba, Lafenwa, Itele, Ogun State.

He therefore said that a list of those blacklisted for fraudulent practices would soon be made public with details of their nefarious activities.

Despite the controversy surrounding the 2025 JAMB results, Oloyede concluded that it was the one of the most successful in recent times

The JAMB boss reaffirmed the board’s zero-tolerance policy on exam malpractice and promised to continue innovating to maintain exam credibility.

He also explained how to check UTME results: candidates should text ‘UTMERESULT’ to 55019 or 66019 using the same phone number used for registration, with result printing available later.

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Did Wike Really Sick? New Photos of FCT Minister Revealed

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In recent weeks, various rumors and discussions have emerged regarding Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). These speculations have captured the attention of political analysts and citizens alike, as they speculate on potential developments in his career and influence within Nigerian politics. Wike, known for his dynamic leadership style during his tenure as governor, has been at the center of conversations that hint at possible new roles or political maneuvers, raising eyebrows and igniting curiosity among his supporters and critics.

In recent weeks, various rumors and discussions have emerged regarding Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). These speculations have captured the attention of political analysts and citizens alike, as they speculate on potential developments in his career.

Several posts on social media had alleged that at some point, Wike collapsed and was flown to France for treatment.

Several Nigerians are highly attentive and keeping a close eye on the health condition of the PDP chieftain who is currently serving within the APC government.

Despite the purported rumours within the political circle, the FCT Minister dismissed such allegations, describing them as the handiwork of individuals attempting to score cheap political points.

Wike addressed the speculation after inspecting four ongoing projects in the FCT, including the International Conference Centre (ICC), reaffirming his commitment to delivering on his mandate.

He said, “I don’t want to give credence to people who are only interested in carrying rumours. First of all, I’m a human being, it’s not a ghost that will collapse, it’s a human being that will collapse if there is any issue with their health. Unfortunately, I did not collapse. Wike said then”

The rumours, which spread widely on X, alleged that Wike collapsed at an event in Abuja and was rushed to an undisclosed hospital for treatment.

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These seem to be untrue due to Wike’s movement from one project inauguration to another within and outside the country.

According to health expert, Doctor Caleb Koleosho, disclosed that no sick person would be moving around the world like the way the FCT minister has been moving around.

To cast doubt, his latest trending photo of himself and his son in China speaks volumes about his health condition.

The former Rivers governor met with officials from the China Geoengineering Corporation Overseas Construction (CGCOC) Group to ensure the provision of water for satellite towns in the FCT

Following a successful meeting with the Chinese officials of the China Geoengineering Corporation, the FCT minister shared photos with one of his son, captioning it,“Today, I met with officials of the CP Group. The meeting is part of our official engagements in China, aimed at ensuring the provision of water and other infrastructures for Satellite Towns in the FCT.”

In the photographs below, Wike’s health has nothing to worry about, looking healthy and energetic.

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EXPOSED: How Donald Trump sons’ using government power to make money for family business

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Donald Trump sons

A contest of sorts has played out across Europe, the United States and the Middle East in recent days as President Trump’s two older sons have pursued a blitz of family moneymaking ventures capitalizing on their father’s name and power, each seemingly trying to outdo the other, as reported by The New York Times.

It is a rush to cash in that involves billions of dollars with few precedents in American history.

A luxury hotel in Dubai. A second high-end residential tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Two cryptocurrency ventures based in the United States. A new golf course and villa complex in Qatar. And a new private club in Washington. In many cases these new deals promoted over the last week will personally benefit not only Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., but also President Trump himself.

“Challenge everything,” said the brochure for the new $1 billion, 80-story Trump International Hotel and Tower planned for Dubai, where units went on sale for the first time at prices reaching $20 million apiece, after a giant party held in Dubai this past week to honor Eric Trump and the new project. “Stop at nothing.”

The marathon of deal making has been so rapid that many elements have drawn limited public attention in the United States, despite most of it being out in the open. That is in part because the sons appeared before mostly fawning crowds but also because President Trump, his appointees and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk were making headlines with their own steady stream of norm-breaking controversies.

