Trump's newest business partner: A Chinese firm with a history of SEC investigations

[Eugene]

Last edited Fri Dec 24, 2021, 05:07 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Washington Post

Trump’s newest business partner: A Chinese firm with a history of SEC investigations

Shanghai-based Arc Capital, an investment firm that has been the target of probes by securities regulators, is at the center of the deal to take Trump’s media venture public.

By Douglas MacMillan and Jonathan O'Connell
December 23, 2021 at 11:25 a.m. EST

A Chinese firm helping former president Donald Trump take his new media company public has been the target of investigations by federal securities regulators, who say the firm misrepresented shell companies with no products and few employees as ambitious, growing enterprises, documents and interviews show.

Arc Capital, an investment advisory firm based in Shanghai, has repeatedly helped create or finance companies with little or no revenue, no customers and office locations that point to P.O. boxes, according to a Washington Post review of regulatory and court filings. One claimed to be developing autonomous drone software despite having no employees; another said it operated a publicly traded in-home bakery “specializing in freshly-made cakes and cupcakes” before saying it pivoted into touch-screen technologies for a “diversified blue-chip client base,” regulatory filings show.

The United States allows shell companies to be listed on public markets but requires operators to truthfully represent them as businesses with no active operations, securities lawyers said. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Arc of deceiving investors about the scope of its operations, the locations of the businesses and the identities of the people behind them, documents show.

This year, Arc helped create Digital World Acquisition, an investment vehicle that has raised over $1.2 billion to conduct a merger with Trump Media and Technology Group. Digital World is what’s known as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a type of shell business that raises money from investors to acquire a private start-up with strong growth prospects. The deal, which still must be approved by shareholders and regulators, has the potential to enrich the former president and turn his nascent social media start-up into a public company overnight.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/23/trump-spac-deal-sec/

Shared WaPo link: https://wapo.st/32idWjg

[Irish_Dem]

1. China is funding Trump's propaganda media company?

And helping him get ready to run in 2024?

Beijing is funneling the money through this sleezy shell company.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. Are you suggesting that Arc Capital, a fine name for an investment firm,

May not be entirely legit? And that a businessman with the acumen, reputation for honesty, and nous of Donald Trump would be involved with a company which has a less than impeccable reputation? I'm sure that it was inadvertent, and that as soon as Trump sees this, he will admit his error and disassociate himself from Arc Capital.

I'm also expecting pigs to fly.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. TFG is committing securities fraud

Link to tweet