An ex-board member with Digital World Acquisition — the publicly traded company that merged with Trump Media in March — was convicted Thursday of conspiracy and securities fraud for trading shares of the company’s stock prior to the merger.
Bruce Garelick was found guilty of all five of the conspiracy and securities fraud charges against him and now faces up to 25 years in prison, Forbes reports.
The former hedge fund manager will be sentenced Sept. 12 and remain free on bail until the hearing.
Garelick was accused of providing confidential information that Trump Media was going to announce a merger with DWAC—knowledge that helped Michael Shvartsman and Gerald Shvartsman, the former of which was Garelick’s boss at a venture capital firm, make about $22 million through illegal trading.
Garelick’s share of the illegal trading profits totaled about $50,000, according to Bloomberg, which noted Trump and his company were not accused of wrongdoing in the case.
The Shvartsman brothers pleaded guilty to their securities fraud charges last month and will be sentenced in July. Read more.