“There’s nothing like it,” said Douglas Brinkley, a Rice University historian who has written books on Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald R. Ford, addressing the financial conflicts of interest that have emerged in Mr. Trump’s second term.

Both Trump sons are involved in a wide range of family business ventures. Eric Trump, the president’s middle son, runs the Trump Organization, the main family business, which specializes in real estate. He also serves on the board of a holding company that oversees World Liberty Financial, the family’s crypto firm, and recently joined forces with his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., to start a Bitcoin mining operation, American Bitcoin.

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The White House has said there are no ethics issues because Mr. Trump’s sons run the businesses. “The president’s assets are in a trust managed by his children,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said. “There are no conflicts of interest.”

But Mr. Trump’s financial disclosure report, which he is legally required to file, shows that he still personally benefits financially from most of these ventures.

Eric Trump noted that many of the ventures they are promoting — from crypto to real estate — were underway before their father was re-elected. “We are building the most iconic projects on earth and leading the way in the digital revolution,” Eric Trump said in a statement to The New York Times.

Donald Trump Jr. rejected any suggestion that he was trading on his father’s name, saying he has been a businessman his entire adult life. He then took a swipe at Hunter Biden, who sold paintings while his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., served as president.

“It’s laughable that the left-wing media thinks that I should lock myself in a padded room while my father is president and cease doing what I’ve been doing for over 25 years to earn a living and provide for my five children,” Donald Trump Jr. said in a statement to The Times. “However, if I did do that, I guess I could always take up painting, which I hear can be quite lucrative.”

Indeed, relatives of other presidents — including Billy Carter (brother of President Jimmy Carter) and Neil Bush (brother of President George W. Bush), along with Hunter Biden — have had business dealings that have created questions about potential conflicts of interest.

What distinguishes the work of Mr. Trump’s two sons is that several of these ventures, including the real estate deals and crypto efforts, bring revenues that benefit the president himself as well.

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Just in the past 10 days, Donald Trump Jr. made stops in Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria on a paid-speech tour he has called “Trump Business Vision 2025,” which also included visits with foreign government leaders and political candidates. During roughly the same time, Eric Trump was shuttling among Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle East spots to push the family’s real estate and crypto plans.

These pitches played out even as some of Donald Trump Jr.’s  business partners were simultaneously rolling out yet another business in Washington that will cash in on his father’s return to the White House: a club called Executive Branch.

At $500,000 a person, the private membership club is slated to open by this summer in Georgetown in a sprawling, but defunct, restaurant called Clubhouse. It will feature two bars, a lounge, a restaurant and boardroom — re-creating the role previously served by the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where donors and acolytes of the president gathered until the family sold it off after Mr. Trump’s first term.

The Trump International Hotel in Washington, which Mr. Trump sold in 2022. His oldest son is now helping open a new D.C. club called Executive Branch.Credit…Kenny Holston for The New York Times

The club soon likely will be jammed with Trump family friends, business executives and members of the Trump administration, but will be off limits to members of the public and most members of the news media.

An A-list party was held late last month to celebrate the launch of Executive Branch — while Donald Trump Jr. was in Europe — at a hotel a block from the White House. Attendees included Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Paul Atkins, the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The founding members of the club, which has already sold many of its membership slots according to organizers, include Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the cryptocurrency executives whose company, Gemini Trust, had been targeted by the S.E.C. until Mr. Trump named new agency leaders, who in April put a hold on the federal lawsuit.

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Jeff Miller, a lobbyist and top Trump fund-raiser, is another founding member. In the first quarter of this year, he has registered to represent 39 new corporate clients, including the crypto firm Tether, an overseas operation that was a longtime target of U.S. regulators until recently, when it began to establish itself as a major force in Washington and explore opening a U.S. office.

