The former US president stands to gain billions of dollars - his stake is currently valued at about $4bn (£3.2bn) - from the merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which took the parent company of Truth Social public.
But Trump Media almost did not make it to the merger after regulators opened a securities investigation into the merger in 2021 and caused the company to burn through cash at an extraordinary rate as it waited to get the green light for its stock market debut.
That led Trump Media to take emergency loans, including from an entity called ES Family Trust, which opened an account with Paxum Bank, a small bank registered on the Caribbean island of Dominica that is best known for providing financial services to the porn industry.
Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger.
The existence of the trust was first reported by the Guardian last year. However, who controlled the account, how the trust was connected to Paxum Bank, and how the money had been funnelled through the trust to Trump Media was unknown.
The new details about the trust are drawn from documents including Paxum Bank records showing Postolnikov having access to the trust's account; the papers that created the trust showing as its settlor a lawyer in St Petersburg, Russia; and three years of the trust's financial transactions.
The concern surrounding the loans to Trump Media is that ES Family Trust may have been used to complete a transaction that Paxum itself could not.
Esta historia es de la edición April 04, 2024 de The Guardian.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición April 04, 2024 de The Guardian.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Police warn Serbian hooligans could target England opener
German police believe a squad of up to 500 Serbian hooligans will try to cause violence at England's first game at Euro 2024 on Sunday.
England's woes make echo of 99 'shame' possible
Australia will face Scotland knowing Jos Buttler's side could need their help to seal Super Eight qualification
Given a chance to turn down both bonuses, boss of South West Water's owner bottles it
Here's a rarity: a chief executive turning down an annual bonus two years in a row out of solidarity with the suffering customers.
Apple debuts 'personal' generative AI products
Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, announced a series of generative artificial intelligence products and services yesterday at the company's annual developer conference.
Early morning frost detected on colossal Martian volcanoes
Early morning frost has been spotted on some of the largest mountains in the solar system - the colossal Martian volcanoes that rise up to three times the height of Mount Everest near the planet's equator.
Analysis Far right's gains will hit home in Paris and Berlin
In the end, with a couple of alarming wobbles, the centre held. As polls predicted, the mainstream pro-EU alliance of centre-right, centre-left, liberal and Green parties in the European parliament hung on, quite comfortably, to its majority.
What happens next? Macron's move may be gift to Le Pen's party
Two years in to his second term and with three more still to go, Emmanuel Macron's ratings are not what anyone would call great: 65% disapproval, 34% approval.
'We all have to mobilise' Advance of far right leaves left in shock
'Everyone is in total shock,\" said Baptiste Lopata, a radiologist, sitting in his trade union office in the small northern French town of Soissons. \"Now we've all got to mobilise against the far right.\"
Vogue chief Anna Wintour wants next PM to be more like the French over fashion
The editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour, has urged the next prime minister to see fashion more like it is regarded in France - and acknowledge the importance of the industry to the British economy.
Mother of Harry Dunn criticises killer's refusal to attend her son's inquest
Harry Dunn's mother has said she is \"unspeakably hurt\" that her son's killer, Anne Sacoolas, has refused to attend the inquest into his death, saying it was \"bitterly disappointing and, as a mother, utterly incomprehensible\".