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TRUMP to Receive $1.2BIL BONUS For Trump Media DESPITE Stock Tanking
Truth Social Co-Founders Accuse TRUMP of Trying to Rip Them Off in Merger Worth Hundreds of Millions of Dollars.
TRUMP Media co-founders sue company, alleging a scheme to dilute shares
TRUMPS’ Net Worth Plunges $700 Million As Truth Social Flops
The Washington Post 1 MAR 2024
The co-founders of former president Donald Trump’s media company filed a lawsuit Wednesday, claiming that Trump and other leaders had schemed to deprive them of a stake in the company that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The case could complicate a long-delayed bid by Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of the social network Truth Social, to merge with a special purpose acquisition company called Digital World Acquisition and become a publicly traded company.
That merger deal, which could value Trump’s stake in the company at more than $3 billion, would offer the former president a financial lifeline at a time when he is facing more than $454 million in penalties from a civil fraud judgment this month in New York.
The case is one of three lawsuits filed this week that detail bitter recriminations among people key to the Trump company’s earliest days. The filings will probably serve as the opening salvo in what could be all-out legal warfare ahead of the March 22 shareholder vote on whether to go ahead with the merger.
On Tuesday, Digital World and Trump Media sued Digital World’s former chief executive, Patrick Orlando, and its sponsor, Arc Global Investments II, in a Florida court, alleging that Orlando had threatened to block the merger to “obtain a windfall by way of extortion” and accusing him of “avarice [and] incompetence” that had caused “extensive reputational harm.”
On Thursday, Arc filed its own lawsuit, telling a Delaware chancery court that Digital World, its current chief executive, Eric Swider, and three board members had miscalculated Arc’s stake in a way that would deprive it of more than 2 million shares. In a motion to expedite, Arc’s attorneys accused Digital World of “gamesmanship” and “strong-arming tactics” related to the dispute.
Arc, a subsidiary of the Shanghai-based investment firm Arc Capital, provided Digital World’s early funding and is managed by Orlando, whom Digital World’s board fired last year.
The suit against Orlando alleges that he received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission, known as a Wells notice, indicating that officials had considered charging him for violations of federal securities laws but that the matter was still pending. The SEC and an attorney for Orlando did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Trump campaign referred comment to Trump Media, which did not respond to requests for comment. Digital World also did not respond.
Digital World’s share price Thursday plunged almost 9 percent, to $41, amid the turmoil. Considering that Digital World has said in an SEC filing that Trump will receive 78 million shares in the post-merger company, the drop equates to a roughly $300 million loss in equity for Trump’s stake.
The co-founders’ lawsuit is led by Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who met Trump as contestants on his reality show “The Apprentice.” The men pitched Trump on the idea of a Trump-branded tech start-up and social media platform in early 2021 after he lost the White House and was banned from Twitter, now called X.
Trump agreed to the deal and was given 90 percent of the company, according to a motion for expedited proceedings filed Wednesday in the Delaware Court of Chancery by the co-founders’ partnership, United Atlantic Ventures. The partnership took 8.6 percent, while an attorney on the deal, Bradford Cohen, was given the remaining 1.4 percent, the motion states.
UAV launched the Trump Media business, hired employees and raised funding while receiving no “fee or payment for its work,” the motion said. And though Litinsky and Moss left Trump Media that year amid a dispute with its current leadership, UAV retained its shares, according to a SEC filing this month from Digital World.
The filing said that Trump was set to receive 78 million shares in the post-merger company - a stake worth more than $3 billion at Thursday’s share price - and that UAV would receive more than 7 million shares, a stake worth nearly $300 million. “Throughout TMTG’s corporate history,” the motion states, “UAV’s 8.6 percent ownership interest has been recognized and honored.”
But UAV’s attorneys allege in the motion that Trump has recently attempted to “drastically dilute” the partnership’s stake as part of what they called an “11th hour, pre-merger corporate maneuvering” tactic designed to increase the amount of authorized stock, from 120 million shares to 1 billion shares.
UAV’s attorneys wrote that the “dilution scheme” had “no legitimate business purpose” and suggested that Trump and the Trump Media board planned to issue the new shares to “Trump and/or his associates and children,” watering down UAV’s stake to less than 1 percent.
UAV was “promised 8.6 percent of this company and sadly its business partners are baselessly trying to renege,” said the partnership’s lead attorney, Christopher J. Clark of Clark Smith Villazor, in an interview with The Washington Post describing the lawsuit. “They feel like: We made Truth Social for you. You get 90 percent. But some people just aren’t happy with 90 percent.”
