Trump in legal war with Truth Social partners after losing $1 billion – National & International News – THU 4Apr2024

Trump in legal war with Truth Social partners after losing $1 billion in share price debacle.

South Carolina discovers $1.8 billion it didn’t know it had.

Trump in legal war with Truth Social partners after losing $1 billion in share price debacle 

Former President Donald Trump, who has long branded himself as a shrewd and successful businessman, is suing two former contestants from his hit reality show “The Apprentice” over the poor stock market performance of his media company. In the suit, Trump blames Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss for the plummeting share price of Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) and is attempting to recoup his losses by forcing Litinsky and Moss to relinquish their 8.6% stake in the company.

TMTG, which went public earlier this week, was initially expected to sell shares worth a total of $11 billion. This estimate was largely driven by speculation by small-time investors who are supportive of Trump. After shares went on sale, TMTG reported to regulators that its social media platform Truth Social had lost $58 million last year and only garnered $4 million in revenue. The share price then dropped precipitously and has continued dropping throughout this week.

The initial loss in value presented an estimated $1 billion hit to Trump’s personal net worth. Under the terms of TMTG’s recent merger, Trump cannot sell his stock in the company for 6 months. By the time he can cash in, the value of his shares are likely to have dwindled significantly.

In the recent filing in a Florida court, Trump blames Litinsky and Moss’ mismanagement for the catastrophic loss. However, Litinsky and Moss had already sued Trump in Delaware back in February. The pair accused Trump of attempting to dilute the value of their stake by offering 1 billion shares, which would have effectively reduced their ownership to 1%. At that time, the company TMTG merged with warned that the legal wrangling would “negatively impact investor confidence and market perception.”

Trump is scheduled to be deposed in the Delaware case later this month. However, that deposition is likely to be reschedule because it coincides with the start of the first criminal trial against him, the porn-star hush money case in New York.

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South Carolina discovers $1.8 billion it didn’t know it had

The state government of South Carolina has a $1.8 billion dollar mystery on its hands. Auditors recently discovered a state bank account containing the vast sum in an account that was supposed to be empty. The state’s Republican Governor Henry McMaster told reporters, “There’s something wrong somewhere. We don’t know why it’s there, what it’s supposed to be used for, how long it’s been there – that’s a problem.”

While this sounds like a problem most people wouldn’t mind having, it points to massive oversight problems and mismanagement of state funds. Last year, the state comptroller resigned after a $3.5 billion accounting error. The mystery money may, or may not, be related to that error.

At any rate, it demonstrates that the state’s accounting woes are far from solved. Now with a new comptroller in office, state officials have the unenviable task of tracing back where the money came from, where it’s supposed to be, and what to do with it.

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