Trump’s Social Media Company Subpoenaed by Federal Grand Jury

Mimi Nguyen LyJuly 2, 2022

Former President Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Manhattan as part of a criminal investigation into a deal to go public via a special purpose acquisition company called Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC).

TMTG is the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social app.

In a securities filing on July 1, DWAC said it was informed that TMTG received a subpoena on June 30, issued by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York, seeking information about the proposed merger between TMTG and DWAC.

Certain current and former TMTG personnel also recently received individual grand jury subpoenas, DWAC said. No names were disclosed.

DWAC noted on July 1 that TMTG had separately received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 27 “seeking documents relating to, among other things, Digital World and other potential counterparties for a business transaction involving TMTG.”

In a statement on July 1, TMTG said it “will continue cooperating fully with inquiries into our planned merger and will comply with subpoenas we’ve recently received, none of which were directed at the company’s Chairman or CEO,” referring to Trump and former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, respectively.

Probe Into Whether Companies Violated Securities Law

The investigations by the Justice Department and the SEC are probing whether DWAC had held private or undisclosed talks on plans to merge with TMTG before its own initial public offering (IPO) in September 2021, which would have violated federal securities law.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a letter (pdf) in November 2021 called on the SEC to investigate whether the deal violated such laws, saying that reports alleging that DWAC had held merger talks as early as May 2021 were concerning.

DWAC previously disclosed in a filing on June 27 it is the subject of an SEC investigation into