An image caption showcases a photo illustration featuring former President Donald Trump alongside a phone screen displaying the Truth Social app. The illustration was captured in Washington, DC on February 21, 2022.
According to the lawsuit, Swider and his accomplices are accused of stealing access to the companies’ computer systems and subsequently utilizing the pilfered information to launch an attack on Orlando.
The lawsuit, filed by Benessere Investment Group and ARC Global Investments II, alleges that the scheme was a bold attempt to take control of and expand their holdings.
The lawsuit aims to obtain compensation and a court order that would prevent the defendants from using the stolen information and hacking into the companies’ files.
Swider replaced Orlando at Digital World in March 2023 after Orlando was fired.
Last month, a blank check company successfully merged to make Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. public. This merger enabled the company, which is the owner of the Trump-focused social media app Truth Social, to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Initially, after its stock market debut under the ticker DJT, the company’s value saw a significant increase. However, those gains have since been reversed.
The share price experienced a significant drop of nearly 9% on Wednesday alone. Over the course of this month, starting from April 1, the stock has seen a substantial decline, losing almost 45% of its initial value.
The Florida lawsuit is part of a series of chaotic and dramatic legal battles that have characterized Trump Media’s tumultuous journey to an IPO, as well as its turbulent initial weeks as a publicly traded company.
In July, DWAC resolved fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the agency discovered that the SPAC had submitted filings that were “materially false and misleading.”
In late March, Trump Media filed a lawsuit against its co-founders, accusing them of mismanaging the merger. The company is now seeking to prevent them from owning any stock in the company.
The co-founders have filed a lawsuit against Trump Media in Delaware Chancery Court regarding their ownership stake in the company.
Critics, on the other hand, have dubbed the company as a meme stock and a “scam.” They argue that the company’s financials paint a bleak picture, with a reported net loss of $58.2 million on a meager revenue of just $4.1 million in 2023.
CNBC reached out to Trump Media for comment on the lawsuit, but they did not respond. Similarly, emails sent to Swider and co-defendant Alexander Cano, the former president of DWAC, did not receive immediate responses.
During an interview with Wired, Swider vehemently denied all of the allegations made against him.
“I can’t help but think that he’s still holding on to the fact that I replaced him,” Swider told the outlet. “I don’t understand why it upsets him so much.”
Orlando’s efforts to bring DWAC into a merger agreement with Trump Media were successful, as highlighted in the Florida lawsuit filed just before the late March merger.
Swider is accused of deceiving DWAC’s directors and business partners by disseminating inaccurate and deceptive information about the company’s operations.
According to reports, he is said to have offered generous compensation to the other directors he recruited to conspire with him in exchange for their support in his attempted takeover.
According to the lawsuit, Swider sought to not only enhance his compensation by becoming the CEO of DWAC, but also to gain control over ARC II, which held approximately 19% of DWAC before the merger.
In a regulatory filing on April 1, Trump Media disclosed that ARC II holds approximately 6.9% of the post-merger company, which equates to around 9.5 million shares.
According to the lawsuit, Benessere, the company, owned an account on an electronic file storage website where information about ARC II was stored.
Swider is accused of enlisting Cano, Orlando’s former assistant, to gain access to the account that is considered vital for both investment firms. According to the allegations, Swider promised Cano the position of president at DWAC in return for access to the account.
Cano agreed to Swider’s proposal, and true to his word, Swider fulfilled his promise. As part of the agreement, Cano received a convertible note comprising 165,000 shares of DWAC’s stock. This generous award was estimated to be valued at over $6 million during that period, according to the lawsuit.
In the interview with Wired, Swider clarified that Orlando voted for Cano’s award and denied the claim that he had hired Cano as his assistant, as stated in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Cano has been accessing the storage account regularly since February 2023. The lawsuit further claims that Cano immediately shared the information contained within the account with Swider.
According to the lawsuit, Swider utilized it to send ARC II’s members emails containing “false and defamatory claims” about Orlando.
In the lawsuit, an email sent on March 5, referred to as “Exhibit A,” accuses Orlando of neglecting his fiduciary responsibility to ARC II, along with a multitude of other allegations, as stated by Swider.
In an email, Swider clarified that he is not disparaging Patrick and mentioned that he has been threatened with pending litigation for speaking out to fellow membership holders.
I’m confident that he is an incredible individual – honest, hardworking, and always looking out for your best interests. Not to mention, he’s good-looking and cool. Personally, I’m quite fond of him. It’s important to note that none of the information in this email is intended to be defamatory. As a leader, Patrick has been absolutely fantastic. Patrick, you truly are awesome!
Orlando stumbled upon the email when Swider neglected to remove Orlando’s wife from the mailing list, as stated in the lawsuit.
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