Clark has represented high-profile defendants including Hunter Biden, Elon Musk and billionaire businessman Mark Cuban. After representing President Biden’s son for several years in negotiations related to a Justice Department investigation, Clark stepped down in August due to the possibility that he could be called to testify as a witness on Hunter Biden’s behalf.
In the filing, Digital World said the proposed issuing of 1 billion shares in “New Digital World” stock was part of a set of post-merger business changes. The SEC declared this month that the merger’s registration statement was effective, clearing the way for Digital World’s shareholders to vote to finalize the merger in a meeting next month.
Digital World acknowledged the UAV dispute in the SEC filing, saying it had received letters starting last month from a UAV lawyer asserting that the partnership still had the right to appoint directors to Trump Media’s board and to “approve or disapprove of the creation of additional TMTG shares.”
UAV, the filing said, argued that its original services agreement with Trump from 2021 remains in effect. Digital World said in the filing that the agreement was “declared void” by a Trump attorney “nearly two and a half years prior.”
Digital World said in the filing that Trump Media had said it “strongly disagrees with UAV’s assertion to any rights with respect to TMTG under the Services Agreement and that it believes TMTG has valid defenses to the potential claims by UAV.”
The filing said a UAV representative sent a text message this month to a Trump Media noteholder suggesting that UAV might seek to “enjoin,” or block, the merger. The filing also noted that a UAV attorney had sent a letter to Trump Media threatening “legal action regarding UAV’s alleged rights in TMTG, including, if necessary, an action to enjoin” the merger.
Digital World said in the filing that the legal dispute could prevent or delay the merger deal, “significantly impact” the company’s future performance, or “negatively impact investor confidence and market perception.”
Delaware, where Trump Media was incorporated, is a common state for American business registrations, and its chancery court is a mainstay for corporate litigation.
A sealed legal complaint was filed in the case late Wednesday. Under Delaware chancery law, it won’t be made public for another five days as both sides discuss potential redactions. A copy of the motion for expedited processing, which outlines the dispute, was publicly visible in court records.
Trump’s Net Worth Plunges $700 Million As Truth Social Flops
re: Greatest CON EVER; DOW DUMPING TRUMP- Stock Plummets AGAIN & Going Lower
TRUMP Hopes To Raise $Billions as Stock Market Deal Passes -Trump Media (Truth Social) is Listed on The Nasdaq Stock Exchange With Letters DJT, TRUMPs' Initials
BAD MOVE - A step that once BANKRUPTED another of his companies
BBC 24 MAR 2024
Donald Trump appears to be scrambling for funds to pay a $464m (£365m) fraud fine. Could the stock market ride to his rescue? Trump Media, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, is poised to become a publicly listed company, after a majority of shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp voted on Friday to acquire it.
Mr Trump is due to have a stake of at least 58% in the merged company, worth nearly $3bn at Digital World's current share prices.
It's an astonishing potential windfall for Mr Trump in exchange for a business whose own auditor warned last year it was at risk of failure.
Never mind the many red flags associated with the deal, including unresolved lawsuits from former business partners. There's also an $18m settlement that Digital World agreed to pay last year to resolve fraud charges over how the merger plan came together.
Shares in Digital World dropped more than 13% on Friday after the approval, ending the day at $36.94.
Backers of Digital World - the vast majority of whom are individual investors instead of Wall Street firms, many apparently Trump loyalists - seemed unfazed.
"This is just the start," Chad Nedohin, a deal supporter, said on his show DWAC Live on the video platform Rumble after the approval was announced. "There's no reason to freak out."
Digital World, or DWAC (pronounced D-whack), is what is known as a SPAC, or a shell business created expressly to buy another firm and take it public.
The company will now be renamed Trump Media & Technology Group and could start trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker DJT as soon as next week.
The deal is unlikely to immediately resolve Mr Trump's most pressing financial issues, such as his New York fraud penalty.
The former president is barred from selling or transferring his shares for at least six months - though the new company could grant him an exemption.
Mr Trump could also try to get a loan, backed by the value of the shares. But in this case, analysts said a bank would probably lend him significantly less than the shares are worth on paper, given the potential risks of the business.
That hasn't stopped some of his supporters hoping their backing will help.
Mr Nedohin, who describes himself on his website as a Canadian "worship leader" and goes by Captain DWAC on Truth Social, declined to be interviewed.
But on his show this week he urged investors to approve the deal, speculating it could help the former president in his legal battles.
