Federal prosecutors probed Trump social media company for $8m money laundering, report says
Multiple federal regulators have probed social media firm
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A social media company backed by Donald Trump has reportedly been under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York for potential money laundering.
In late 2021 and early 2022, the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which owns Truth Social, received a combined $8m in loans with potentially dubious origins, The Guardian reports, citing multiple unnamed sources with knowledge of the investigation and a bank receipt showing the transfer.
The funds came from a trust and passed through Paxum Bank, registered on the Caribbean island of Dominica, which is partly owned by Anton Postolnikov, who appears related to Vladimir Putin ally Aleksandr Smirnov, a Russian connection that raised the interested of the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York, according to the report.
Will Wilkerson, a former co-founder, of TMTG, said the company weighed returning the money because of its unclear origins, but decided otherwise as funds were dwindling and returning $8m would be a major financial hit.
The office declined a request for comment from The Independent.
The Independent has contacted Donald Trump, TMTG, and Paxum Bank for comment.
In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a preliminary investigation into TMTG’s still-pending merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a special purpose acquisition corporation, whose potential tie-up with the Trump group would allow it to be publicly traded.
That same year, another federal regulator, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, began probing the deal, focusing, as The New York Times reported, on a frenzy of trading at DWAC in the weeks before it announced the merger plans with TMTG.
Last year, Mr Wilkerson, the former TMTG executive, alleged that in 2021 the Trump company held “substantive discussions” about the merger with DWAC that it didn’t disclose, a violation of disclosure laws.
In a 2022 court filing, TMTG argued those discussions were too preliminary to require disclosure. The company told The New York Times in October it maintains a “a culture of compliance.”