A fund involving Trump sons made hundreds of millions from micro-cap trades

Small investment banks rarely attract much attention. But one of them has found itself at the center of a story that the market has been incessantly talking about.

Dominari Holdings is a boutique investment bank headquartered in Trump Tower in New York City with a market capitalization of about $66 million. According to Dominari's 10-K annual report filed on March 31, it owns a 90% stake in the fund American Ventures Management. Among Dominari's advisers and shareholders are the eldest sons of the current U.S. president, Donald Jr. and Eric, who joined the advisory board and participated in a February 2025 private placement.

Bloomberg, in an investigation, estimates that the fund has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in paper gains from warrants to purchase shares in micro-cap companies. Bloomberg stresses that this is only an estimate based on publicly disclosed transactions, warrant terms, and prevailing market prices; it remains unclear from public filings how much of those gains, if any, have been realized.

At the heart of American Ventures' strategy is warrants – securities that gives its holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy a share at a predetermined price within a specified period. Economically, they resemble a call option: both instruments allow investors to profit if a stock's market price rises above the exercise price. There is, however, one important distinction. An option is a contract between market participants, whereas a warrant is issued by the company itself. When exercised, the issuer creates new shares, diluting existing shareholders.

For investors, a warrant is essentially a long-term call option issued by a company. The key point is that it comes with built-in financial leverage: it does not simply track the movement of the underlying stock – it magnifies it. If the share price rises above the exercise price, the warrant's return can far exceed that of the stock. But if it does not, the warrant can expire worthless.

That is why even a relatively small investment can generate outsized returns – or lose all of its value. In thinly traded markets, where share prices can react sharply even to modest trading volumes, this often leads to a dramatic increase in the value of a position long before an investor realizes any actual profit.

Warrants are a legitimate and widely used financial instrument. What makes this story unusual is something else: American Ventures has used the same approach across several micro-cap investments, receiving warrants that later surged in value as the companies announced transformative transactions. Meanwhile, the involvement of Trump's sons has attracted the attention of retail investors. Eric Trump told Bloomberg that he is "a passive investor in American Ventures and has absolutely no management role in this vehicle." The story illustrates how, in the micro-cap market, the value of warrants can increase much faster than the value of the underlying business.

Below are four transactions in which the fund's role has been traced through filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SRM Entertainment

The clearest example is the transformation of theme-park merchandise maker SRM Entertainment into Tron Inc. According to an 8-K current report filed with the SEC on June 16 of last year, the company raised $100 million through a private investment in public equity financed with TRX tokens. The investor received preferred shares convertible into 200 million common shares at $0.50 apiece, along with warrants to purchase another 220 million common shares at the same exercise price. Before the transaction, SRM's market capitalization was about $25 million. Dominari Securities acted as the exclusive placement agent, while Tron founder Justin Sun served as an adviser to the transaction.

Subsequent events show how those warrants became common stock. According to a subsequent 8-K, by August 2025 the investor had exercised all 220 million warrants, paying for them with $110 million worth of TRX tokens. As a result, the company issued another 220 million common shares.

Bloomberg estimates that SRM's transition to a crypto treasury model generated more than $120 million in paper gains for American Ventures. The fund invested in the company only a few weeks before the transaction, and there is no public evidence that Donald Jr. or Eric Trump were directly involved in the deal.

Today, Tron Inc.'s business largely depends on the value of the TRX token and the returns generated from staking it. Marktfeld analysts flag the company's key risk as its heavy concentration in a single asset.

Genius Group

American Ventures' investment in AI education platform Genius Group (NYSE American: GNS) illustrates another aspect of the fund's strategy: the use of pre-funded warrants. According to a prospectus filed with the SEC in April, the company raised $8 million by issuing 2.3 million common shares at $0.37 apiece and 19.3 million pre-funded warrants with a nominal exercise price of $0.0001. Bloomberg identified American Ventures as the lead investor in the financing.

The defining feature of these warrants is that they allow investors to pay almost the full purchase price for future shares upfront while formally remaining below the 4.99% beneficial ownership threshold (or 9.99%, at the holder's election). This allows investors to accumulate a substantial economic interest without triggering additional disclosure requirements.

The transaction is also notable because American Ventures invested in a loss-making company: Bloomberg notes that Genius Group has reported losses every year since 2019 and previously warned investors that it could cease operating within a year unless it raised additional capital.

A similar mechanism appeared in disclosures involving Dominari. In February 2025, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump disclosed beneficial ownership of approximately 6.71% of the company's shares each, excluding another 432,276 shares that could have been acquired through warrants. At the same time, Genius Group CEO Roger James Hamilton told Bloomberg that the involvement of the Trumps in American Ventures "wasn't relevant one way or another" to his company, and there is no public evidence that they invested directly in Genius Group.

Aureus Greenway Holdings

The third example shows how warrants can be combined with a reverse merger. According to an 8-K, golf course operator Aureus Greenway Holdings raised about $26 million through a private placement in July 2025, issuing common shares, pre-funded warrants, and two tranches of conventional warrants. Revere Securities and Dominari Securities acted as co-placement agents.

Bloomberg reports that American Ventures received nearly 60 million warrants. Because the market price of Aureus Greenway's shares already exceeded the exercise price, the warrants were immediately in the money.

In March, Aureus Greenway announced a merger with drone manufacturer Powerus, which went public through the reverse merger. Dominari Securities advised on the transaction as financial adviser and placement agent. Investors included drone maker Unusual Machines, in which Donald Jr. is a shareholder. The announcement helped send Aureus Greenway's shares up 12% in a day.

Bloomberg estimated that, based on the stock's closing price on June 24, American Ventures' warrants were worth at least $165.2 million.

Skyline Builders Group

The fourth transaction applies the American Ventures playbook to the critical minerals sector. According to SEC filings, in the third quarter of 2025 American Ventures led a group of investors that acquired control of Hong Kong-based Skyline Builders Group (Nasdaq: SKBL) with the aim of abandoning its construction business to focus on strategic mineral production.

The Financial Times reports that Donald Jr. and Eric Trump invested in Skyline through American Ventures in August 2025, while Bloomberg estimated the value of the fund's warrants at at least $132.5 million just a month later. In April 2026, Skyline announced a merger with Cove Kaz Capital Group, after which the combined company will become publicly traded Kaz Resources Inc. (KAZR).

The transaction's principal asset is a 70% stake in Kazakhstan's Northern Katpar project, which the companies describe as the world's largest known undeveloped tungsten deposit. The transaction is expected to close in late 2026 or early 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.