Donald Trump's Trump Media Was Saved by Russian-American Who Is Under Criminal Investigation, Says Report
A bombshell report has revealed why Truth Social's parent company, Trump Media, managed to stay afloat despite the Donald Trump-owned company losing hundreds of millions of dollars. This was all thanks to a wealthy Russian-American businessman who loaned Trump to keep the business afloat.
According to the report by The Guardian, Trump Media almost did not merge with the blank-check company, Digital World Acquisition Corporation, earlier this year because of the business not being that profitable. It was only kept afloat thanks to emergency loans that Trump media got in 2022.
Regulators opened a securities investigation into the merger in 2021 and this caused the company to lose money at an alarming rate, leading to Trump Media taking emergency loans from an entity called ES Family Trust, which opened an account with Paxum Bank in Dominica, a small Caribbean nation.
The Guardian reported that "ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."
The existence of that trust was previously reported not just by The Guardian, but also by the Washington Post. Both publications managed to connect the bank to the Trump Media merger, though how they were able to funnel money through the trust to Trump Media was unknown.
However, new details have shown that Paxum Bank records showed that Postolnikov did have access to these accounts and these documents have shown that they created the trust and he was shown as its settlor a lawyer in St Petersburg, Russia. The bank itself lacks a US banking license and is not regulated by the FDIC, though Postolnikov appears to have used the trust to loan money to the Donald Trump-owned media company behind Truth Social.
Postolnikov has not yet been charged with any crime, but it was noted that he is the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, a key ally of the Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin.
Donald Trump Trying To Get Rid of Truth Social's Founders and Blames Them for Trump Media Losing Money
It is no secret that Trump Media is losing money fast, and the former president may now have found a scapegoat, the app's co-founders, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who previously appeared as contestants for "The Apprentice."
According to CBS News, the Trump Media filing stated that the two "failed spectacularly" at setting up the business and "creating an effective corporate governance structure." The lawsuit claimed that they hired a "deficient" team to manage Truth Social and also blamed them for creating a "toxic corporate culture."
Donald Trump Hush Money Trial Not Delayed
Meanwhile, in his criminal cases, Donald Trump's porn star hush money case is still moving forward as planned after the former president failed to delay it once again.
Trump had a last-minute bid to employ his infamous "delay delay delay" strategy but Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan denied the request Wednesday, stating that the request was "untimely" and pointed out that the Trump legal team had months to raise the issue before the motion was filed in March.
READ MORE: Donald Trump Lies About Why He Had to Post Bond in Fraud Trial
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: 'Is this not the Trumpiest story of all time?' Trump sues Truth Social co-founders - MSNBC
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