Former U.S. President Donald Trump is suing the co-founders of his social media platform, Truth Social, saying they should be stripped of shares in the now-public company because of early mismanagement.
The suit which was filed on March 24 in Florida state court alleged that Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who were contestants on Trump‘s “The Apprentice” television show, failed to set up a proper governance structure for Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. and find a merger partner in a timely fashion.
The suit hadn’t gained notice until a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
Truth Social’s merger and newly listed stock made Trump billions of dollars richer, at least on paper. The stock has been volatile, dropping over 20% on Monday amid reports of lousy Truth Social revenue but has gone up and down since then.
Trump cannot sell his stake in the company for six months under lockup provisions in the recent deal, though he may rely on the windfall to pay legal debts down the road.
Trump filed the suit after the late March merger between a shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., and Trump Media & Technology Group, which was the parent company of the Truth Social platform.
The merger was successful after long delays at the heart of Trump’s suit against partners in Truth Social, the platform the trio set up after Trump was kicked off prominent social platforms for his posts around the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.