Trump's Truth Social deal is being investigated by 'elite money-laundering team': report

A federal investigation into the financing behind Donald Trump's foray into social media has grown to involve the FBI, the SEC, a division of the Department of Homeland Security and what is being described as "one of the government’s most elite anti-money-laundering teams" according to a new federal filing.

According to a deep dive by the Washington Post's Drew Harwell, there is no indication that the former president and his Trump Media have been accused of wrongdoing in the case involving the troubled Truth Social thus far, but there are questions over his involvement in "a business arrangement that federal agents now allege was undermined from its inception by financial fraud."

A central focus of the investigation, the Washington Post is reporting, is Patrick Orlando, Digital World’s chief executive, whose special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) stepped in to raise money for the project when banks wouldn't provide financing.

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Reviewing government documents, the Post's Harwell wrote, Orlando "had been telling investors privately for months that he’d been talking with Trump about the deal" which is a violation of federal securities law according to the SEC.

According to the report, "One investor, the Miami Beach businessman Anton Postolnikov, had amassed a huge stake in Digital World. Postolnikov, who was born in Russia and is the nephew of a longtime Russian government official, sold most of his stake just days after Trump’s announcement sent the stock soaring, according to an FBI agent’s search warrant affidavit. His profit: $22 million," adding, "Another, a Ukraine-born nightclub manager turned private equity investor named Michael Shvartsman, told his business partners and a neighbor about the moneymaking opportunity, according to the affidavit — before securing $18 million in profits for himself."

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That money churn raised red flags for investigators which has led to the deal being held up by the SEC as other government agencies became involved, and the $300 million raised that Truth Social had been expecting to keep operating being held up.

According to Harwell, "Investigators used a microphone-wearing undercover informant to secretly record Shvartsman’s attempts to move the profits — assets he told the informant he’d gained from the 's--- [that] happened with Trump' — into a web of offshore accounts. The documents also claim Shvartsman offered to introduce the informant to an unnamed official in Ukraine who needed help moving a 'significant amount of money.' Whether officials pursued that tip is unknown."

According to the Washington Post report, there are "...hundreds of pages of documents include a previously sealed indictment, HSI reports detailing undercover operations, emails, text messages, transcripts of recorded conversations, prosecutors’ memos summarizing evidence, and affidavits supporting search and seizure warrants for phones, digital data and bank accounts."

Asked for comment about the still growing investigation, Trump Media attorney Jesse Binnall asserted the alleged criminality “had no connection to Trump Media whatsoever.”

You can read much more here.