Anton Postolnikov
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see smirnov biden impeach GRU
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alternet-no lnx
Russian banker who loaned Trump’s Truth Social $8M reportedly has 'family links to Kremlin'
Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2019 (Creative Commons)
:{:{Alex HendersonApril 22, 2024}:
Even after X CEO Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump's @RealDonaldTrump account, the former president has continued to use his own Truth Social as his primary social media platform. Trump's last post on X was on August 24, 2023, but he uses Truth Social frequently.
Truth Social, launched in August 2022, is part of Trump Media and Technology Group — which is now publicly traded. One of Truth Social's backers was Anton Postolnikov, a 40-year-old Russian banker who loaned the outlet $8 million.
According to the Daily Beast, Postolnikov reportedly has "family links" to the Kremlin and made a lot of money with websites that sold "dodgy sex pills."
READ MORE:Putin, Trump and Netanyahu unveil the terrifying perils of strongman rule
"The flagship product sold by these sites, Vimax — which promises longer sex and a firmer erection — has prompted warnings from health regulators in the U.S. for containing hidden ingredients that may endanger health," journalists Matt Bernardini and Matei Rosca explain in an article published on April 22. "The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to buy the supposedly natural male enhancement supplements, and told anyone who had bought the tablets to throw them out."
The reporters add, "The sites where the pills were sold included vimaxtrialoffer.com, which was registered in the name of Anton Postolnikov, 40, according to public domain ownership records."
Postolnikov has a strong connection to MAGA politics.
In addition to helping Truth Social get started, he donated $30,000 to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021, according to Bernardini and Rosca.
READ MORE: Wall Street is now betting on Trump’s Truth Social stock to fail
"In (2021), documents show that a company listing Postolnikov as its 'authorized person' owned two dwellings on Miami’s private Fisher Island worth $13 million," Bernardini and Rosca report. "The company that owns the luxury properties, 7812 Fisher Island LLC, is the subject of ongoing divorce proceedings in Florida where Postolnikov is splitting from Olga, a fellow native of St. Petersburg who describes herself as a photojournalist…. Before his alleged foray into Florida high finance, Postolnikov was involved in the selling of Vimax, which was sold via offshore companies in the U.S., Cyprus, and Mauritius, according to the products' websites."
READ MORE: Truth Social lost millions last year: SEC filing
Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).
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an 4 24
a Russian businessman based in South Florida may have made millions off of insider trading in a scheme involving the parent company of former President Donald Trump's Truth Social platform.
The Miami Herald reported Wednesday that investor Anton Postolnikov — the nephew of a former staffer to Russian President Vladimir Putin — is mentioned in court documents from a 2023 New York securities fraud case prosecutors brought against three men from South Florida. Gerald and Michael Shvartsman, along with accomplice Bruce Garelick, allegedly pocketed $23 million from insider trading involving a 2021 merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and the Miami, Florida-based Digital World Acquisition Corp.
Garelick and the Shvartsman brothers are accused of sharing non-public information with friends and colleagues in order to maximize their gains from the deal. Documents show Postolnikov loaned $8 million to Trump's company through a Caribbean bank he owns that frequently works with the pornography industry.
While neither Trump nor Postolnikov are facing any allegations of wrongdoing from the deal, the Herald reported that prosecutors could tack on more charges in a subsequent indictment. However, it remains unclear if Postolnikov will be added as an additional defendant. A separate filing by Tai Park — the defense attorney representing Michael Shvartsman — suggests that his client could face new charges of money laundering in response to his efforts to conceal his alleged insider trading profits.
Meanwhile, Garelick, who sat on the board of Digital World Acquisition Corp, is accused of making $50,000 from the merger in his work for Shvartsman's company, Rocket One Capital. Digital World is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, which is often used as a vehicle for entities seeking to become publicly traded companies, as it involves less regulatory oversight than a traditional initial public offering (IPO). The Herald reported that months before the merger was announced, Garelick wrote a message to Postolnikov that read "Anton, Good times last night! Following up on that Trump Media Group SPAC we mentioned. The deal is going to finalize this week. Please let us know if you are interested in investing."
The murky details of the merger may be partially why the deal has yet to be approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission after being on hold for more than two years. As a result of that delay, Trump Media and Technology Group has bled approximately $1 billion in investment commitments as of fall 2023. in the first three quarters of 2023, the company only posted $3.4 million in total revenue, which is far behind competing social media companies like Facebook and X/Twitter.
University of Florida business professor Jay Ritter — an expert on publicly traded companies — told the Herald that the fact that the merger is still on hold is "pretty unprecedented." He also likened the SPAC's performance to a "meme stock," in which social media sentiment drives a stock's performance more than other traditional business metrics.
READ MORE:[Russian sources vanished after Trump declassified Christopher Steele material: report
Click here to read the Herald's full report.
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an 4 24
Two investors who were involved in the merger that helped make the parent company of former President Donald Trump's social media platform go public are now convicted felons after entering a guilty plea on Wednesday.
