The Deep Dive reports:
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) filed a lawsuit in a Florida civil court against The Washington Post, allegedly claiming the media outfit defamed the company in one of its articles. The firm is seeking $3.78 billion in damages.
The news firm allegedly “published an egregious hit piece that falsely accused TMTG of securities fraud and other wrongdoing.” The said article, released on May 13, 2023, was claimed to be reported in concert with a former TMTG employee.
“WaPo has been on a years-long crusade against TMTG characterized by the concealment of relevant information in its possession—a bitterly ironic truth for a publication whose motto is ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’,” TMTG said in its filing. “WaPo’s latest defamation creates an existential threat for TMTG, causing enormous loss.”
From the cited Washington Post article:
An obscure financial entity with connections to a Caribbean-island bank that bills itself as a top payment service for adult entertainment sites would gain a sizable stake in former president Donald Trump’s media company if its merger deal proceeds, according to internal documents a company whistleblower has shared with federal investigators and The Washington Post.
Yet the role ES Family Trust would assume in Trump Media and Technology Group has never been officially disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission or to shareholders in Digital World Acquisition, the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that has proposed merging with Trump’s company.
The companies also have not disclosed to shareholders or the SEC that Trump Media paid a $240,000 finder’s fee for helping to arrange the $8 million loan deal with ES Family Trust — or that the recipient of that fee was an outside brokerage associated with Patrick Orlando, then Digital World’s CEO.
Devin Nunes has filed and lost so many ridiculous defamation lawsuits that I’ve honestly lost track.
Trump Media filed a $3.78 Billion lawsuit against the Washington Post last night, claiming they published defamatory articles about Truth Social, Donald Trump and CEO Devin Nunes. https://t.co/7vAJIYLVAJ pic.twitter.com/Zhk8piFcun
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 21, 2023
Exclusive: Trump’s media company took out an $8 million loan in exchange for stock, but no one told the SEC https://t.co/dZ9JzBi1W6
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 13, 2023