"If the merger is complete Friday at 10am and Trump all of a sudden has... shares of DJT that's worth three, four, five $10bn, who knows? He could easily leverage that to get a loan," he said.
He added: "This is putting your money where your mouth is for free speech, to save your country, potentially losing it all."
The risk that Digital World shareholders will lose money on their investment is significant, according to analysts.
Share prices are down from the highs they reached after plans to purchase Trump Media were announced in 2021.
But even after Friday's slide, they still imply Trump Media has a value of almost $5bn, which is a lot given it brought in just $3.3m in revenue in the first nine months of last year and lost nearly $50m.
**Truth Social Co-Founders Are Suing The Company..Accusing TRUMP of Trying to Rip Them Off in Merger Worth Hundreds of $$ in a Scheme to Dilute Shares
BAD MOVE - Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts;
Trumps' decision to go public with his right-wing social media company mirrors a move he made with Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, according to CNBC.
"While a 2016 Washington Post review found that Trump made over $44 million, the company — Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts — lost more than $1 billion and ended up in bankruptcy," the report states.
Trump Media, will be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange with the letters DJT, Trump’s initials," according to the outlet. "Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts used the same stock ticker when it went public with great fanfare in 1995."
According to the report, that company "lost money every year, but its stock prices did well — for a time. In the initial public offering, the company raised $140 million, selling 10 million shares at $14 each."
Even that success eventually faded.
"By 1996, the stock reached a high of $35 a share before plummeting later that year, in part because the company bought another casino for $100 million more than its estimated $400 million value, The New York Times reported in 2016," according to the report.
"The company, meanwhile, kept bleeding cash. The year the stock peaked, it lost $66 million. In 1999, it lost $134 million. And in 2004 — when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange — it lost $191 million, according to a CNBC review."
TRUMPs' Social Media Firm Soars 1st Day -'Looks Like a Ponzi Scheme'
TRUMPs' Social Media Firm Soars on Its Stock Market Debut in New York..BUT Restrictions Prevent Him From Selling or Borrowing Against His Shareholding For SIX Months.
'Looks Like a Ponzi Scheme to Me': Questions Raised About TRUMPs' Truth Social Value
MSNBBC 27 MAR 2024
Shares in Donald Trumps’ social media business soared on their stock market debut in New York yesterday – valuing the former US presidents’ stake at nearly £5billion.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which is behind his Truth Social platform, rose almost 60 per cent to $79 on the Nasdaq in early trading.
That gave the company a value of over £7billion – making Trump’s 58 per cent stake worth £4.9billion.
The stock – which trades under the ‘ticker’ DJT in a nod to Trump’s initials – later closed up 16 per cent at $57.99.
The rally will come as a welcome boost for Trump, 77, as he faces huge legal bills while at the same time running for president again.
Flying start: Trump Media & Technology Group, which is behind the Truth Social platform, rose almost 60% to $79 on the Nasdaq in early trading
However, lock-up restrictions could prevent him from selling or borrowing against his shareholding for six months.
That means Trump is still far away from a windfall, which will be tied to how well the shares do over the next few months.
And analysts have warned that shares in Trump Media may already be overvalued given it has yet to make a profit.
‘The valuation of the business is rich relative to its underlying fundamentals,’ said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital.
‘This valuation may be more of a proxy on the enthusiasm of supporters for Trump than a reasonable estimate of underlying business prospects.’
PONZI Scheme
On Monday morning's edition of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski questioned the value assigned to Donald Trump's Truth Social following a merger that was put to bed last Friday.
Noting the meager traffic the social media platform has drawn from users in its three years of existence, the hosts, along with MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire, were highly skeptical of its valuation north of $3 billion.
Scarborough kicked off the questioning by cutting to the chase and saying the publicly traded stock has the makings of being part of a scam that will leave some new investors holding the bag while Trump walks away with their cash.
"I'm not exactly sure how his Truth Social deal is going the way it is, but it looks like a Ponzi scheme to me," Scarborough began. "But I don't understand it. This is, though, a social media network that doesn't appear to be successful. Yet people are throwing around $5 billion here, $5 billion there. Does that provide Donald Trump an economic lifeline in the short term?"
"You're right about Truth Social," Lemire agreed. "It is a website that, frankly, no one uses. It has very little traction outside of the extreme MAGA right. It is where Trump continues to post since he was kicked off of Twitter after January 6th. I believe he's only posted one thing [on Twitter] since, which was his mugshot when he was indicted in Georgia last summer."
