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Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lamar Odom Booed and Heckled at Trump's Crypto Dinner: ‘Shame!'
Lamar Odom was met with boos and shouts of 'shame' as he attended a private dinner for top investors in Donald Trump's memecoin. The former Los Angeles Lakers forward and reality TV star uploaded a video of himself Thursday walking into Trump's Virginia golf resort, where protesters had gathered to speak out against the crypto event, which has sparked outrage and allegations of corruption and ethics violations involving the president. The exclusive black-tie dinner was reserved for the top 220 buyers who poured tens of millions of dollars into the $TRUMP cryptocurrency. As more people purchase $TRUMP, the value of the memecoin spikes, ultimately financially benefiting Trump and his family. Despite the competition ending on May 12, details of the top investors invited to dine with Trump remained a mystery. No official guest list was provided by the White House or those behind the $TRUMP competition, with many crypto investors using an anonymous online pseudonym. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the secrecy surrounding the paid-for-access event on Thursday afternoon by saying it is 'not a White House dinner.' Odom revealed himself to be among the top 220 global investors in $TRUMP by posting the clip of himself arriving at the dinner while simultaneously trying hawk his own memecoin. 'I'm just about to pass through security and officially walk into the Trump Gala. Honestly… I'm fired up,' Odom posted on X, sharing a video of himself being booed by protesters. 'Think about it—what meme coin has ever done this? $ODOM isn't just a token, it's taking the stage at a presidential gala tonight!' Representatives for Odom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast. As an athlete, Odom is best known for the seven years he spent at the Lakers, where he won two NBA championships. Outside basketball, Odom gained wider recognition for his rocky marriage to Khloe Kardashian, which played out on reality TV, as well as a highly publicized drug addiction. Odom's fall from grace was complete when he was found unconscious and near death in a Nevada brothel in 2015 following a drug overdose. Thursday's crypto dinner event, and the frantic bidding process for invitations, has provoked accusations that Trump is openly profiting while in office. Critics have also accused Trump of offering anyone, including foreign nationals and those with vested interests, direct access to the president if they throw enough money his way. 'This is the crypto corruption club,' Sen. Jeff Merkley shouted while protesting outside the event, according to The New York Times. 'This is like the Mount Everest of corruption.' 'Every time there's a transaction, he gets a transaction fee? It's just unconscionable,' Ken Papaj, a former Treasury Department official who also protested the dinner, told NBC News. 'He's using the presidency to make himself and his family richer. It's just not right for that to be happening in our country.' Chinese-born Crypto billionaire Justin Sun confirmed in a post Tuesday on X that he was the top buyer of $TRUMP after spending about $40 million on the memecoin. Sun, owner of the crypto platform Tron, attended the event with Trump after years of avoiding the U.S., fearing arrest. The Department of Justice began investigating Sun for alleged financial crimes from 2021 to at least 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal. It is unclear whether the DOJ is still pursuing the case, but Sun's long stay in Hong Kong meant he missed his shot at flying on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spacecraft in 2021, having originally secured a spot on the ship. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also accused Sun of market manipulation, claiming he directed his employees to buy and sell Tron's TRX cryptocurrency to artificially inflate prices. Rep. Sean Casten urged the DOJ to investigate whether Trump's crypto dinner 'violates federal bribery laws or the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution,' which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments or individuals. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast. Leavitt also dismissed allegations of wrongdoing by Trump over the event. 'It's absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency,' Leavitt told reporters Thursday afternoon. 'This president was incredibly successful before giving it all up to serve our country publicly.'
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Lamar Odom brings protests to Trump's cryptocurrency dinner, audience boos
Former NBA champion and reality TV personality Lamar Odom was at the center of controversy and protest when he joined President Donald Trump 's exclusive cryptocurrency dinner in Sterling, Virginia, on May 22, 2025. Odom, who has become a busy participant in the crypto community, was one of 220 top investors who received access to the event by being leading holders of Trump's $TRUMP meme coin—a coin that has generated both financial hype and political controversy. Upon reaching Trump National Golf Club , Odom was greeted with a cacophony of boos and catcalls by protesters. People jeered and yelled "Hypocrite!" while displaying placards reading such things as "Don the Con" and "No Kings," fueled by wrath not only against Trump's crypto initiatives but also against celebrities and investors who were giving them credibility. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo Odom, unbothered, posted a video to social media, declaring, 'I'm just about to pass through security and officially walk into the Trump Gala. Honestly… I'm fired up,' and used the moment to promote his own cryptocurrency, $ODOM, claiming it was 'taking the stage at a presidential gala tonight! Live Events — LamarOdom (@LamarOdom) Within, the mood was similarly charged. While the elite 25 coin holders had a closed reception and a White House tour, the majority were left with little more than a cursory speech from Trump, who was in attendance for only around 23 minutes before leaving by helicopter. Some guests, such as 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto, were disappointed with the cuisine and not being able to meaningfully interact with the president, despite having collectively paid almost $148 million for the coin. The event has attracted scathing denunciations from Democrats and ethics specialists, who contend that it provided privileged access to the president in return for money from deep-pocketed donors, sparking concerns about possible federal bribery law violations as well as the Constitution's emoluments clause. The White House, though, pooh-poohed suggestions of profiteering, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt labeling such allegations "absurd". For Odom, the night was another installment in his complicated public odyssey-from NBA celebrity and reality-television popularity to crypto entrepreneurship-while the wider controversy highlighted the intensifying overlap between celebrity, politics, and digital money in America's new Gilded Age.
