Months before former President Donald Trump’s social media company unveiled an agreement to raise hundreds of millions of dollars last fall, word of the deal leaked to an obscure Miami investment firm, whose executives began plotting ways to make money off the imminent transaction, The New York Times reports, citing people familiar with the discussions.
The deal — in which SPAC Digital World Acquisition would merge with Trump’s fledgling media business — was announced in October. It sent shares of the SPAC soaring.
Employees at the Miami investment firm, Rocket One Capital, had learned of the pending deal over the summer, long before it was announced, according to three people familiar with the firm’s internal discussions. Two of the people said Rocket One officials at the time talked about ways to profit off the soon-to-be- announced transaction with Trump Media & Technology Group by investing in Digital World Acquisition Corporation.
A top Rocket One executive, Bruce Garelick, was on the board of Digital World until he resigned in recent weeks.
In the days before the Trump Media deal became public, there was a surge in trading in warrants of Digital World.
Federal prosecutors and regulators are now investigating the merger between Digital World and Trump Media, including the frenzied trading in the SPAC’s warrants, according to people familiar with the investigation and public disclosures. Digital World said in a recent regulatory filing that a federal grand jury in Manhattan had issued subpoenas seeking information about Rocket One. Read more.
