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.
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin April 04, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin April 04, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Cut In Pollution From Shipping 'Doubled The Rate Of Global Heating'
The slashing of pollution from shipping in 2020 led to a big "termination shock" that is estimated to have doubled the rate of global heating compared with the long-term average, according to research.
NHS Begins World-First Cancer Vaccine Trials
Thousands of patients are to be fast-tracked into groundbreaking trials of personalised cancer vaccines in a revolutionary NHS "matchmaking" scheme to save lives.
Report Absolving Israel Over Aid Is False, US Official Says After Quitting
A state department report earlier this month absolving Israel of responsibility for blocking humanitarian aid flows into Gaza was "patently false" and went against the consensus of department's experts, according to a former senior US official who resigned this week.
Russia May Be Ordering Arson Attacks In European Countries, Ministers Say
Security services around Europe are on alert for a potential new Russian weapon of war - arson and sabotage - after a spate of mystery fires and attacks on infrastructure in the Baltics, Germany and the UK.
Buttler and spinners star in dominant England victory
Before England fly, they soared. Jos Buttler's side will head to Barbados this morning to defend their T20 World Cup title with confidence buoyed by a comprehensive victory over Pakistan at the Oval that concluded an abbreviated, rain-affected but nevertheless hugely encouraging build-up.
Bronze's next two games tell her tale as one of greatest Lionesses
Upcoming games are in the north-east, where her journey started, and near Lyon, where she attained European glory
Sancho can complete redemption under the Wembley arch|
Winger has been inconsistent but rediscovered his joy in Germany and has a chance of glory against Real Madrid
Against the odds Sunak turns to 1997 playbook, but hopes for a different ending
With a Labour victory looking increasingly probable, John Major's pitch to voters in 1997 was simple.
Hong Kong: 14 pro-democracy activists 'guilty of conspiracy'
Fourteen pro-democracy activists have been found guilty in Hong Kong's largest national security trial, in a ruling that was immediately condemned by rights groups.
'We are suffering badly' Record heatwave has made Delhi unliveable for millions
As the water tanker drove into a crowded Delhi neighbourhood, a ruckus erupted.
