At a Wall Street Journal conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, billionaire investor and longtime Republican donor Ken Griffin delivered an unusually sharp critique of the Trump administration, accusing it of showing “favoritism” toward certain businesses and raising concerns about whether political connections are shaping economic decisions.

Griffin also pointed to reports that an aide to an Abu Dhabi royal purchased a 49% stake in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture for $500 million.

Griffin, the founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, said government involvement in corporate America has crossed a line. “When the U.S. government starts to engage in corporate America in a way that tastes of favoritism, I know for most CEOs that I’m friends with, they find it incredibly distasteful,” Griffin said during the conference.

He added that “most CEOs just don’t want to find themselves in the business of having to, in some sense, suck up to one administration after another to succeed in running their business.”

The comments mark Griffin’s latest break from President Donald Trump, despite his long history of supporting Republican candidates. According to public disclosures, Griffin poured more than $100 million into conservative causes during the 2024 election cycle, though he notably withheld support from Trump’s re-election campaign before later donating $1 million to the inaugural committee.

Without disputing the legality of the deal, he questioned its implications. “This administration has definitely made missteps in choosing decisions or courses that have been very, very enriching to the families of those in the administration,” Griffin said. “That calls into question, is the public interest being served?”

Still, Griffin’s criticism was not without nuance. He praised several Trump policies, including border security efforts, calling them “a huge win,” and said the president “made a really solid choice” in selecting Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. At the same time, Griffin noted that Trump “has a willingness to listen to these CEOs” and “to his credit, he does listen to people.”

The White House pushed back against Griffin’s claims. “The only special interest guiding the Trump administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people,” spokesman Kush Desai said, pointing to strong stock market performance, rising real wages and cooling inflation as evidence.

Griffin also warned that today’s corporate leaders are increasingly hesitant to speak out on political issues. “The power of social media to persuade millions or tens of millions of consumers to make a product choice is really terrifying to corporate executives,” he said, arguing that the climate has left many leaders “intrinsically withdrawn.”