A board member of Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, has been accused of hacking one of the executives that helped bring the firm public as part of an alleged corporate coup attempt, according to a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida.
Trump Media became a publicly traded company last month when it merged with Digital World Acquisition. The SPAC was first led by Patrick Orlando, one of the original architects of the deal to take Truth Social public. Orlando was fired in March 2023 after the deal was delayed, and replaced by Eric Swider. That ouster is the focus of the lawsuit, which was filed by a company Orlando controls called Benessere Investment Group, Wired reports.
Benessere claims that Swider, who served as Digital World CEO from March 2023 to March 2024 and currently sits on Trump Media’s board, plotted a “coup d’état” in order to oust Orlando as the CEO of the SPAC. Benessere alleges that “defendants and other co-conspirators stole access to plaintiffs’ computer systems and files and used the stolen information to attack Benessere and ARC II managing member, Patrick Orlando,” as part of an “audacious scheme to seize control of and enlarge their holdings in a publicly-traded company poised to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group.”
ARC II refers to ARC Global Investments II, a fund organized by Orlando which provided financing for the deal to take Truth Social public. Read more.
