All the president's millions How the Trumps get richer from property and crypto

A crusading prosecutor in the Balkans comes under pressure to drop a big case.

- Tom Burgis

Vietnamese villagers learn they are to be evicted. A convicted crypto kingpin in the Gulf receives a pardon.

All have one thing in common: they appear to be connected to the Trump family's campaign to amass riches around the world. Since Donald Trump's reelection, warnings that his use of presidential power to advance personal interests is corroding American democracy have grown ever louder. What is less understood - and perhaps even more dangerous - is the damage this is doing everywhere else.

Trump's eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric, formally the custodians of the family business, are conducting a global dealmaking blitz. They have broken ground on new golf courses, received permission for new skyscrapers, rented out the Trump brand, and in cryptocurrency they have embraced a venture with the capacity to bring in more than everything that has gone before.

They insist, in Eric's words, that there is a "huge wall" between this moneymaking and their father's position. "Nothing I do has anything to do with the White House," Eric told CNN recently.

But Kristofer Harrison, a senior foreign policy official under President George W Bush who runs an anti-corruption organisation called the Dekleptocracy Project, is among those accusing the Trumps of operating a "pay to play" system that benefits those who do business with the president's family. Such an approach could be manipulated, he said, especially by rival powers such as China. He said: "Trump has made authoritarians' wildest dreams come true."

Despite allegations - denied by the White House of conflicts of interest, no explicit quid pro quos have been proven. But the Trumps' business interests are raising questions. Should they give the appearance of abuse of public office for private gain - commonly known as corruption - ethics experts fear it invites other rulers to do the same.