The other owners at the new club, besides Donald Trump Jr., include Zach and Alex Witkoff — the sons of Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy — and Omeed Malik, who leads 1789 Capital, a Florida-based venture capital firm that recently hired Donald Trump Jr. as a senior executive. The investments for 1789 Capital have included companies such as Plaid, a digital finance firm that had lobbied the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau related to a new set of banking rules — until Mr. Trump’s team effectively shut down the agency and stalled enforcement of the regulation.

David Sacks, who is a crypto adviser to Mr. Trump and another founding member, said the goal is not to create a venue for access. Rather, he said in a recent podcast, “we want a place to hang out in D.C.” for the “younger, hipper, Trump-aligned Republican.”

Even as these real-life ventures were playing out, another push for profit was underway in the virtual world. Investors in the $Trump memecoin are bidding to become the top 220 owners of the collectible coin and win a dinner with the president later this month. A memecoin is a type of cryptocurrency based on an online joke or celebrity mascot that has no practical function other than speculation.

The $Trump memecoin is controlled by a company run by the Trump sons and their business partners, but President Trump has actively encouraged his supporters to buy it.

Javier Selgas, chief executive at Fr8Tech, a shipping company, announced this past week — while Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were abroad — that his Monterrey, Mexico-based company would spend $20 million to buy $Trump memecoin tokens.

Buying the tokens — in essence, giving money to the Trump family — is “an effective way to advocate for fair, balanced and free trade between Mexico and the U.S.,” Mr. Selgas said in a statement, which was also filed with the S.E.C., as his company is publicly traded.

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In some cases, the Trump-family announcements over the past week have involved foreign governments, including those of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Eric Trump flew to Doha, the capital of the tiny Middle East nation of Qatar, on Wednesday as a government official there signed a deal with a Saudi-based real estate company to build a new Trump golf course and luxury villa complex, a partnership that will bring millions of dollars in branding and management fees to the Trump family.

This is one of six real-estate projects now planned in the Middle East, sponsored by Dar Global, the international subsidiary of a Saudi-based real estate firm with close ties to the Saudi royal family. The other projects are in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Dubai.

“They always arrive at the word ‘yes,’ which is a beautiful thing,” Eric Trump said while in Dubai this past week, saying that it took only a month to get the required real estate permits from the government there. “They do it quickly.”

On a crypto conference panel in Dubai, Eric Trump sat next to Zach Witkoff, one of the founders of the Trump family crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, who announced that a venture capital firm backed by the government of Abu Dhabi would invest $2 billion using a form of digital currency offered by World Liberty.  This deal alone could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Trump family and its partners.

Donald Trump Jr. had gotten a head start on his brother, arriving on April 25 in Budapest, where he had a brief meeting with Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, and then was paid to appear at a dinner gathering among business leaders.

“I’m just here as a business guy, but as someone who understands how the world works,” Donald Trump Jr. told an executive from Portfolio Hungary, the organization that sponsored the event, adding that while he was in Eastern Europe and the Balkans he was looking for possible new deals. “You never know if there is going to be a Trump real estate deal.”

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His next stop was Serbia, where the Trump family is planning a new hotel on land owned by the government there. He met with President Aleksandar Vucic, whose administration approved the hotel project, which also includes Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, as the developer. “No one has ever said that we are inhospitable: We prepared this pig for Donald Jr Trump,” Mr. Vucic boasted on his Facebook page, about his meal with Mr. Trump.

Donald Trump Jr. then moved on to Bulgaria, where he appeared on a stage along with Antoni Trenchev, the co-founder of a cryptocurrency firm called Nexo that was fined $45 million by the S.E.C. in 2023 and agreed to leave the U.S. marketplace.

With Donald Trump Jr. at his side, Mr. Trenchev announced that Nexo had already talked to United States regulators and it was re-entering the U.S. market. “America is back — and so is Nexo,” Mr. Trenchev said, celebrating his meeting where he paid to be with the son of the president of the United States, as well as the company’s pending return to the market there.

President Trump, in recent days, was doing his part as well to help drive business to the family.

He attended a fund-raising event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida this past weekend. That makes his 10th visit to the club since he returned to the White House in January, with many of the weekend visits featuring political gatherings that pay bills to his family.

The New York Times

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