Trump Media sues co-founders alleging former 'Apprentice' contestants' stock ownership claim is void

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is suing two Truth Social co-founders, arguing they are not entitled to the 8.6% stake in the company they claim to own.

TMTG, the social media firm launched by former President Donald Trump, filed a lawsuit last month in Florida court against former "Apprentice" contestants Wesley Moss and Andrew Litinsky, claiming an agreement between the co-founders and Trump himself that laid out ownership is now void.

The suit comes in response to an earlier lawsuit filed in Delaware by Moss and Litinsky, accusing TMTG of trying to improperly dilute their stake.

TMTG's filing says a service agreement between the former president and Moss and Litinsky's company, United Atlantic Ventures (UAV), granted UAV 8.6 million shares in the new social media firm and granted Trump 90 million. But TMTG argues Moss and Litinsky's claims are "baseless," saying that TMTG was not a party to the agreement.

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The Truth Social parent company also claims Moss and Litinsky, who were the initial de facto directors of TMTG, "failed spectacularly" in delivering on its launch and "made a series of reckless and wasteful decisions at a critical time that caused significant damage to TMTG and a decline in the stock price of its merger partner."

TMTG says Moss and Litinsky failed to earn their shares and that it wants to strip them of their ownership.

On Monday, a Delaware judge said he wanted the parties to set a hearing date this month to determine if the two should receive the 8.6% stake in the company they claim they are owed.

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TMTG went public last week through a merger with the use of a special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), and its market value surged to around $8 billion in its debut.

Trump, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee, holds 78.7 million shares in the social media firm.

Trump launched Truth Social in February 2022, a year after he was banned from platforms such as then-Twitter, now-X; Facebook; and Instagram, following Jan. 6, 2021. Those bans have since been lifted.

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After Trump was de-platformed, he agreed to work with Moss and Litinsky to form a new social media site.

Reuters contributed to this report.