"He's still trying to drive interest to Truth Social," he continued. "It's not really working; there have been, you know, merger deals rumored for a couple of years now. It all fell apart."
"Where does this massive valuation come from?" Scarborough interjected.
"In a free and open and fair market, I mean, if you're just talking about economic considerations, who would invest in this company unless you were trying to curry favor with somebody who you think will be the next president of the United States," he added.
Lemire replied, "You hit it there. Someone trying to curry favor with who they believe will be the next president of the United States. We've seen people do that of late.
With Truth Social, it is not a success by any measure. Investors will lose a LOT OF MONEY"
__________________ PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL ..................SHARKS are Closing in on TRUMP..........................
TRUMP WARNS; 'There'll Be a Bloodbath If I Don't Get Elected'..MAGA - MyAssGotArrested...IT's COMING
PLEASE HELP THIS SITE..Click DONATE & Thanks to ALL Members of ... 1..
THIS SITE IS MORE THAN JUST WAREZ...& TO STOP SPAM-IF YOU WANT TO POST, YOUR FIRST POST MUST BE IN WELCOMES
re: Greatest CON EVER; DOW DUMPING TRUMP- Stock Plummets AGAIN & Going Lower
CRASH-But No Landing -YET - HUMPTY DUMPTY TRUMPs' Truth Social Shares Go Into Freefall After Investors Learn How Much Money It Really DOESN'T Make
Truth Social-Linked Stock Falls 25%—Donald Trumps’ Stake DOWN Over $2.5 Billion From Peak
MSNBBC 1 APR 2024
Donald Trumps’ Net Worth Sinks $1 BIL As Truth Social-Linked Stock Tanks
Shares of former President Donald Trumps’ social media company fell precipitously Monday after the company revealed its latest financial results, predictably well below what a typical multibillion-dollar company would deliver. Investors on Monday got their first peek at the financials of the Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of the Truth Social platform — and they did not like what they saw.
Key Facts
Trump Media’s stock (ticker $DJT for Trump’s initials) tanked 25% by early afternoon, trading at about $46 per share, a roughly 40% drop from its $79 peak set last Tuesday on its first day as an independently traded public company.
Trump, who owns 78.5 million shares in Trump Media, about 57% of all outstanding shares, accordingly had his stake in the social media venture slide from its peak of $6.25 billion to Monday’s $3.64 billion.
Monday’s freefall came after Trump Media unveiled its full-year 2023 results for the first time, revealing full-year revenues of $4.1 million on a net loss of $58.2 million, with fourth-quarter sales of roughly $750,000.
Now THAT LOSS Will also cost him -IN VOTES...His 'loyal' RICH 'Pals' will NOT BE HAPPY...
SHREWD Investors Cash Out on Backs of TRUMPs' DUMB Fans Buying Truth Social
Pump-and-Dump EXPERIENCED Investors Cash Out on 'Crazy' TRUMP Fans Buying Up Truth Social Stock
Early investors in the Trump Media & Technology Group are telling Reuters that they made a quick profit by cashing out late last week just before the company's first financial report sent its share prices into a freefall on Monday.
MSNBBC 3 APR 2024
DUH...
DUMP TRUMP..
One such investor was Mohammed Al Shalloudi, a 21-year-old data analyst from the United Arab Emirates, who rushed to invest in the Truth Media stock as soon as it became available because... he believed he could get Trump supporters to pay premium prices for a stock that he believed was wildly overpriced....
Al Shalloudis' bet has already paid off, given that he bought up shares when they were trading at $37 a piece and then sold them off last week when the price hit $65.
"It was a no-brainer," he tells Reuters. "You buy the stock, wait for Trumps' fan base to hear about it, and enjoy your profit."
A software developer who only wished to be identified as Sarah told Reuters that her calculus in investing in the Truth Social parent company was similar to Al Shalloudi's.
“I invested $10,000 last Tuesday because MAGA is crazy and they will pump the stock,” she explained.
While the share price of Trump Media was riding high at the end of last week, it came to a crashing halt on Monday when the firm released a financial report showing that it lost $58 million in the last year and generated just over $4 million in annual revenues.
As Forbes reported on Monday, this development has taken an axe to former President Donald Trumps's personal stake in the firm, which some observers speculated he would use to help pay off his considerable legal bills.
"Trump, who owns 78.5 million shares in Trump Media, about 57% of all outstanding shares, accordingly had his stake in the social media venture slide from its peak of $6.25 billion to Mondays’ $4.25 billion," the publication explained.
