Thousands have signed a petition demanding that Donald Trump be investigated regarding securities fraud after shares of the former president’s social media company spiked—then plummeted—within its first week of going public.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), under the ticker “DJT,” closed out its first day of trading 16 percent higher than it started after the company completed its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) on March 25. At closing on the following day, stock prices for DJT had risen to $58 a share, and had at one point reached $75. Trump owns roughly 58 percent of the company’s stock.
But a week later, after TMTG disclosed in a filing that it had lost more than $58 million in 2023, shares of DJT plunged 21 percent, closing out Monday at $48.66 a share. Reuters reported that the company said in its filing that it would struggle to meet its “financial liabilities” moving forward, and Ross Benes, analyst at Insider Intelligence, told the outlet that TMTG “was overvalued and that reality is dragging down the stock.”
Spencer Platt
Progressive activist network Left Action on Tuesday created a petition asking that officials “Investigate whether Trump should be charged with securities fraud for the Truth Social stock crash.” The petition, created on social networking site Care2, has a goal of 10,000 signatures. At the time of publication, it had garnered nearly 5,100 supporters.
“Just days after it went public, and its stock price placed its value in the billions, Donald Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ crashed back to Earth, with that same stock dropping like a rock,” the petition reads. “Why? Because the $50 million profit it said it made in 2022 had turned into a loss of $58 million in 2023—with only $4 million in total revenue.”
“In short, it was a disastrous performance—but the numbers weren’t revealed until after the stock went public, meaning those buying the stock were left in the dark until it was too late—and their investments had collapsed in value,” Left Action continued. “Maybe this is all legit, and maybe it was simply a case of the most dazzlingly fortunate timing one could hope for. Or maybe critical information was withheld in order to keep the true state of the company out of the spotlight.”
“No doubt, anyone foolish enough to buy into Trump’s promises was probably someone who would lose their money on some idiotic venture soon enough. But fraud is fraud, and there are laws, and Donald Trump is not above them.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment. A request for comment was also left on Left Action’s website.
According to the FBI, securities fraud covers a wide range of illegal activities that involve misrepresenting information that investors use to make decisions on buying stock. The deception can carry criminal and civil penalties upon conviction, and both federal and state agencies have jurisdiction to investigate allegations.
Trump last month in New York was found liable of misleading insurers and lenders after New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the former president and others associated with The Trump Organization of inflating the value of his real estate properties to obtain more favorable financial terms. Trump on Monday posted a $175 million bond to appeal the ruling, which resulted in more than $450 million in penalties leveled against the former president.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.