Dem
51
GOP
49
Readers will recall that the circumstances under which Donald Trump's boutique social media platform was financed were dubious, to say the least. The brief version is that people gave money to a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Digital World Acquisition Corporation, with the normal understanding that the SPAC would seek out the best vehicle for the funds. However, it appears that Digital World had a secret arrangement all along to buy Truth Social at a much higher valuation than supported by the platform's fundamentals. That's not legal.
Yesterday, the feds arrested three men who are alleged to have been part of the scheme—Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick. Between them, they are accused of collecting more than $22 million in illegal profits. They were arraigned yesterday afternoon, and are reportedly dead to rights.
Thus far, there are no charges against Trump, and there's no public evidence he knew about the scheme. That said, if he is eventually charged with wrongdoing here, it won't be too much of a surprise. After all, as the "author" of The Art of the Deal, he should have had some awareness that there was a noticeable odor emanating from this whole arrangement. And if he didn't bother to check, one might argue that is negligence to the point of being criminal.
But thus far, at least, Trump is in the clear. And he might also be done with Truth Social in the near future. As part of the deal, he promised exclusive rights to his utterances for a period of time. However, that window of exclusivity expires soon, and Trump insiders say he might well return to Twitter in the near future. He may not be the shrewdest mind in the history of American capitalism, but he certainly knows enough to be able to tell that 86.5 million followers (Twitter) is more than 5 million (Truth Social). Needless to say, if he leaves Truth, it will not survive for long thereafter. (Z)