EGN NEWS DESK
Marty Davis, the rich Minnesota head of a kitchen countertop manufacturing firm, is a steadfast supporter of former President Donald J. Trump. He contributed tons of of hundreds of {dollars} to assist elect Mr. Trump in 2020, and inspired him to combat to overturn the 2020 election outcomes.
Shortly after Mr. Trump’s social media firm mentioned in October 2021 that it deliberate to go public by merging with a cash-rich shell firm, Mr. Davis was one of many first to lend the fledgling enterprise hundreds of thousands in order that it may keep afloat till its merger closed and finance the launch of its Truth Social platform.
Mr. Davis gave Trump Media & Technology Group a $5 million mortgage, in line with paperwork reviewed by The New York Times. His mortgage was a part of $40 million Trump Media raised from greater than a dozen non-public buyers, a few of whom have helped finance efforts to elect Mr. Trump and are actually probably shareholders of his social media firm.
It’s not unusual for start-ups to hunt out rich buyers for financing, however the inventory holdings elevate questions concerning the potential for conflicts of curiosity and undue affect over Mr. Trump ought to he return to the White House.
Other early backers embrace two Texas billionaires, a Florida hedge fund manager, and a belief with ties to a Russian American proprietor of an offshore financial institution who’s the nephew of a former high-ranking Russian authorities official, the paperwork present. One of the billionaires, Kenny Troutt, a retired Dallas telecommunications government, has given greater than $1.1 million to efforts backing Mr. Trump’s three White House bids. Mr. Troutt is serving as a co-chair of a serious fund-raiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., for the previous president.
“It was the deal of the century,” mentioned Massimo D’Angelo, a lawyer for Patrick Walsh, a Florida hedge fund manager who lent $6.2 million to Trump Media.
When Trump Media lastly went public in March after closing its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., these early buyers stood to revenue handsomely: Most of the loans have been designed to transform into shares at round $22 a bit, whereas Trump Media shares traded round $40. It’s unclear if any of them have cashed in by promoting their shares.
Some Trump Media backers like Mr. Walsh have little or no political connection to the previous president. For occasion, Karl Pfluger, an oil and fuel billionaire who was one of many largest lenders to Trump Media, offered practically $10 million, is a major donor to Republicans in Texas however not a outstanding Trump donor.
Shannon Devine, a Trump Media spokeswoman mentioned: “The media ought to be cautious of counting on paperwork equipped by detractors of our firm who’ve a historical past of offering outdated, misleading and manufactured data to the press.”
Mr. Davis declined to remark. Mr. Pfluger, who’s president of Oryx Midstream Services, an oil pipeline firm, didn’t reply to a request for remark. An government at Mr. Troutt’s household workplace, who signed the mortgage settlement, declined to remark. Mr. Troutt, who now breeds racehorses, made his $3 million mortgage to Trump Media by way of an affiliated firm.
Mr. Trump, who owns 57 % of Trump Media, didn’t personally put a major amount of cash into getting the corporate off the bottom.
Ethics consultants have mentioned if Mr. Trump wins the White House and fails to divest himself of his stake in Trump Media, it may open up a wholly new avenue for overseas actors or particular pursuits to attempt to curry favor with him, together with by shopping for promoting on Truth Social.
At final depend, Mr. Trump’s stake was price about $3 billion. Trump Media itself is presently valued at round $5 billion although it misplaced $58 million final yr and earned simply $4.1 million from promoting on Truth Social, its sole income.
Roy Bailey, the co-chair of Mr. Trump’s 2020 marketing campaign who helped to lift a few of the financing for Trump Media, declined to debate any of the lenders. Mr. Bailey’s Dallas-based agency lent not less than $33,000 to Trump Media, in line with a mortgage settlement seen by The Times.
Wes Moss and Andy Litinksy, two of the founders of Trump Media, oversaw the fundraising from exterior buyers. The two males have been former contestants on Mr. Trump’s actuality tv present “The Apprentice.” They had pitched Mr. Trump on the concept of beginning the corporate in January 2021 after he was booted off Twitter, now referred to as X, within the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol.
Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky had signed many of the mortgage agreements on behalf of Trump Media, however are now not related to the corporate. They are feuding in courtroom with Trump Media to keep up their roughly 6 % fairness stake within the firm.
A lawyer for each males declined to remark.
The mortgage agreements reviewed by The Times have been offered by Stephen Bell, Philip Brewster and Patrick Mincey, legal professionals for a former Trump Media worker, William Wilkerson. The agreements have been included in hundreds of pages of paperwork equipped to the Securities and Exchange Commission in reference to a whistle-blower grievance filed by Mr. Wilkerson. The regulator was investigating whether or not Digital World had violated securities legal guidelines by partaking in untimely merger talks with Trump Media. Last summer season Digital World reached a settlement with the S.E.C. and agreed to pay an $18 million penalty.
Mr. Davis, the Minnesota businessman, gave Trump Media a $5 million by way of an obscure restricted legal responsibility firm. He is one in every of Trump Media’s extra high-profile monetary backers.
A longtime Republican donor, Mr. Davis efficiently lobbied the Trump administration to impose tariffs in 2018 on quartz from China to be able to counter what he mentioned was injury to his firm from unlawful dumping. Although he didn’t contribute to Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign in 2016, he gave about $350,000 towards efforts to re-elect Mr. Trump in 2020. In October 2020, he hosted a $100,000-a-person fund-raiser for Mr. Trump at his Minnesota house.
His efforts to push Mr. Trump to combat the outcomes of what he referred to as a “corrupt election” got here to mild throughout a congressional investigation of the Jan. 6 rebellion on the Capitol. In a Dec. 9, 2020 textual content message to Mark Meadows, then White House chief of employees, Mr. Davis mentioned he wanted an Oval Office assembly with the president to “inform him what I’m doing to combat now for him!” He added: “Also, closely assist 2024 if he will get screwed.”
Per week later, he texted Mr. Meadows once more, saying that he advised Mr. Trump there was widespread unlawful voting in Minnesota — a declare that state election officers refuted.
The most curious of all of the buyers in Trump Media is a entity referred to as ES Family Trust that lent as much as $8 million in late 2021 and early 2022. The belief has ties to Anton Postolnikov, a Russian American financier who lives in South Florida. Divorce data for Mr. Postolnikov and his spouse, reviewed by The Times, counsel a monetary connection to the ES Family Trust.
As late as final yr, Mr. Postolnikov was the principal proprietor of Paxum Bank, a small financial institution based mostly within the Caribbean island of Dominica that wired a few of the mortgage cash to Trump Media, in line with paperwork reviewed by The Times. The financial institution processes funds for grownup leisure corporations.
Mr. Postolnikov is the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, who served as a high-ranking Russian authorities official for nearly 15 years. As of two years in the past, he was the deputy head of a state-owned enterprise governing seaports.
A press release printed on Mr. Postolnikov’s behalf final yr denied that he was related in any strategy to allies of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and mentioned Russian web sites have been spreading lies about him. Mr. Postolnikov drew scrutiny in an insider-trading investigation by federal prosecutors who regarded into buying and selling of Digital World securities across the time of the merger announcement in 2021, in line with a submitting in reference to the matter. He was not charged with any wrongdoing and his lawyer declined to remark.
Kitty Bennett, Rachel Shorey and Oleg Matsnev contributed analysis.
