An investment by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump in a construction company that could profit from a U.S.-funded deal in Kazakhstan has raised suspicions, though proving any wrongdoing is unlikely, according to Andrew Stoltmann, a securities and investment fraud attorney.
The Trump brothers, through an investment vehicle named Dominari Securities housed in Trump Tower, acquired a minority interest in Skyline Builders in August 2025. At the time, Skyline Builders was a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ. This investment occurred before Kazakhstan awarded a tungsten mining contract to the United States, a deal potentially worth up to $1.6 billion in financing from U.S. government entities like the Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
Tungsten, a rare earth mineral crucial for military equipment, is a strategic priority for the U.S. to secure long-term supply, given that China and Russia control the majority of its global supply. Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced in November 2025 that the country had awarded a tungsten mining contract to the U.S., with Cove Kaz Capital selected to conduct the majority of the mining operations.
Earlier in 2025, Skyline Builders completed a reverse merger with Cove Kaz Capital, forming Kaz Resources, now listed on the NASDAQ as KAZR. Skyline Builders holds a 20% stake in Kaz Resources following a $20 million investment.
Critics have suggested, without presenting evidence, that the Trump brothers invested in Skyline Builders with prior knowledge of the impending Kazakhstan deal. The Trump Organization has vehemently denied this, stating that the investment was passive, made before the deal was finalized, and without any foreknowledge of Kazakhstan awarding the contract to the U.S.
Stoltmann explained that proving any knowledge or illicit intent on the part of President Trump would be challenging. "The question is whether President Trump would have known about his sons’ investments in this company, and I think the answer would be ‘no’ unless the sons told them," he told Fox News Digital. "They are private investors... So, to the extent they make a passive investment in a company or an entity, there are no real duties to disclose this information."
He further elaborated on the difficulty of establishing a case, stating, "But this is where the proof problem comes in... I don't think there's any duty of disclosure when you are a passive Investor in a company, and that's where President Trump would most certainly say, 'I don't know all the things my sons do.'"
Despite the lack of concrete evidence, Stoltmann acknowledged the negative optics. "The $64,000 question is pretty much what Trump knew and when he knew it — and look, the optics are bad," he said. "You have the president's sons investing in a company that is eventually awarded a very large contract, and so it certainly raises eyebrows, it raises suspicions."
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, underwrote a $46.8 million loan to ASP Isotopes, a company whose subsidiary acquired voting control of Skyline Builders around the time of the Trump brothers' investment. Cantor Fitzgerald has stated that its involvement was limited to supporting capital raises in public markets and did not include participation in negotiations with any administration.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly stated that the narrative is a "tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade," adding, "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public... There are no conflicts of interest."
The Kazakhstan tungsten deal is currently under a standard review process by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Trump Organization and the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.