CNN reported that brothers Gerald and Michael Shvartsman each pleaded guilty to one count apiece of securities fraud in relation to an insider trading case first brought against them in June of 2023. The South Florida-based investors pocked more than $22 million after tipping off friends and family about the merger that would bring about the initial public offering (IPO) of Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG).
The IPO came about after a special purpose acquisition group — more commonly known as a SPAC — dubbed "Digital World Acquisition Group" (DWAC) agreed to buy TMTG and take it public in March. The Shvartsman brothers and a third associate, Bruce Garelick knew about the SPAC's plans well ahead of time and invited their associates in 2021 to invest in the company before the news became public. The knowledge likely came from Garelick, who at the time was on the board of the SPAC. Investors then reaped a significant windfall after the merger plans and eventual IPO were announced.
READ MORE:Putin-connected businessman loaned $8M to Trump entity involved in alleged insider trading
"Michael and Gerald Shvartsman admitted in court that they received confidential, inside information about an upcoming merger between DWAC and Trump Media and used that information to make profitable, but illegal, open-market trades," US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damien Williams said in a public statement.
“Insider trading is cheating, plain and simple,” he continued, adding that the guilty plea "should remind anyone who may be tempted to corrupt the integrity of the stock market that it will earn them a ticket to prison.”
TMTG went public last week, trading for nearly $70 per share on the Nasdaq Composite as $DJT. However, after a filing with financial regulators showed that Truth Social suffered more than $50 million in losses last year and needed the SPAC's funding to remain operational, investors immediately soured on the stock, causing it to plummet in value by roughly $4 billion in its first week of trading. As Trump is the majority shareholder, he lost approximately $1 billion in personal net worth due to the stock's poor performance.
Following the disastrous first week after his IPO, the former president sued his business partners, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, in Florida court. Trump accusing them of mishandling the setup of the company's corporate governance structure and botching the merger with DWAC.
READ MORE:Trump sues his Truth Social business partners after stock loses $4 billion in first week of trading
Trump's suit came about after Litinsky and Moss filed their own suit against the ex-president in Delaware Chancery Court. In that complaint, the two investors said Trump engaged in "11th hour, pre-merger corporate maneuvering" to "drastically dilute" the value of their 8.6% stake in the company.
The former president, who has 78 million shares in TMTG, allegedly tried to artificially inflate the number of shares to one billion, which would have reduced Litinsky and Moss' stake to less than 1% of TMTG. Their attorney, Christopher J. Clark, told the Washington Post at the time that Trump was "baselessly trying to renege" on a prior agreement.
While Trump stood to gain more than $3.5 billion from the IPO, he is prohibited from selling any of his shares until after the company has been public for at least six months. If the stock continues to decline in value, his shares may be close to worthless by the time he's able to sell.
READ MORE:['No legitimate business purpose': Trump sued by Truth Social business partners
Here's what federal law says about Trump 'threatening a sitting president': ex-federal prosecutor](https://www.alternet.org/trump-biden-violence/ "Here's what federal law says about Trump 'threatening a sitting president': ex-federal prosecutor")
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NYT
no lnx
Some of Trump’s Biggest Political Backers Also Threw Trump Media a Lifeline
Two billionaires, a wealthy election denier and a mysterious Russia-linked trust invested in the Trump company long before it went public.
:{Donald J. Trump, in Green Bay, Wis., earlier this week. His social media company went public in March after closing its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp
}:
By Matthew Goldstein and Sharon LaFraniere
April 5, 2024
Marty Davis, the wealthy Minnesota head of a kitchen countertop manufacturing company, is a steadfast supporter of former President Donald J. Trump. He contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect Mr. Trump in 2020, and encouraged him to fight to overturn the 2020 election results.
Shortly after Mr. Trump’s social media company said in October 2021 that it planned to go public by merging with a cash-rich shell company, Mr. Davis was one of the first to lend the fledgling business millions so that it could stay afloat until its merger closed and finance the launch of its Truth Social platform.
Mr. Davis gave Trump Media & Technology Group a $5 million loan, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. His loan was part of $40 million Trump Media raised from more than a dozen private investors, some of whom have helped finance efforts to elect Mr. Trump and are now likely shareholders of his social media company.
It’s not uncommon for start-ups to seek out wealthy investors for financing, but the stock holdings raise questions about the potential for conflicts of interest and undue influence over Mr. Trump should he return to the White House.
Other early backers include two Texas billionaires, a Florida hedge fund manager, and a trust with ties to a Russian American owner of an offshore bank who is the nephew of a former high-ranking Russian government official, the documents show. One of the billionaires, Kenny Troutt, a retired Dallas telecommunications executive, has given more than $1.1 million to efforts backing Mr. Trump’s three White House bids. Mr. Troutt is serving as a co-chair of a major fund-raiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., for the former president.
Image
Marty Davis, shown in 2015, gave Trump Media & Technology Group a $5 million loan, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. Credit...Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune, via Alamy Live News
“It was the deal of the century,” said Massimo D’Angelo, a lawyer for Patrick Walsh, a Florida hedge fund manager who lent $6.2 million to Trump Media.
