In this photo illustration, social media platform, Truth Social logo is displayed on a smartphone with a photo of former US President Donald Trump displayed in the background.
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Former President Donald Trump’s media company fired an executive on Thursday after he shared internal documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission complaint with The Washington Post and spoke to the newspaper. newspaper, news agency report Saturday.
Will Wilkerson was a senior vice president of operations for Trump Media and Technology, the company that owns Truth Social, and was one of the company’s first employees.
Wilkerson filed a complaint with the SEC in August, alleging that the company relied on “deceitful disinformation … in violation of federal securities laws,” according to the Post, to take it public through a investment vehicles known as special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs.
In the article, Wilkerson also describes conflict within Trump Media, including tensions with CEO Devin Nunes, who, as a Republican congressman, is one of the most staunch defenders of the Trump administration. Trump. Wilkerson also said another executive detailed how Trump pressured him to give a stake in the company to his wife, Melania Trump.
A Trump Media spokesperson countered the article’s story and touted Truth Media’s availability on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. “As President of TMTG, President Trump hired Devin Nunes as CEO to create a culture of compliance and build a world-class team to lead Truth Social,” the spokeswoman said. send an email notification to CNBC.
Digital World Acquisition Corp.SPAC, which is seeking to take the media company public, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNBC has also reached out to Wilkerson’s attorney for comment.
Trump Media fired Wilkerson for “unauthorized disclosures” to the Post, the newspaper said. According to the report, one of his lawyers called the dismissal a lawsuit against a whistleblower. There are laws to protect whistleblowers.
The report comes as DWAC pushes its shareholders to vote to delay the planned merger with Trump Media, which was announced last year. DWAC has warned that it could liquidate if it doesn’t complete the merger, which would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Trump Media.
DWAC CEO Patrick Orlando has directed his other companies to fund DWAC to keep it alive until December. He’s ready to go. adjourned the shareholder meeting four timesa sign that he does not have shareholder support to delay the merger.
The Trump Media-DWAC deal is being investigated by regulators at the SEC and prosecutors in the Justice Department. Trump Media blamed the SEC for delaying the deal.
In the article, he also describes undisclosed discussions between Trump, his media company chief executive, and Orlando last year, before the DWAC went public and the deal was announced. Those talks may have violated SEC rules.
Wilkerson shared internal diaries, memos, photos, videos, and other documents related to the SEC investigation with the Post. All documents were previously provided to government investigators, the Post said, citing Wilkerson’s attorney.
Trump Media suspended the executive after the Miami Herald first reported the SEC complaint on October 6, calling it a “flagrant violation” of his non-disclosure agreement, the newspaper said. Post said.
Read the full Washington Post report here.
– Jack Stebbins of CNBC contributed to this article.
