The Truth social network logo is displayed behind a woman holding a smartphone in this illustration taken on February 21, 2022.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
A South Florida real estate executive has stepped down from the board Digital World Acquisition CorporationThe white-checking company has agreed to take former President Donald Trump’s media company public, according to filing securities on Wednesday.
Justin Shaner, CEO of Shaner Properties in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, resigned from DWAC’s board on Friday, the filing said.
The move comes days before DWAC’s shareholder meeting, scheduled for November 22, DWAC CEO Patrick Orlando has announced. postponed the meeting several times in recent months as he sought shareholder approval to delay his company’s merger with Trump Media and Technology Corporation, which owns the Truth Social app, by about a year.
The DWAC-Trump Media deal is being investigated by prosecutors and federal regulators. Will Wilkerson, former executive director of Trump Media, turned over documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and File a complaintclaims of misrepresentation by companies.
DWAC is likely to liquidate if the merger deadline is not delayed in early December.
Shaner did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did DWAC. “Mr Shaner’s resignation is not due to any disagreement with the Company regarding any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices,” DWAC said in a filing on Thursday. Private.
Shaner is a board member of another white-check company operated by Orlando, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., which is also being investigated by federal authorities in connection with investigations into DWAC. In June, Benessere and several of its directors were subpoenaed by the SEC and a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York, according to the filing.
In October, Benessere said it would liquidate after a merger deal with another company, eCombustible Energy, failed. Benessere said the SEC investigation delayed their registration statement, according to securities filings. Trump Media has also blamed regulators for delays in merging with DWAC.
Shares of DWAC fell 16% to $21.29 on Wednesday, a day after Trump announced he would run for president in 2024. The stock bounced off a year-high, $101.87, hitting be in March.
Trump himself is under federal criminal investigation, while his main business, the Trump Organization, is on trial in New York.
He founded Truth Social after he was banned by Twitter for his posts on January 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters attacked the US Capitol in an ultimately failed attempt. to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Twitter’s new owner and CEO, Elon Musk, has said he will let Trump return to the social network, where the former president has about 88 million followers. . He has about 4 million followers on Truth Social.
– Dan Mangan of CNBC contributed to this report.
