With a capacity to accommodate nearly 5,000 spectators, UFC plans to kick off the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations at the presidential residence on June 14th. It follows a nearly 12-month journey that began when President Donald Trump announced the event at an Iowa rally last year. Yet, the historical significance of the show has done little to quiet the wave of criticism around the event ever since its announcement.

Amid the existing scrutiny about the event blurring the line between official state governance and partisan, campaign-style entertainment, just weeks ahead of the UFC Freedom 250, a detailed report by Matt Moret of The Athletic has added another layer of criticism surrounding it by revealing the President bought TKO stocks just days after the card’s official announcement.

“President Donald Trump purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in TKO Holding Group, the parent company of UFC and WWE, weeks ahead of a White House UFC event he’s promoted for months,” the report stated. “The purchase was disclosed in Trump’s May 8 financial disclosures, which are publicly available through the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Those documents do not specify how much stock Trump purchased but say he acquired it on (on) March 25—a little more than two weeks after the Freedom Fights 250 fight card was publicly revealed.”

While the White House in the past has insisted that President Trump’s personal portfolio is managed entirely by outside financial firms with no intervention from Trump himself, the timing of both the investment and the disclosure does raise questions since Trump, as the report pointed out, purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in TKO Group Holdings on March 25, just two weeks after Dana White officially unveiled the White House card on March 7.

The Athletic report also drew parallels to other purchases made in companies around the time they were awarded major government contracts.

“Trump’s personal stock portfolio is under renewed scrutiny this week after the Pentagon’s announcement that it is awarding a $9.7 billion defense contract to Dell Technologies, in which the president has invested millions of dollars over the last three months,” the report added.

The contract, valued at $9.69 billion, involves the five-year technology contract the Pentagon reportedly awarded to Dell Federal Systems. Citing cost savings, infrastructure, and the consolidation of advanced capabilities, the deal aims to streamline the acquisition of Microsoft software licenses, cloud subscriptions, and on-premises software across the Defense Department, intelligence community, and Coast Guard.

Despite those stated objectives, questions surrounding the timing have remained. While the Pentagon stated that Dell’s selection resulted from a competitive procurement process, the massive award has continued to draw scrutiny.

The Dell case is not the only example of such buys. Recent reports indicate that Trump bought stock in other companies days before major government contracts were awarded to them, including giants like Nvidia and Lockheed Martin.

As criticism surrounding the report grew, the White House, for it’s part has moved to defend the purchase.

White House responds forcefully to the conflict allegations

“The ‘Fake News’ continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read,” in a statement to The Athletic, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said. “President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public—which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses. President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”

Vice President J.D. Vance also defended the administration’s position, asserting that President Trump does not personally buy or sell stocks and instead relies on external financial advisors. Vance further argued that the president is wealthy enough that there is no need for him to personally manage trades.

On that point, however, The Athletic notes that regardless of the source of purchase, Trump may still have some level of awareness of his investments.

While Donald Trump’s personal involvement in those stock purchases is not yet confirmed, it does add to the scrutiny that the UFC White House card is already under just weeks before the big show.