Stock STINKS... errr I Mean Sinks....
Trumps’ Net Worth Sinks $Billions As Truth Social-Linked Stock Tanks
MORE;
TRUMP Media Saved in 2022 by Russian-American Under FED Criminal Investigation
TRUMPs’ social media company went public relying partly on loans from trust managed by person of interest to prosecutors & money-laundering investigation Putin bromance has US intelligence officials fearing second Trump term
The Guardian 3 APR 2024
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting
The former president stood to gain billions from the merger that took the parent company of Truth Social public.
Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media managed to go public last week only after it had been kept afloat in 2022 by emergency loans provided in part by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation.
The former US president stands to gain billions of dollars – his stake is currently valued at about $4bn – from the merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which took the parent company of Truth Social public.
But Trump Media almost did not make it to the merger after regulators opened a securities investigation into the merger in 2021 and caused the company to burn through cash at an extraordinary rate as it waited to get the green light for its stock market debut.
The situation led Trump Media to take emergency loans, including from an entity called ES Family Trust, which opened an account with Paxum Bank, a small bank registered on the Caribbean island of Dominica that is best known for providing financial services to the porn industry.
Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger.
The existence of the trust was first reported by the Guardian last year. However, who controlled the account, how the trust was connected to Paxum Bank, and how the money had been funneled through the trust to Trump Media was unknown.
The new details about the trust are drawn from documents including: Paxum Bank records showing Postolnikov having access to the trust’s account, the papers that created the trust showing as its settlor a lawyer in St Petersburg, Russia, and three years of the trust’s financial transactions.
The concern surrounding the loans to Trump Media is that ES Family Trust may have been used to complete a transaction that Paxum itself could not.
Paxum Bank does not offer loans in the US as it lacks a US banking license and is not regulated by the FDIC. Postolnikov appears to have used the trust to loan money to help save Trump Media – and the Truth Social platform – because his bank itself could not furnish the loan.
Postolnikov, the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, an ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has not been charged with a crime. In response to an email to Postolnikov seeking comment, a lawyer in Dominica representing Paxum Bank warned of legal action for reporting the contents of the leaked documents.
There is also no indication that Trump or Trump Media had any idea about the nature of the loans beyond that they were opaque, nor has the company or its executives been accused of wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Trump Media did not respond to a request for comment.
But Postolnikov has been under increasing scrutiny in the criminal investigation into the Trump Media merger. Most recently, he has been listed on search warrant affidavits alongside several associates – one of whom was indicted last month for money laundering on top of earlier insider-trading charges.
Postolnikov and The Trust
In late 2021, Trump Media was facing financial trouble after the original planned merger with Digital World was delayed indefinitely when the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into the merger, Trump Media’s since-ousted co-founder-turned-whistleblower Will Wilkerson recounted in an interview.
Part of the problem was that Trump Media struggled to get financing because traditional banks were reluctant to lend millions to Trump’s social media company in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack, Wilkerson said.
Trump Media eventually found some lenders, including ES Family Trust, but the sequence of events was curious.
ES Family Trust was established on 18 May 2021, its creation papers show. Postolnikov’s “user” access to the account was “verified” on 30 November 2021 by a Paxum Bank manager in Dominica. The trust was funded for the first time on 2 December 2021.
Trump Media then received the loans from ES Family Trust: $2m on 23 December 2021, and $6m on 17 February 2022.
The loans came in the form of convertible promissory notes, meaning ES Family Trust would gain a major stake in Trump Media because it was offering the money in exchange for Trump Media agreeing to convert the loan principal into “shares of Company Stock”.
Oddly, the notes were never signed. But the investment in Trump Media proved to be huge: while precise figures can only be known by Trump Media, ES Family Trust’s stake in Trump Media is worth between $20m and $40m even after the sharp decline of the company’s share price in the wake of a poor earnings report.
The ES Family Trust account also appears to have benefited Postolnikov personally. As the criminal investigation into the Trump Media deal intensified towards the end of last year, the trust recorded several transfers to Postolnikov with the subject line “Partial Loan Return”.
In total, the documents showed that the trust transferred $4.8m to Postolnikov’s account, although $3m was inexplicably “reversed”.
(On 17 July 2023, Postolnikov received $300,000. On 17 October 2023, Postolnikov received $1.5m, before it was reversed the next day; later the same day, Postolnikov again received $1.5m, which was also reversed. On 19 October 2023, Postolnikov received the $1.5m for a third and final time.)
