(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Trump's Truth Social faces loss of $300 million in funding as SEC delays approval of SPAC merger [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-02 The New York Times: That deal has been waylaid by two intensifying federal investigations. One is focused on whether preliminary merger discussions between Digital World and Trump Media violated federal securities laws. The other investigation is looking at whether a group of early investors in Digital World — who were brought into the deal by [former Digital World Acquisition Corp. CEO Patrick] Orlando — engaged in improper trading. So weird that a Trump-led business venture would come under investigation. That poor schlub has the worst luck ever. Unfortunately for Trump and his media crown jewel Goof Social, there’s a deadline for completing the deal. If the merger is not completed in the next six months, Digital World — established as a special purpose acquisition corporation — will have to return the $300 million it raised from investors in 2021 through an initial public offering. But it is not clear that the investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors in Manhattan will be completed in time to permit the S.E.C. to approve the merger as required. D’oh! Well, I imagine $300 million is peanuts to a guy worth TEN BILLION DOLLARS, but apparently this is worrying enough to Trump Media insiders to evoke a few plaintive squeals. some shareholders of Digital World have accused the S.E.C. of trying to run out the clock. In February, officials with Trump Media sent a letter to several Republican congressmen asking them to open an investigation into the S.E.C.’s refusal to approve the deal, accusing regulators of being biased against the former president. Executives of Trump Media andhave accused the S.E.C. of trying to run out the clock. In February, officials with Trump Mediato several Republican congressmen asking them to open an investigation into the S.E.C.’s refusal to approve the deal, accusing regulators of being biased against the former president. Yes, yes, let’s just admit it. Most Americans are biased against the former president—in much the same way the former residents of Pripyat, Ukraine, are biased against reactor core meltdowns. But maybe if Republicans hadn’t spent the past 40 years trying to make the government small enough to drown in a bathtub, regulators would be able to complete their tasks more promptly. Of course, the merger is being delayed not because Trump’s name is on it (not directly because of that, anyway), but because it appears to be fishy as hell. As The Times notes, SPACs are not permitted to engage in serious merger talks before going public, lest they violate federal securities laws. And so now “federal authorities are trying to determine if Digital World’s talks with Trump Media were substantive enough that they should have been disclosed before the SPAC sold shares to the public in September 2021.” “If it was clearly prearranged, that was an egregious violation,” Michael Klausner, a professor of corporate law at Stanford Law School, told The Times. “The S.E.C. has the discretion to stop a merger where the disclosures violate security laws.” Yeah, “egregious violation” really needs to be engraved on Trump’s tombstone somewhere. Or maybe that’s the only thing that should be printed on it: “Egregious Violation: June 14, 1946-???” The details of the SEC’s investigations—which also involve potential insider trading—are fun if you want to dig in some more (though The New York Times has a paywall, unfortunately). But the gist appears to be that his company will be on thin ice if this deal doesn’t go through. As The Times notes, “the clock is ticking on the merger” after Digital World shareholders gave the SPAC nine more months to finalize the deal, with Trump turning into a marginally more orange pumpkin on September 8. Thus far, the company has been surviving on advertising revenue and a previous $37 million funding round. If that funding runs out and the SPAC deal fizzles, well, Trump is intimately familiar with bankruptcy law, now isn’t he? He’ll figure something out. And, you know, he may soon have more than enough time to think about it. Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/2/2161632/-Trump-s-Truth-Social-faces-loss-of-300-million-in-funding-as-SEC-waits-to-approve-SPAC-merger Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/