Donald Trump faces legal headache over his Truth Social company

Just as former US president Donald Trump was trying – and failing – to come to terms with his whopping fine of more than $355 million in the New York civil fraud trial, the Republican now faces a new lawsuit relating to his own social media platform, Truth Social.

Trump launched the app back in February 2022 after he was infamously booted off Twitter (prior to the takeover by Elon Musk, who would go on to reinstate his account) following the January 6 insurrection.

Now, Trump’s facing a lawsuit from the co-founders of his media company Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) – Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss – who allege TMTG engaged in “wrongful 11th hour … manoeuvring” to dilute the minority stake of their company, United Atlantic Ventures (UAV), in the firm behind Truth Social.

The duo – both former contestants on the US edition of The Apprentice when it was helmed by Trump - approached the politician after losing his Twitter and Facebook account to suggest the idea for Trump Media, reportedly agreeing to a deal which saw Trump get a 90 per cent stake in the company, with the remaining 10 per cent split between the pair and an attorney.

This was instead of them simply receiving a “fee or payment for [their] work”.

TMTG has been eyeing up a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) and going public, which could value Trump’s stake in the company at more than $3 billion.

And basically, Litinsky and Moss allege they’re being denied a slice of the pie, so to speak, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Christopher Clark, UAV’s lawyer in the lawsuit filed in Delaware, said: “The attempt here is to deprive them of the deal.

“It’s not like they went out and bought a lottery ticket. They actually went out and did the work, they created Truth Social, and now the beneficiary of that, Donald Trump, doesn’t want to pay.

“Not a unique story, unfortunately.”

Yeah, Twitter/X users aren’t surprised by the news:

Trump’s office has been approached by The Independent for comment.

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