(NewsGlobal.com)- Just weeks before receiving federal subpoenas, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) removed former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and numerous other loyalists from the board, as initially reported by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Truth Social, the social media site that Trump started after being permanently barred from Twitter for tweets he sent during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, is owned by TMTG. Truth Social has had trouble gaining momentum due to Trump’s poor posting pace and a slew of humiliating technological missteps.
The former president has upped the number of times he posts in recent months. His Truth Social account is currently ablaze with rage towards his political rivals and media opponents, not to mention his continuous gripes that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
Late in June, information regarding the subpoenas from the SEC and a grand jury for the Southern District of New York surfaced, sending share prices for both TMTG and Digital World Acquisition Corp. plummeting. This SPAC is preparing to combine with TMTG to float the firm. According to several publications, the company’s valuation may increase to $1.3 billion if the merger goes through, and it would float on the New York Stock Exchange.
According to Axios, the directors of Digital World were also served with subpoenas. According to Dan Primack of Axios, there have been attempts to portray these probes in political terms, although they appear to be more about apolitical securities legislation. Specifically, that blank check businesses cannot approach possible targets before their IPOs, as is believed to have been done by Digital World Acquisition.
Regarding TMTG, the business filed on April 18 under Florida law as a for-profit corporation with a Sarasota address. All of the board members were removed from the initial filing in a June 8 revision, with the exception of CEO and former congressman Devin Nunes and CFO Philip Juhan. Trump, Trump Jr., and two of his former associates, Kashyap Patel and Scott Glabe, were fired from the board.
On June 27, the SEC issued a subpoena, and on July 1, the New York grand jury did the same. In addition, the DOJ is conducting an inquiry. The grand jury subpoenaed several current and former TMTG officials, according to the Herald-Tribune, but did not publicly name them. According to a statement by Trump Media, the business will continue to cooperate with inquiries into our proposed merger thoroughly and will comply with subpoenas we just received, none of which were intended for the company’s chairman or CEO.
The statement omitted that, at least based on the state company form, Trump is no longer the chairman.