The Herald Scotland
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Lamar Odom booed by hecklers at Trump's crypto dinner
I'm just about to pass through security and officially walk into the Trump Gala. Honestly... I'm fired up. Think about it--what meme coin has ever done this?$ODOM isn't just a token, it's taking the stage at a presidential gala tonight! By the way, Bitcoin is smashing through... — LAMAR ODOM (@LamarOdom) May 22, 2025 Democrats and ethics experts have sharply criticized Trump's crypto businesses, saying they offer wealthy people access to and an opportunity to influence the president. The dinner for top purchasers of the $TRUMP meme coin is a vivid example of that, critics said, as 220 top investors got some prized time with the commander in chief. A group of congressional Democrats sent a letter to the Justice Department urging the agency to investigate whether Trump's crypto dinner violates the federal bribery statute or the foreign emoluments provision in the Constitution. The emoluments clause bars any U.S. official from accepting "any present" of "any kind whatsoever, from any King, Prince, or foreign state." But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters it's "absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency." Though the White House refused to publicize the list of dinner guests, some revealed publicly that they attended. Odom posted on social media that he was "fired up" to be at the event, although the video showed only the jeers of protesters as he walked into the club. "Think about it - what meme coin has ever done this?" Odom wrote. Odom also has a meme coin of his own, which he promoted in the post. A 14-year NBA veteran, Odom was in the spotlight for his marriage to Khloe Kardashian and appeared on her reality television show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." The couple also had a show, "Khloe & Lamar." In 2015, Odom was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel after a drug overdose. The pair's divorce was finalized in 2016.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Inside Trump's big-spender meme coin dinner: Presidential seal and food that looked ‘worse than Spirit Airlines'
A black-tie gala thrown for the top 220 buyers of Donald Trump's meme coin Thursday night at his Virginia golf club featured the president flying in on Marine One and speaking at a lectern emblazoned with the presidential seal, despite the White House arguing that it was a 'private' event and he was 'attending it in his personal time.' But while the event prompted ethics experts to warn that Trump has crossed a line by potentially profiting directly from his presidency while simultaneously allowing crypto enthusiasts and others to buy access to the office, leaked footage and reports from inside the event reveal that some attendees came away highly disappointed. Particularly over the meal, which left a lot to be desired. While the menu for the evening was a filet mignon with demi-glaze and pan-seared halibut with a citrus reduction, what was served to the guests wouldn't have looked out of place at Ikea — albeit served on dinner plates emblazoned with a gilded 'Trump Washington, D.C.' logo. 'It was the worst food I've ever had at a Trump golf course,' TikTok personality Nick Pinto, who gained entry by investing $300,000 in the Trump family cryptocurrency, told Wired. 'The only good thing was bread and butter.' While Pinto said he left the gala hungry, another attendee also gave subpar marks for the food. 'OK, but not top-class,' the guest reviewed the fare served him at the Trump National Golf Club. After Wired reporter Matthew Champion posted a picture – shared with him by one of the attendees – of a sad plate of food served at the event, it didn't take long for the mockery to go into full swing. 'I've had better food on Spirit Airlines,' snarked CNBC correspondent Steve Kovach, who was not at the event, referencing the discount airline. Indeed, the photo showed a minuscule portion of food on the large, white-with-gold-leaf Trump plate. A handful of orange sticks – perhaps carrots – sat alongside a lonely slice of squash, while it appeared an ice cream scoop was used to add a dollop of yellow mashed potatoes on the dish. The small piece of halibut looked more like dry chicken, and the filet was covered in brown gravy but still appeared extremely overcooked. '[T]hey used the catering service from the fyre festival lol,' The Ringer senior staff writer Joel Anderson reacted, invoking the fraudulent 'luxury' music Fyre festival that resulted in a prison sentence for its organizer who had promised gourmet food and accommodations to a Bahamas music festival that in reality amounted to slices of cheese on white bread and flimsy, leaking tents. Of course, the guests weren't at Trump's gala for the food – they were hoping to get some face time with the leader of the free world. But that, too, brought about some disappointment from those gathered. After Trump arrived at the golf course via his presidential helicopter, he delivered a 25-minute by-the-numbers speech that only briefly touched on cryptocurrency. 'I think it's really got a great, great future,' Trump said in one clip shared online. 