Trump Countersues Truth Social Co-founders for Their $600 Million Stake
The Truth Social lawsuits are flying, according to a new report and court records. The social media's dramatic week — which saw stock prices rocket more than 40 percent upon their public debut only to go into free-fall days later — was capped off Tuesday with reports that former President Donald Trump is counter-suing two co-founders. The saga began when Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky filed a suit against Mr. Trump in February, seeking to prevent him from reducing their 8.6% stake in the firm. Their shares, currently valued at around $600 million, have been a point of contention since the inception of Truth Social. In a lawsuit filed on March 24 in a Florida state court, lawyers for the former president assert that Moss and Litinsky were in charge of Trump Media & Technology Group's daily operations, but "failed spectacularly at every turn." Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is the parent company of Truth Social. "They made a series of reckless and wasteful decisions at a critical time that caused significant damage to TMTG and a decline in the stock price of its merger partner," Mr. Trump's lawyers wrote in the filing. The two executives allegedly slowed down the process of taking Trump Media public, including finding an appropriate merger company. TMTG went public last week through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky, both former Apprentice contestants, had previously claimed that Mr. Trump was trying to reduce their stake in the firm by increasing the company's total number of shares from 120 million to 1 billion.
Mr. Trump founded TMTG in 2021 after he was banned from major social media platforms over his actions during the January 6 Capitol riot.
The co-founders pitched Truth Social as an alternative to mainstream social media sites, and they later agreed to a deal in which Mr. Trump would own 90% of the platform when it was a private company. Shares in Truth Social skyrocketed last week, surging as high as $79, after Trump Media went public despite facing government investigations and other hurdles in its merger deal. However, the stock price has since fallen considerably. Donald Trump is seeking that the two ex-Apprentice contestants lose shares in the now-public company. The battle over Truth Social's future and the $600 million stake continues to unfold in the courtroom, with both sides presenting their arguments and seeking resolution.
