Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s keynote address during their annual Majority Politics Conference at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center on June 17, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Herald Seth | Getty Images
Donald Trump’s media company has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in a criminal investigation, according to the company the former president’s firm plans to merge with.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. said in a deposit friday that Trump Media and Technology Group received a subpoena from the Manhattan grand jury on Thursday. The Trump company also received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding a civil investigation on Monday, DWAC said.
DWAC also said some current and former TMTG employees also recently received grand jury subpoenas. Later Friday, TMTG said it would comply with the subpoenas and none of them were directed against its chairman, Trump, or its CEO, former U.S. Representative Devin Nunes.
The filing came days after DWAC said government investigations could delay or even prevent its merger with Trump’s newly formed company, which includes Truth Social, a social media app intended as an alternative to Twitter.
Neither TMTG nor a Trump spokeswoman immediately responded to CNBC’s requests for comment.
The Justice Department and the SEC, which regulates the stock market, are investigating the deal between DWAC and Trump Media. By merging with DWAC, which is a kind of shell company called a Special Purpose Acquisition Company, or SPAC, Trump’s company would have access to potential billions of dollars in the public stock markets.
Trump created Truth Social months after Twitter banned him for his tweets on January 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory presidential.
Trump Media CEO Nunes is one of the former president’s most ardent Republican Party loyalists. Trump also plans to run for president in the 2024 election.
Trump continued to spread the lie that the election was stolen from him. His alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection is being examined by a House select committee that has accused the former president of being at the center of a multi-pronged conspiracy to block the peaceful transfer of power to Biden.
The first criticisms of the Trump-DWAC deal came from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Calling for an investigation, she wrote to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in November, telling him that DWAC “may have committed securities violations by holding private and undisclosed information.” merger discussions as early as May 2021, while omitting this information in [SEC] filing and other public statements. »
DWAC shares are off their highs, closing Friday at $24.20. The stock jumped above $90 in October after the deal with Trump’s group was announced.
DWAC revealed on Monday in a deposit of securities that she learned on June 16 that every member of her board had received subpoenas from the same federal grand jury.
The grand jury requested documents similar to those the SEC had previously requested as part of its civil investigation, the DWAC said. The company itself received a subpoena a week ago with similar demands, as well as other requests relating to communications, individuals and information involving Rocket One Capital.
DWAC also revealed Monday that board member Bruce J. Garelick had told management he would be leaving the board during the previous week. Garelick said his resignation “was not the result of a disagreement with the operations, policies or practices of Digital World,” according to the company filing.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Thomas Franck contributed to this story.