'I think you're on the cutting edge. Everyone think it is just the beginning. And I can just say that we are, we're believers in the whole administration. We're big believers.' In a separate clip shared by Justin Sun, a Chinese billionaire known for his publicity stunts who has spent more than $20 million on the $TRUMP meme coin, the presidential seal was clearly visible on Trump's lectern. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had previously tried to head off any criticism over the gala, which included The Wall Street Journal editorial board accusing Trump of using his office to enrich himself and his family, by merely insisting it wasn't an official event. Asked during Thursday's press briefing about the likelihood that most of the top buyers were foreign investors and whether the administration would publish a list of the attendees so the public knew who was buying access to the president, Leavitt said: 'The president is attending it in his personal time. It is not a White House dinner, it's not taking place here at the White House.' She also grumbled that it was 'absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency.' Since the meme coin's debut in January, Trump's businesses have made over $300 million in sales and $43 million in total fees, according to a Washington Post analysis. After the dinner was announced last month, Trump and his business partners have brought in over $3 million in transaction fees alone. Sun, meanwhile, was charged in 2023 by the Biden-era Securities and Exchange Commission with fraud and market manipulation. Those charges were put on hold by Trump's SEC after Sun invested $75 million in another Trump family crypto project, World Liberty Financial. While neither the White House nor the gala organizers made the list of the 220 top buyers public and the event was closed to the press, raising additional ethical concerns over the secrecy, Sun said that he topped the buyer leaderboard. 'The contest to attend the crypto dinner ran from April 23 to May 12, and it was not immediately clear how much the meme coin buyers paid to attend the event,' the Washington Post reported. 'The top 25 on an online leader board set up by the Trump-affiliated business to rank their spending hold a total of $140 million in Trump coins.' While the top 25 on the list were invited to an 'ultraexclusive private VIP reception,' it appeared that the president only spent a short amount of time at the event and didn't even stick around to hand out prizes to the top purchasers of his cryptocurrency. 'Trump could have at least given the top people their watches himself,' Pinto groused. 'He didn't.' While some attendees told Wired that their overriding memory of the event would be the 'warm welcome' they received as the gala kicked off, walking into the dinner was a whole different story. Guests, which included one-time NBA star and Kardashian beau Lamar Odom, were greeted by a horde of booing protesters who chanted 'shame, shame, shame' while holding up signs that read 'Stop Crypto Corruption' and 'Don the Con.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's Crypto Dinner Guests Admit They're Trying to Buy Him Off
Incredibly unsurprising news: The people who paid millions of dollars to get into Trump's lavish cryptocurrency dinner did soto directly influence the president's financial policy in their favor. 'I will definitely not hesitate to share my perspective,' Vincent Liu, CIO of Taiwanese-based crypto firm Kronos Research, who bought enough Trump's crypto to attend the dinner Thursday night, told The New York Times. 'It's great to see the current direction that everything's going.' 'It's kind of a fund-raiser' for Mr. Trump, Korean crypto executive Sangrok Oh and another dinner attendee, told the Times. 'And he'll always be good to his sponsors.' The dinner was held at Trump's private golf club in northern Virginia on Thursday evening for the top 220 holders of the president's memcoin cryptocurrency—after an auction that brought in $147,586,796.41. Protesters lined the entrance to the building, chanting 'shame, shame, shame!' and other holding up signs while attendees arrived. The event was promoted as the 'most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world,' according to an email. While the top 220 buyers got into the gala, the top 25 buyers received much more personal, 'ultra-exclusive private VIP reception' and 'Special VIP Tour' with Trump, allowing them unfettered access to the president. There were also some other high profile attendees there (with much smaller pockets than the likes of Liu and Oh). Embattled former NBA player and reality TV star Lamar Odom posted a video on X of himself walking into the event while boos and jeers rained down on him from the crowd. 'I'm just about to pass through security and officially walk into the Trump Gala. Honestly… I'm fired up. Think about it—what meme coin has ever done this?' Odom wrote on X, plugging his own memecoin as well. '$ODOM isn't just a token, it's taking the stage at a presidential gala tonight!' Trump's cryptocurrency has been widely condemned as a blatant conflict of interest that completely blurs the lines between executive power and private business. 'Donald Trump's dinner is an orgy of corruption. That's what this is all about,' Senator Elizabeth Warren said that evening. 'Donald Trump is using the presidency of the United States to make himself richer through crypto, and he's doing it right out there in plain sight. He is signaling to anyone who wants to ask for a special favor—and is willing to pay for it—exactly how to do that.
