The Denver Gazette

Financial regulators investigate Trump social media deal

BY NOOR ZAINAB HUSSAIN AND GREG ROUMELIOTIS Reuters

Wall Street’s top financial regulators are investigating former President Donald Trump’s $1.25 billion deal to float his new social media venture on the stock market, a filing showed.

Digital World Acquisition Corp, the blank-check acquisition firm that agreed to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority were probing the deal.

TMTG did not respond to requests for comment.

Digital World said the SEC asked for documents in early November relating to communications between Digital World and TMTG, meetings of Digital World’s board, policies and procedures relating to trading, the identification of banking, telephone, and email addresses and the identities of certain investors.

The SEC stated in its request that its investigation does not mean the regulator has concluded that anyone violated the law, Digital World added.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren had asked the SEC to investigate TMTG’s proposed merger with Digital World over potential violations of securities laws, including whether they had sufficiently disclosed when deal talks began.

The SEC declined to comment on Monday.

The investigations come amid excitement among Trump supporters and retail investors over the planned deal. Frantic trading of Digital World’s shares has driven TMTG’s valuation from $875 million in October to close to $4 billion.

Digital World, whose shares ended trading on Wednesday down 2.6% at $43.81, said FINRA had asked for details in late October and early November about “surrounding events,” including a review of trading, that preceded the announcement of the merger.

A Reuters review of trading data showed unusual activity on Oct. 20 ahead of the merger’s announcement later that day. Over 1 million warrants, worth a total of around $500,000, were traded, compared with only 119,000 warrants on Oct. 19, according to Refinitiv data.

FINRA said in its request that its inquiry should not be construed as an indication that any violations of Nasdaq rules or federal securities laws have occurred, Digital World added. FINRA declined to comment. TMTG said on Saturday it had entered into agreements to raise about $1 billion from a group of unidentified investors, bringing the deal’s total proceeds to $1.25 billion.

But TMTG will receive this money only if the deal is completed. A vote required for Digital World shareholders to approve the transaction has yet to be scheduled.

NATIONAL POLITICS

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2021-12-07T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-07T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.denvergazette.com/article/281745567678426

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