The reason for the trust’s creation remains unknown. Aside from the money that went to Trump Media, the trust’s statements show the trust has directly invested money with only two other companies: $10.8m to Eleven Ventures LLC, a venture capital firm, and $1m to Wedbush Securities, a wealth management firm.
The current status of ES Family Trust is also unknown. The trust’s address is listed as a residential home in Hollywood, Florida. But, according to the property website Redfin, the six-bedroom home appears to have been sold in December 2023.
The creation papers also contained something notable: a declaration that, if the original trustee – a Paxum employee named Angel Pacheco – stepped down from the role, his successor would be a certain individual named Michael Shvartsman.
Sprawling Money-Laundering Investigation
Last month, federal prosecutors charged Michael Shvartsman, a close associate of Postolnikov, with money laundering in a superseding indictment after previously charging him and two others in July with insider-trading Digital World shares. Shvartsman and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty.
At least part of the evidence against Shvartsman came from a confidential informant for the DHS, court filings show: in one March 2023 meeting with the informant and an associate, Shvartsman mentioned a friend who owned a bank in Dominica and made bridge loans to Trump Media.
“[Shvartsman] stated that a friend of his owns a bank in the island of Dominica and would be able to provide banking services to Russian and Ukraine Nationals if the [confidential informant] had other clients in need of that service,” the DHS report said.
“[Shvartsman’s associate] told the [confidential informant] that he does not think the SEC would be able to go after [Shvartsman] for his part in the investment but mentioned that [Shvartsman] essentially provided ‘bridge financing’ for the firm behind the Truth Social media platform,” it said.
The unredacted parts of the DHS report do not specify whether the “friend” was Postolnikov and what the “bridge financing” referred to – but the report left open the possibility that Shvartsman also had a role with the trust.
A lawyer for Shvartsman declined to comment on his client’s relationship with Postolnikov. A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York also declined to comment.
It is unclear whether federal prosecutors are aware that Trump Media was propped up by Postolnikov via ES Family Trust. At the same time, the money-laundering investigation surrounding the Trump Media merger and the scrutiny on Postolnikov appears to have ballooned in recent months.
The investigation into potential money laundering appears to have started after Wilkerson’s lawyers Phil Brewster, Stephen Bell and Patrick Mincey alerted the US attorney’s office in the southern district of New York to the ES Family Trust loans in October 2022.
Months later, in June 2023, the FBI expanded its investigation to work jointly with the Department of Homeland Security’s El Dorado taskforce, which specializes in money laundering, and its Illicit Proceeds and Foreign Corruption group, which targets corrupt foreign officials who use US entities to launder illicit funds.
Trumps’ Media Company Under Federal Investigation For Money Laundering Linked To Russia
Origins of Trump-Russia probe started 4 years ago, now a criminal investigation
re: Greatest CON EVER; DOW DUMPING TRUMP- Stock Plummets AGAIN & Going Lower
INSIDER TRADING in TRUMP MEDIA; Florida Brothers Plead GUILTY In Trump Media Insider Trading Case - Could Face 20 Years in Prison
Stock in TRUMPs' Social Media Company Loses FIFTH of Its Value -Media Stock Plunges After Posting a BIG LOSS For 2023
PLUS- TRUMP Sues Ex-Apprentice Contestants Over Failings in Setting Up Truth Social;
TRUMP seeks to block Wesley Moss and Andrew Litinsky from receiving Trump Media stock worth over $400MIL
The Guardian 4 APR 2024
Brothers Michael and Gerald Shvartsman pleaded guilty to insider trading after they together made more than $22 million by making illegal trades using non-public knowledge that Digital World Acquisition Corp was merging with Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of TRUMPs' Social Media Platform Truth Social.
Two Florida men in TRUMPs' HOME STATE, pleaded guilty to insider trading charges Wednesday after admitting they illegally raked in $22 million by purchasing securities in a company before it was announced that the same firm was going to bring Donald Trump's media business public.
Michael Shvartsman, 53, and his brother Gerald Shvartsman, 46, both pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud before the U.Ssd. District Court judge in Manhattan.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
Michael Shvartsman, the head of Miami-based venture capital firm Rocket One Capital, and his brother admitted to illegally trading on information they learned after signing confidentiality agreements with Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC) - the company that took Trump Media & Technology Group public.
DWAC is the parent company of the former president's Truth Social app.
'I’ve made a terrible mistake, Gerald Shvartsman said at the hearing Wednesday. 'I will pay for dearly the rest of my life,' he added.
Michael Shvartsman also admitted to the judge that he knew the trades were illegal and wrong.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, celebrated the ruling in a press release following the investors' guilty pleas.
'Michael and Gerald Shvartsman admitted in court that they received confidential, inside information about an upcoming merger between DWAC and Trump Media and used that information to make profitable, but illegal, open-market trades.'
'Insider trading is cheating, plain and simple, and today’s convictions should remind anyone who may be tempted to corrupt the integrity of the stock market that it will earn them a ticket to prison,' Williams said.
According to the DOJ, the Shvartsman received critical confidential information on DWAC's deal to take Trump Media public, like when the deal would be publicly announced, and then purchased millions of dollars worth of stock in the company before the merger.
After hearing the pleas, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman scheduled the sentencing hearing for July 17.
Both of the Shvartsman brothers will remain free on bail until their sentencing.
TRUMP Seeks to BLOCK Ex-Apprentice Contestants From Receiving Trump Media Stock Worth Over $400MIL
Donald Trump sued two former contestants on The Apprentice, his hit NBC reality show, who became co-founders of Trump Media and Technology Group, claiming they failed to set up the venture properly and should not get promised stock worth more than $400m.
Trump fronted The Apprentice, in which contestants competed for a job at the Trump Organization, from 2004 to 2015. The show coined Trump’s catchphrase, “You’re fired!”, though he ended up fired himself, after entering Republican presidential politics and making racist comments about Mexicans.
Wesley Moss and Andrew Litinsky met as Apprentice contestants in 2004. In 2021, after Trump was thrown off major social media platforms for inciting the January 6 Capitol attack, as he sought to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, the two men pitched Trump on starting his own platform, which became Truth Social.
“This was a phenomenal opportunity for Moss and Litinsky,” said the suit filed by Trump in Florida in late March and first reported by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
Though the two men were “riding President Trump’s coattails”, the suit said, “all [they] needed to do was diligently, faithfully and loyally execute on a short-term plan: get TMTG’s corporate governance established, get Truth Social ready to launch, and find a suitable special purpose acquisition company to take the new company public and access capital to advance TMTG’s business plan”.
Trump Media’s path to market was anything but smooth – including, as the Guardian revealed on Wednesday, a 2022 rescue through emergency loans in part provided by a Russian-American businessman under scrutiny in a federal insider-trading and money-laundering investigation.
Last week, Trump Media finally debuted as a publicly traded stock, amid predictions it could boost Trump’s worth at a time of considerable financial stress, as he runs for president while fighting 88 criminal charges and paying multimillion-dollar bonds in civil cases.
As Bloomberg put it, however, Trump Media has proved to be a “hot but flailing meme stock”, valued in the billions but widely seen as extremely unstable. On Monday, after Trump Media was revealed to have lost $58.2m last year, the value of Trump’s stake in the company dropped by $1bn.
Trump’s lawsuit said Moss and Litinsky were due to receive 8.6m shares, which at Tuesday’s closing price would be worth about $444m.
But, the suit said, they “failed spectacularly at every turn” in setting up Trump Media, failing to establish corporate governance and making “a series of reckless and wasteful decisions” that damaged merger plans and put the project “on ice” for more than a year and a half.
Once Moss and Litinsky left the company, the suit said, they attempted to thwart its plans, including by filing their own lawsuit in Delaware, seeking their promised stake.
That suit was filed in February. In a hearing in the case on Monday, Bloomberg reported, the judge, Sam Glass**** III, professed himself “gobsmacked” to learn Trump had filed suit in Florida rather than make a counterclaim in Delaware.
Judge Sam Glass**** III said he would consider sanctions against Trump.
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Report finds sketchy money with Russia ties helped Trump Media stay afloat
Greatest CON EVER; DOW DUMPING TRUMP- Stock Plummets AGAIN & Going Lower
'Greatest CON EVER' TRUMP Media Stock Plummets AGAIN and ‘On Its Way to Go Lower’
Shares of Donald Trumps’ media company took a MASSIVE hit on Friday as the stock price shed another 12%.
CNBC 6 APR 2024
Since merging last week with Truth Social – the former presidents’ social media platform – Trump Media & Technology Group stock has plummeted.
Since trading began under the ticker symbol “DJT,” a share of Trump Media has dropped from $79.38 to Fridays’ closing price of $40.59.
One glaring issue is Truth Social’s anemic revenue, which was a mere $4.1 million last year. The company lost $58 million over the same period.
