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Trump in legal battle with Trump Media co-founders over back-and-forth regarding company shares

Trump argues that the Truth Social co-founders delayed attempts to go public, so should forfeit their shares

Senior Culture Editor

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Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at a rally on April 02, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at a rally on April 02, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In a lawsuit filed on March 24 in Florida state court, Donald Trump is suing Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss — former contestants on Trump’s reality-TV show “The Apprentice,” and co-founders of Truth Social's newly public parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group — seeking forfeit of their shares.

In the filing, Trump alleges that Litinsky and Moss made "reckless and wasteful decisions," and caused "significant damage" to the company by getting in the way of an earlier attempt to take Trump Media public, causing a significant delay, and hits back at a complaint filed by the two of them in February in which they sought to block Trump from taking steps that they saw as potentially reducing their combined 8.6% stake.

"TMTG has been forced to file this action to remedy the harm inflicted upon it by two faithless fiduciaries and a company they own — Wesley Moss, Andrew Litinsky, and [United Atlantic Ventures] — and to halt their ongoing attempts to do even more damage," the filing said, per ABC News. Trump's stake in the company is currently worth more than $4 billion.

Joe Scarborough, former politician and co-host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, calls this "the Trumpiest story of all time,” weighing-in on the lawsuit saying, "So this guy starts a company, goes public, everything Trump does, you know, he loses billions of dollars it seems, and then he sues his co-founders. This is, literally, everything he does, his whole life. He gets a painter to paint his office, they’ll paint it, he’ll sue them, and say, ‘I’ll give you 50%.’ It is so sleazy . . . Everybody that goes into business with this guy regrets it because he’s a terrible businessman and he sues you.”

 

By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Senior Culture Editor, where she helps further coverage of TV, film, music, books and culture trends from a unique and thoughtful angle. Her work has also appeared in Vulture, Vanity Fair, Vice and many other outlets that don't start with the letter V. She is the author of one sad book called "Something Is Always Happening Somewhere." Follow her on Bluesky: @WolfieVibes

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