Feds charge three with illegal trading ahead of Trump Media merger announcement [View all]

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https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/29/three-charged-with-illegal-trading-ahead-of-trump-media-merger.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

WASHINGTON — Three people have been charged with illegally trading shares in a shell company ahead of the announcement that it planned to merge with former President Donald Trump’s media venture, Trump Media, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman, and Bruce Garelick allegedly “made more than $22 million in illegal profits by trading in securities of Digital World Acquisition Corporation (“DWAC”) based on material nonpublic information about DWAC’s planned but not yet public business combination with a media company founded” by Trump, the DOJ said.

The three men, all Florida residents, were arrested Thursday morning, said the Justice Department. The Justice Department does not allege wrongdoing by Trump or any of his family members. A spokesman for TMTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the allegations.

The DOJ announced the charges related to the Trump media merger as part of a string of allegations of illegal trading. They included accusations that two Pfizer employees traded on non-public information about trial results for its Covid treatment Paxlovid.