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.
Last week, #TrumpMedia reported sales of just over $4 million in 2023 as net losses reached nearly $60 million for the full year ending Dec. 31. The company warned it "expects losses to continue amid greater profitability challenges."
If #MAGA stooges think earning $4 million on top of LOSING $60 million is a "great business," then there's little wonder why they intend to vote for #Trump.
It's because they are stupid.
I don't know, I'm not a professional investor, but maybe it's not a great investment strategy to invest in a company, built on free opensource software that anyone can use, based on the reputation of a professional con artist, indicted in multiple states for serious crimes, including attacking the US itself, with 3/4 billion dollar in civil judgments for lying about raping a woman that is growing +/-$20 in interest every second of the day, 24/7
Then again, I'm just a novice investor #TrumpMedia
Funds that bet on a fall were set to profit as the parent of #TruthSocial came under renewed pressure after it registered new shares for a potential sale.
Shares of #Trump’s #socialmedia company plunged on Monday after the company filed to register the potential sale of tens of millions of additional shares.
#Trump Media & Tech stock fell 18%, erasing hundreds of millions from its market value — & putting a dent in Trump’s majority stake, worth >$3B. Since a surge in its 1st days of trading as #TrumpMedia, which lifted the value of the co to ~$8B at one point, the company’s shares have dropped by >50%.
Trump Media was expected to register the potential sale of new shares after the completion of its merger w/ #DWAC, a #ShellCompany known as a #SPAC.
"Watching Trump sell his swindle about migrants, it occurred to me that those suckered by the Trump Media IPO got a better deal, relatively speaking. Those who bought “DJT” shares lost only their shirts. But those who have been snookered into seeing migrants as diseased animals have lost part of their souls." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/05/trump-swindle-crowd-green-bay-rally/
Trump stands to gain billions… from the merger between TrumpMedia & Tech & the blank-check co [#SPAC] #DWAC, which took the parent company of #TruthSocial public.
But #TrumpMedia almost didn’t make it to the merger after #regulators opened a #securities investigation into it in 2021 & caused the co to burn through cash at an extraordinary rate as it waited…for its IPO.
The situation led TrumpMedia to take emergency #loans, incl’g from an entity called #ESFamilyTrust, which opened an acct w/ #PaxumBank, a small bank registered on the #Caribbean island of #Dominica best known for providing #financial services to the #porn industry.
The trust’s existence has previously been reported…. However, who controlled the acct, how the trust was connected to Paxum, & how the money had been funneled thru it to TrumpMedia was unknown.
Postolnikov, the nephew of #AleksandrSmirnov, an ally of the Russian president, Vladimir #Putin, has not been charged w/a #crime. In response to an email to Postolnikov seeking comment, a lawyer in Dominica representing #PaxumBank threatened legal action for reporting the contents of leaked docs.
…#ESFamilyTrust was established on 18 May 2021, creation papers show. Postolnikov’s “user” access to the acct was “verified” on 30 Nov 2021 by a #PaxumBank mgr in Dominica.
The #ESFamilyTrust was funded for the first time on 2 Dec 2021.
#TrumpMedia then received the #loans:
$2m on 23 Dec 2021, & $6m on 17 Feb 2022.
The loans came in the form of convertible promissory notes, meaning ESFamilyTrust would gain a major stake in #Trump Media because it was offering the #money in exchange for TrumpMedia agreeing to convert the loan principal into “shares of Company Stock”.
…the investment in #TrumpMedia proved huge: while precise figures can only be known by #Trump Media, ESFamilyTrust’s stake is worth $20m to $40m even after the sharp decline of the share price after a poor earnings report.
The #ESFamilyTrust acct also appears to have benefited #Postolnikov personally. As the #criminal investigation into the merger intensified towards the end of last yr, the trust recorded several transfers to Postolnikov w/the subj “Partial Loan Return”.
In total, the doc showed that the trust transferred $4.8m to #Postolnikov’s acct….
The reason for the #ESFamilyTrust’s creation remains unknown. Aside from the #money that went to #TrumpMedia, the trust’s statements show the trust has directly invested money w/only two other companies: $10.8m to Eleven Ventures LLC, a #VC firm, & $1m to Wedbush Securities, a #wealth management firm.
One of the guys who pleaded guilty today in Trump media-related insider trading charges that date back to 2021. He's a resident of Sunny Isles Beach, FL, which Trump helped turn into "Little Moscow" by selling condos with less-than-normal ownership transparency. Anyhoo, feds a few years ago accused him of running a club funded by the Russian mafia. #Trump#TrumpRussia#TrumpMedia#TruthSocialhttps://www.ft.com/content/38fdc2e1-bd36-4da9-bbd7-bb33e3fcfab1