I analyzed thousands of payments made by 6 large PACs supporting Trump and identified recipients paid over $1 million from 2023 through April 2024
Red Curve Solutions run by PAC treasurer Bradley Crate and Campaign Inbox co-founded by an ex-Cambridge Analytica exec each received $17+ million from Trump PACs
More than half the payments went to other PACs, the RNC, or for legal work
@wendysiegelman I'm curious how the amount of grift here compares to the amount of grift in other campaigns and with other candidates. (All these PACs for all candidates seem in part set up for grift, but I suspect the scale on the Trump side is somewhat larger than normal)
Omeed Malik fundraises for Trump and invests in ‘patriotic’ ‘anti-woke’ businesses including one with Cambridge Analytica funder Rebekah Mercer that funded Tucker Carlson.
Malik, Rebekah Mercer and Christopher Buskirk launched 1789 Capital and lead a $15 million seed round for Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel’s new media company.
My latest on Malik, who was once known as a democrat, and his right wing businesses:
This past week the Serbian authorities and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners signed a 99-year lease deal allowing Affinity to overhaul two buildings in Belgrade which had been the headquarters of the former Yugoslav People's Army.
The deals were first reported earlier this year but the contract was just signed.
Here's my story from April on the most recent annual filing by Kushner's firm
Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners investment firm filed a disclosure with minor updates and $50 million less in assets under management than the prior year.
US exposes attempted sanctions evasion scheme involving Oleg Deripaska's frozen shares in Austrian co Strabag worth $1.5 billion
Treasury sanctions Russian national Dmitrii Beloglazov, his 2 companies Iliadis & Titul and Deripaska company Rasperia Trading Ltd
Deripaska coordinated with Beloglazov owner of Titul which created subsidiary Iliadis. Iliadis acquired Derpiaska's Rasperia which holds frozen Strabag shares.
Financier Found Guilty in Trump Media Insider Trading Trial
Bruce Garelick was convicted of securities fraud for leaking confidential info about merger involving parent company of Trump's Truth Social to Michael and Gerald Shvartsman who made $23mil - both pleaded guilty to securities fraud.
Garelick was a former board member of Digital World Acquisition Corp which recently merged with Trump Media & Technology Group.
Trial began Tues for Bruce Garelick - charged with enabling boss Michael Shvartsman at Rocket One and others to make millions illegally on inside info that acquisition firm DWAC was taking Trump Media public
Garelick made about $50,000 from DWAC trades, Michael Schvartsman made $18 mil, Gerald Shvartsman made $5mil - Shvartsmans both pled guilty
Russian born FL businessman Anton Postolnikov made $22mil (not charged)
An April SEC filing for Trump Media reveals new details on early investors in Trump’s company - including ex FL AG Pam Bondi who owns 100,000+ shares worth several million dollars and her brother advised on the deal.
A new name in the Trump Media Apr S-1 Registration Statement is lawyer Michael Milkersen with 300,000+ shares (and several hundred thousand founder and ARC shares) making him one of the largest investors. It's not clear how he became involved in the deal.
A new name in the alternative financing group is 'Washington Muse Investments SPC' which has a Cayman Islands address and owns 4,166,666 shares and 1,388,888 warrants, making it one of the top owners - but there is almost no public info on this company.
@wendysiegelman The inclusion of Steve Bannon as a 'Co-Conspirator' in this high-profile fraud case raises intriguing questions about the complexities of global financial networks and the potential impact on geopolitics. What are your thoughts on the implications of this revelation?
Charlie Kirk's Turning Point nonprofits are growing quickly
Kirk voices extreme far-right views, and at the age of 30 has already been nurturing youth-led right-wing activism across the US for 12+ years
Charlie Kirk is a force to be watched as his reach and impact grow. He has a rapidly growing, well-funded group of linked organizations that he uses to indoctrinate the next generation of far-right leaders and activists.
The Hacking Lawsuit Looming Over Trump's Truth Social
In a lawsuit filed in Florida by Patrick Orlando, the founding CEO of DWAC (the company that merged with Trump Media) Orlando accused his former assistant Alexander Cano of hacking his accounts as part of a coup d'état by Eric Swider who replaced him as CEO
Trump Media saved in 2022 by Russian-American under criminal investigation
Last year The Guardian reported on $8 million loans made in 2022 to Trump Media that went through Paxum Bank from ES Family Trust run by Anton Postolnikov, nephew of Putin ally Aleksandr Smirnov
Today's story adds new info, including that loans had promissory notes that would put ES Family Trust stake in Trump Media at $20-$40mil
NEW: Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners filed a new investment advisor public disclosure form with some minor updates and showing $50 million less in regulatory assets under management than last year.
Affinity Partners aka A Fin Management still has approx $3 billion under management ($50 mil less than last year)
Approx 99% is attributable to clients who are non-US persons
My latest with an overview of investments made to-date: