PanamaTimes

Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Who funded Trump’s Truth Social?

Who funded Trump’s Truth Social?

Ever since former U.S. President Donald Trump launched a new media company aimed at rivaling Twitter, there has been a mystery over who provided the money. Trump didn’t. So who did?

Now there are some answers in a cache of documents provided by lawyers representing William Wilkerson, a former executive who filed a whistleblower claim with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the media company and Digital World Acquisition Corp, the blank-check firm taking it public.

The documents show Truth Social’s early backers include six businessmen outside of the Silicon Valley mainstream — including two executives from an oil company and a gym chain, several Republican donors, a former U.S. ambassador to Portugal and the head of a mail-order fruitcake company.

The involvement of the previously unnamed financial backers of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) – parent company of social media app Truth Social – shows how Trump tapped his political supporters to launch an outlet aimed at political conservatives and libertarians after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on Congress.

Representatives for former President Trump and TMTG did not respond to a request for comment about the investors named in the documents, which were submitted to the SEC and Department of Justice by Wilkerson, and other parts of this story.

Digital World Chief Executive Patrick Orlando and TMTG co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who are named in the whistleblower complaint, also did not respond to requests for comment.

The investors’ involvement in TMTG, gleaned from promissory notes dating from between May 2021 and mid-2022, provides new details on the venture which, as Reuters reported, has struggled to attract tech talent and corporate partners. The names have not been previously reported.

NAMING NAMES


According to the documents, Karl Pfluger, president of Midland, Texas oil and energy company Oryx Midstream Services owned by private equity firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, put in $5.3 million in December 2021 and an additional $4.5 million in March 2022. Pfluger is the brother of August Pfluger, a Republican Congressman in Texas and vocal Trump ally who first earned Trump’s endorsement in February 2020.

In a statement to Reuters, August Pfluger’s spokesperson said he doesn’t have a personal investment in Trump Media & Technology Group, adding: “He earned the endorsement of President Trump long before the creation of Truth Social.”

Patrick Walsh, chief executive of the holding company that controls luxury gym brands including TMPL, Palm Beach Sports Clubs, and LIV, invested a total of $6.2 million between December 2021 and February 2022. He had worked with Phillip Juhan, who was the financial chief at fitness chain operator Town Sports International Holdings until Juhan left to take on the same role at TMTG, according to a May SEC filing from DWAC.

Texas telecom billionaire Kenny Troutt, a vocal Trump supporter, invested $4 million through his money manager Nicholas Merrick between May and November 2021. He donated $200,000 to the Trump campaign in 2016, and another $925,000 to Trump’s 2020 re-election campaigns, according to publicly available campaign finance data.

Roy Bailey, the chief executive officer of Bailey Deason Capital Investments in Dallas, Texas and the national co-finance chairman of Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, invested at least $200,000 between May and October 2021.

George Glass, an Oregon real estate developer and Trump fundraiser who served as U.S. Ambassador to Portugal during the Trump administration, invested $500,000 on Jan. 24, 2022. Another $100,000 was invested the same day by Bob McNutt, the chief executive officer of a mail-order fruitcake company in Corsicana, Texas. McNutt is a longtime Trump supporter.

Bailey, Pfluger, McNutt, Glass, Walsh and Troutt didn’t reply to requests for comment.

WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT


The $22.8 million in financing from these backers – who operate largely outside the ecosystem of venture capital investors that tech startups often tap – is part of the $38 million of debt TMTG raised since May 2021, according to SEC filings.

TMTG launched Truth Social in February in the Apple App Store and in Google’s Play Store in October.

A year ago, TMTG announced a deal to go public by merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The deal is now in doubt amid investigations by the Department of Justice and SEC, which have delayed its closing.

Details of the whistleblower complaint, based on the cache of documents seen by Reuters, were first reported by The Miami Herald and The Washington Post.

If TMTG’s deal with Digital World closes, TMTG would gain access to over $1 billion in cash from DWAC’s institutional investors, such as hedge funds. According to a services agreement dated Feb. 2, 2021, the former president controls 90% of TMTG.

Through a spokesperson for TMTG, the company’s legal department did not comment on the investors but said that Trump hired TMTG Chief Executive Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, to create a “culture of compliance and build a world-class team to lead Truth Social.”

SPACs are publicly-traded companies that are formed as a way for investors to pool their money with the intention of merging with a private company, which goes public through the merger.

The documents provided by the whistleblower’s attorneys also include four additional promissory notes collectively worth $9.4 million from entities whose identities Reuters is not able to verify.

The notes are a form of short-term debt that can be converted to shares of the company when TMTG goes public. If that happens, investors receive shares of the company at about half of the price the stock will be trading at, and can immediately sell them, the documents show.

TMTG fired Wilkerson on Oct. 13, claiming that he violated his non-disclosure agreement by sharing information with media outlets, according to a letter from a TMTG lawyer to Wilkerson, shown to Reuters by Wilkerson’s lawyers, Phil Brewster, Patrick Mincey and Stephen Bell.

Truth Social has seen surges of interest, but its user base remains tiny compared to the growth targets TMTG laid out in November, when the company told investors that the app would reach 56 million users by 2024 and 81 million by 2026. Truth Social has been downloaded 2.9 million times across both platforms, according to market tracker Appfigures.

Trump had 4.37 million followers on Truth Social as of Oct. 27, compared to the more than 88 million followers he had on Twitter when the platform permanently suspended him.

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Apple warns against drying iPhones with rice
In a recent High Court hearing, the U.S. argued that Julian Assange endangered lives by releasing classified information.
Global Law Enforcement Dismantles Lockbit Ransomware Operation
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has died at the Arctic prison colony
The President of Argentina Javier Mile does not fly private, he flies commercial, with the citizens he represents. And they LOVE him for it.
Bitcoin Reaches $50,000 for First Time in Over Two Years
Belo Horizonte: Brazil's Rising Carnival Hotspot for 2024
In El Salvador, the 'Trump of Latin America' stuns the world with a speech slamming woke policing after winning a landslide election
Tucker’s interview with Putin is over 50M views on X within the first 5 hours.
Finnish Airline, Finnair, is voluntarily weighing passengers to better estimate flight cargo weight
President Nayib Bukele has proudly announced El Salvador's remarkable achievement of becoming the safest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Former Chilean President Sebastian Piñera Dies in Helicopter Crash
This farmer seems to understand science a bit more than the event organizer, Klaus Schwab.
Facebook turns 20: From Mark Zuckerberg's dormitory to a $1trn company
The Coolest Dictator in the World" on the Path to Victory in El Salvador
Macron, France and fake news
Indian-Origin Man 'King' Arrested For Smuggling $16 Million Drugs Into US
Can someone teach Americans that not every person with slanted eyes is Chinese?
Europe's Farmers Feeding the People, Protesting Against Politicians Who Do Nothing for Their Country and Serve Only Themselves at Taxpayers' Expense
Paris Restaurant That Inspired 'Ratatouille' Loses $1.6 Million Worth Of Wine
Brazilian Police Investigate Bolsonaro's Son for Alleged Illegal Spying
Police in Brazil Raid Residence of Bolsonaro Associate Over Allegations of Illegal Spying
Border Dispute Escalates as Texas Governor Vows Increased Razor Wire
OpenAI Enhances ChatGPT-4 Model, Potentially Addressing AI "Laziness" Issue
The NSA finally acknowledges spying on Americans by acquiring sensitive data
Report Reveals Toxic Telegram Group Generating X-Rated AI-Generated Fake Images of Taylor Swift
US Border Patrol States 'No Plans' to Remove Razor Wire Installed in Texas
Bitcoin Experiences Approximately 20% Decline in Value
Klaus Schwab recently appointed himself as the Earth's "trustee of the future."
DeSantis Drops Out, Endorses Trump.
Nikki Haley said former President Trump is "just not at the same level" of mental fitness as he was while president in 2016.
Residents of a southern Mexican town set the government palace on fire in response to the police killing of a young man
Samsung Launches AI-Driven Galaxy S24, Ushering in New Smartphone Era
Judge Questions SEC's Regulatory Overreach in Coinbase Lawsuit
The Ecuador prosecutor who was investigating the television studio attack, has been assassinated.
Is artificial intelligence the solution to cyber security threats?
Vivek Ramaswamy suspends his US election campaign and endorses Trump.
Viral Satire: A Staged Satirical Clip Mistaken as Real Footage from the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos
The AI Revolution in the Workforce: CEOs at Davos Predict Major Job Cuts in 2024
Ecuador Reports 178 Hostages in Prison Gang Standoff
The Startling Cuban Espionage Case That Has Rattled the US Government
Two Armed Men in Ecuador, Dressed as Batman and The Joker Storm the Streets.
Armed Gang Raids Ecuadorian TV Station Following State of Emergency Declaration
Anti-Democratic Canada: Journalist Arrested for Questioning Canadian Finance Minister on Support of Terrorist Group
Ecuador's 'Most-Wanted' Criminal Vanishes from Prison
Mexican Cartel Supplied Wi-Fi to Locals Under Threat of Fatal Consequences for Non-Compliance
Border Surge Leads to Over 11,000 Migrants Waiting in Northern Mexico
Outsider Candidates Triumph in Latin American Elections
As Argentina Goes to the Polls, Will the Proposal to Replace the Peso with the Dollar Secure Votes?
Fatal Shark Attack Claims Life of Boston Woman Paddleboarding Near Bahamas Resort, According to Police
×