During Friday’s edition of Last Call on CNBC, host Brian Sullivan discussed the state of DJT with CNBC contributor Herb Greenberg.
TRUMPs MAGA Supporters LOSE $$ THOUSANDS
“Trump Media – the social media stock – plummeting another 12% today,” Sullivan noted. “Over the last week, it is down more than 34%. Remember, the stock just debuted via [a special purpose acquisition company] merger last Tuesday.”
DESPERATE TRUMP BEGS Fans To Invest MORE as Truth Social Stock Plunges
Truth Social Shares Hit GRIM Milestone as Price Sinks AGAIN -TRUMP Media Stock CRASHING, Down 50%! - It's a SCAM DON'T BUY
DESPERATE TRUMP BEGS Fans To Invest MORE In Truth Social As Stock SINKS
Not going to be able to sleep tonight?: Truth Social boosters panicking as stock plummets
MSRAW 13 APR 2024
With the value of stock in Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) continuing its unceasing slide downward since the technology company went public
Supporters of Donald Trump who profess to have invested in the company are increasingly expressing dismay about the collapse on the former president's Truth Social platform.
According to a report from the Daily Beast's Noah Kirsch, faith in the troubled company that was reported to have lost millions last year right after the public offering, is in short supply
At the same time the former president was telling supporters at Mar-a-Lago that all is well, stating: "We have over $200 million dollars in cash, which is very liquid.”
Those not in attendance at the Mar-a-Lago gathering appear to be less than assured.
On Truth Social, the main product of TMTG, commenters are commiserating with each other as they watch the stock spiral downward, losing over half its value in just several weeks
According to the Beast's Kirsch, one commenter lamented on Thursday, "Man I really thought we were gonna see a jump today. Especially after that party last night. There is always tomorrow,” while another added, "Doesn’t it seem strange that the price goes down steadily every day? Haven’t seen a green day for a while.”
Hearing about the Mar-a-Lago gathering where the former president attempted to assure insiders, another commenter wrote, "I think there is something coming very soon, and they are all excited about it. Something they worked very hard to make happen. A milestone for the team."
According to Kirsch, "Some Truth Social users blame the mainstream press for 'spreading lies' about the company, as one person framed it. And despite nerves about the stock’s downward slide, many of them have pledged to keep buying shares."
One Truth Social user claimed, "Just sat down with my broker yesterday and am having him move $10,000 of my Roth IRA, that we had sitting idle for kind of like an extra ‘emergency fund’, into $DJT stocks! This is the only time I would hope for the price to drop so I can get as many shares as possible!”
Another was not so effusive and admitted, "Not going to be able to sleep tonight. If you stick it out I believe you will be rewarded greatly. I believe God directed me here.” ???
TRUMP to Receive $1.2BIL BONUS For Trump Media DESPITE Stock Tanking
TRUMP to Receive BONUS Worth $1.2BIL for Trump Media Stock Performance
A price floor means ex-president gets bonus even though Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock value has plummeted.. 'Trump has dodged financial calamity – for the time being'...Lloyd Green
The Guardian 25 APR 2024
Opening day saw the value of Trump Media & Technology Group stock at almost $80; Tuesday it was trading at $32.57
Donald Trump qualified for a bonus worth $1.2bn after shares in his social media company remained above a certain value despite falling sharply. Trump is poised to receive 36m additional shares in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), owner of his Truth Social platform, under an “earn-out” windfall which boosts the paper value of his stake in the business to about $3.7bn.
He was able to receive the bonus if TMTG’s stock traded above $17.50 a share for 20 days out of any 30-day period within the first three years of the firm’s stock market debut – a milestone it reached after closing at $32.57 on Tuesday.
Trump’s shares in his social media company have offered him a financial lifeline as he faces about $500m in legal penalties after being found liable in civil fraud, defamation and sexual abuse cases. While he cannot sell his stock until September due to the terms of a lockup agreement, the shares’ fluctuating value have at times made him one of the world’s wealthiest people on paper.
TRUMP to Receive $1.2BIL BONUS For Trump Media DESPITE Stock Tanking
re: Greatest CON EVER; DOW DUMPING TRUMP- Stock Plummets AGAIN & Going Lower
PUTIN TRUMP & Netanyahu Will Meet in HELL
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re: Greatest CON EVER; DOW DUMPING TRUMP- Stock Plummets AGAIN & Going Lower
TRUMP to Receive $1.2BIL BONUS For Trump Media DESPITE Stock Tanking
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