World leaders coming to Miami for this year’s Group of 20 summit were supposed to see a massive 22-foot golden monument of President Trump. But the sculptor is now holding the statue until he gets paid what he is owed.
According to The Times, the piece is called “Don Colossus.” A group of cryptocurrency supporters paid for it to promote their memecoin called $PATRIOT. But the Ohio-based artist who made it, Alan Cottrill, will not release the statue from his foundry until he receives a large payment he says they still owe him.
This is a big problem for the crypto group because they already built a steel and concrete base for the statue at Trump National Doral. This is the resort outside Miami where the summit will happen on December 14 and 15.
The artist deserves full payment for his completed work
Cottrill is a well-known artist who has made statues of past presidents and has work displayed in the U.S. Capitol. He says he is still owed $90,000 from the total $150,000 he was supposed to get for the rights to the bronze piece. He also claims the crypto group used images of his work without permission to market the $PATRIOT memecoin, which has dropped in value since then.
Cottrill made his position clear. “That statue will not leave my foundry until everything they owe me is paid,” he said. This dispute comes as the White House has been dealing with other monument-related controversies recently.
Ashley Sansalone, one of the people who paid for the project, says the sculptor will be paid before the statue is shown. Sansalone said this is just normal business practice. “Under any business agreement, there’s always some funds withheld until the finished product is complete,” he said.
The statue is a 15-foot bronze work that will stand 22 feet tall once it is placed on the base. It will be covered in gold leaf. It shows President Trump in an open-collared dress shirt and suit with his fist raised in the air. The design is based on a photograph taken after a gunman nearly missed the president during a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.
Cottrill said the crypto group wanted more than just accuracy. They wanted an improved version of the nearly 80-year-old president. He said he originally made the sculpture “very lifelike,” but the clients asked for changes. “I had to get rid of some of the turkey neck. I had to thin him down,” Cottrill explained. Gold Trump-themed items have become popular, with even celebrities showing off gold Trump cards after White House visits.
Published: Feb 8, 2026 01:15 pm