Former President Donald Trump’s new social media company, launched as part of his battle with Big Tech, has hired Florida attorney Lori Heyer-Bednar as its chief legal officer, according to a public filing Tuesday.
The former Fort Lauderdale-based partner at Roetzel & Andress was previously to manage of the regional firm’s business litigation practice. She also worked as a partner at Shapiro, Blasi, Wasserman & Hermann in Boca Raton, Florida.
Heyer-Bednar has been identified as the top lawyer for Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. merger agreement filed by Digital World Acquisition Corp. The special purpose acquisition company plans to merge with Trump’s company to take it public.
Ellenoff Grossman & Schole, a boutique known for its expertise in advising SPACs, is listed as an adviser with DWAC, while Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough represents TMTG, according to filings.
TMTG said in a Declaration of October 20 its mission is to “create a rival for the liberal media consortium and fight against the ‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley, who have used their one-sided power to silence opposing voices in America”.
Bloomberg News reported last week that shares of DWAC initially soared 1,225% following news of Miami-based SPAC’s plans to merge with TMTG. By Tuesday, however, an uptick in the stock’s retail trade had begun to wane.
Heyer-Bednar did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when she officially joined TMTG, which plans to deploy a service called Truth Social during the first quarter of 2022.
Heyer-Bednar’s Florida bar admission shows that she was most recently affiliated with BAT Land Development II Corp., a Miami-based entity that lists as an officer and director Kenneth Bednar, another South Florida attorney. Florida. He also did not respond to a request for comment.
Kenneth Bednar’s Florida bar admission also indicates that he is the general counsel for BAT Land. Public records show that the latter is one of nearly a dozen entities incorporated in Florida by Lori Heyer-Bednar.
Heyer-Bednar has represented dozens of Florida-based real estate developers and local banks in court, according to data from Bloomberg Law. Its clients include BB&T Corp., which, following a recent merger, is now known as Truist Financial Corp.
A announcement 2015 by Roetzel & Andress touting Heyer-Bedar as the first woman to lead its largest practice group noted that the Coral Gables, Florida native previously spent 16 years as an associate with the commercial litigation firm and transactional based in Miami Haley, Sinagra & Perez.
TMTG’s hiring of Heyer-Bednar comes as many major law firms have sought to distance themselves from Trump following the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
