Trump Media merger accomplice loses board member days earlier than assembly

A South Florida actual property govt has stop the board of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check firm that agreed to take former President Donald Trump’s media firm public, in keeping with a securities submitting Wednesday.

Justin Shaner, the CEO of Shaner Properties within the Miami-Fort Lauderdale space, resigned from DWAC’s board of administrators Friday, the submitting mentioned.

The transfer got here days earlier than DWAC’s shareholder assembly, which is scheduled for Nov. 22. DWAC’s CEO, Patrick Orlando, has adjourned the assembly a number of occasions in latest months as he seeks shareholder approval to delay his firm’s merger with Trump Media and Expertise Group, which owns the Reality Social app, by a few 12 months.

The DWAC-Trump Media deal is being investigated by federal prosecutors and regulators. Will Wilkerson, a former Trump Media govt, turned over paperwork to the Securities and Change Fee and filed a whistleblower grievance, claiming misrepresentations by the businesses.

DWAC will probably liquidate if the merger deadline is not delayed by early December.

Shaner did not instantly return a request for remark, nor did DWAC. “The resignation of Mr. Shaner didn’t consequence from any disagreement with the Firm regarding any matter referring to the Firm’s operations, insurance policies or practices,” DWAC mentioned in Wednesday’s submitting.

Shaner was a board member on one other Orlando-run blank-check firm, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., which can be underneath investigation by federal authorities in connection to probes into DWAC. In June, Benessere and a few of its administrators have been subpoenaed by the SEC and a federal grand jury within the Southern District of New York, in keeping with filings.

Benessere mentioned in October that it could liquidate after a merger cope with one other firm, eCombustible Vitality, fell by way of. Benessere had mentioned the SEC’s probe delayed its registration assertion, in keeping with securities filings. Trump Media has additionally blamed regulators for the delay of its merger with DWAC.

Shares of DWAC fell 16% to $21.29 Wednesday, the day after Trump introduced he would run for president in 2024. The inventory is effectively off its excessive for the 12 months, $101.87, which it hit in March.

Trump himself is underneath federal legal investigation, whereas his essential enterprise, the Trump Group, is on trial in New York.

He based Reality Social after he was banned from Twitter for his posts on Jan. 6, 2021, when a whole lot of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in an in the end failed try and overturn Joe Biden’s victory within the 2020 election. New Twitter proprietor and CEO Elon Musk has mentioned he would let Trump again on the social community, the place the previous president had about 88 million followers. He has about 4 million followers on Reality Social.

– CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.