The future is uncertain for Donald Trump. On the other hand, a grand juror has already been convicted of the Trump Organization of committing a string of crimes and rumors to suggest that there will be more indictments. On the other hand, the real estate tycoon could run for president in 2024.
His new venture, called the Trump Media and Technology Group, is preparing for both scenarios. The agreement to merge that was signed in the last week, Trump Media and Technology Group declared that the former president’s position and ownership would be organized to ensure the continuity of the business if the “material disruptive event” were to occur. The document continues to define the term “material disruptive event” as either one of two things: Trump (a) being elected to office, (b) running for office (b) getting personally found guilty of committing a felony.
The precise details of this structure are in doubt. Spokespersons for Trump’s former president have not responded to inquiries. A representative from SPAC, the particular purpose acquisition company (or SPAC, merging with Trump’s company, refused to discuss anything connected to the business. “Unfortunately, at this moment, we are not here accepting press questions for interviews.”
There are clues about Trump’s role. A press release from the company declares him”the “chairman.” The merger agreement describes him as”the “company principal.” Another document refers to the term “majority stockholder” without naming the person. The slide deck released last week only contains one person: Donald Trump, but it is accompanied by a strange “personnel disclosure” on the last page. “Please do not rely on any person listed in the deck,” the small print reads. “Some individuals could be in a consultative phase, subject to a contractual employment agreement. There’s no guarantee that the agreement will be approved. Companies are warned not to trust individuals listed on the list, and neither the Trump Media and Technology Group offer any guarantees about individuals listed on the list.”
The documents from the merger agreement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Donald Trump’s new project is designed to prepare for his uncertain future.
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Trump’s status isn’t in the shadows forever. In a Tuesday filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SPAC aiding Trump’s business to become public said it would submit a second document outlining the names and interests of officers and directors of Trump Media and Technology Group. Trump Media and Technology Group.
Running a public business could be difficult for Trump, considering the strict rules associated with it. Trump has previously helmed the company Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. Shareholders filed a lawsuit after he utilized the company’s publicly traded stock to purchase a casino he owned personally at a suspiciously high price. Without admitting to the wrongdoing, Trump denied the allegations for more than a decade before settling in 2002. In the course of the agreement, Trump signed on to the new corporate governance rules, which included one that required a separate committee to approve transactions involving Trump’s other companies.
“If Trump is an officer or director of this company, as opposed to a licensor of his name or something like that, I expect he will be on the wrong end of a securities-fraud suit before long,” says Michael Klausner, a business and law professor at Stanford. “I cannot imagine him being honest regarding his company than he would be about any other thing. Particularly in regards to the size of his company, his followers in the social media platform, the number of people, or other data about the size of his audience–he creates it.”