When Trump Media finally went public in March after closing its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., those early investors stood to profit handsomely: Most of the loans were designed to convert into shares at around $22 a piece, whereas Trump Media shares traded around $40. It’s unclear if any of them have cashed in by selling their shares.
Some Trump Media backers like Mr. Walsh have little or no political connection to the former president. For instance, Karl Pfluger, an oil and gas billionaire who was one of the biggest lenders to Trump Media, provided nearly $10 million, is a significant donor to Republicans in Texas but not a prominent Trump donor.
Shannon Devine, a Trump Media spokeswoman said: “The media should be wary of relying on documents supplied by detractors of our company who have a history of providing outdated, deceptive and manufactured records to the press.”
Mr. Davis declined to comment. Mr. Pfluger, who is president of Oryx Midstream Services, an oil pipeline company, did not respond to a request for comment. An executive at Mr. Troutt’s family office, who signed the loan agreement, declined to comment. Mr. Troutt, who now breeds racehorses, made his $3 million loan to Trump Media through an affiliated company.
Image
A man holding a trophy with a woman in a white hat.
WinStar Farms and Justify owner Kenny Troutt, in Baltimore in 2018.Credit...Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated, via Getty Images
Mr. Trump, who owns 57 percent of Trump Media, did not personally put a significant amount of money into getting the company off the ground.
Ethics experts have said if Mr. Trump wins the White House and fails to divest himself of his stake in Trump Media, it could open up an entirely new avenue for foreign actors or special interests to try to curry favor with him, including by buying advertising on Truth Social.
At last count, Mr. Trump’s stake was worth about $3 billion. Trump Media itself is currently valued at around $5 billion even though it lost $58 million last year and earned just $4.1 million from advertising on Truth Social, its sole source of revenue. On Friday, Trump Media shares fell about 12 percent and closed at around $40 a share — giving back all the gains it recorded since its first day of trading.
Roy Bailey, the co-chair of Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign who helped to raise some of the financing for Trump Media, declined to discuss any of the lenders. Mr. Bailey’s Dallas-based firm lent at least $33,000 to Trump Media, according to a loan agreement seen by The Times.
Wes Moss and Andy Litinksy, two of the founders of Trump Media, oversaw the fund-raising from outside investors. The two men were former contestants on Mr. Trump’s reality television show “The Apprentice.” They had pitched Mr. Trump on the idea of starting the company in January 2021 after he was booted off Twitter, now called X, in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky had signed most of the loan agreements on behalf of Trump Media, but are no longer associated with the company. They are feuding in court with Trump Media to maintain their roughly 6 percent equity stake in the company.
A lawyer for both men declined to comment.
The loan agreements reviewed by The Times were provided by Stephen Bell, Philip Brewster and Patrick Mincey, lawyers for a former Trump Media employee, William Wilkerson. The agreements were included in thousands of pages of documents supplied to the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a whistle-blower complaint filed by Mr. Wilkerson. The regulator was investigating whether Digital World had violated securities laws by engaging in premature merger talks with Trump Media. Last summer Digital World reached a settlement with the S.E.C. and agreed to pay an $18 million penalty.
Mr. Davis, the Minnesota businessman, gave Trump Media $5 million through an obscure limited liability company. He is one of Trump Media’s more high-profile financial backers.
A longtime Republican donor, Mr. Davis successfully lobbied the Trump administration to impose tariffs in 2018 on quartz from China in order to counter what he said was damage to his company from illegal dumping. Although he did not contribute to Mr. Trump’s campaign in 2016, he gave about $350,000 toward efforts to re-elect Mr. Trump in 2020. In October 2020, he hosted a $100,000-a-person fund-raiser for Mr. Trump at his Minnesota home.
His efforts to push Mr. Trump to fight the results of what he called a “corrupt election” came to light during a congressional investigation of the Jan. 6 uprising at the Capitol, and were later reported by Talking Points Memo. In a Dec. 9, 2020 text message to Mark Meadows, then White House chief of staff, Mr. Davis said he needed an Oval Office meeting with the president to “tell him what I’m doing to fight now for him!” He added: “Also, heavily support 2024 if he gets screwed.”
A week later, he texted Mr. Meadows again, saying that he told Mr. Trump there was widespread illegal voting in Minnesota — a claim that state election officials refuted.
The most curious of all the investors in Trump Media is a entity called ES Family Trust that lent up to $8 million in late 2021 and early 2022. The trust has ties to Anton Postolnikov, a Russian American financier who lives in South Florida. Divorce records for Mr. Postolnikov and his wife, reviewed by The Times, suggest a financial connection to the ES Family Trust.
As late as last year, Mr. Postolnikov was the principal owner of Paxum Bank, a small bank based in the Caribbean island of Dominica that wired some of the loan money to Trump Media, according to documents reviewed by The Times. The bank processes payments for adult entertainment companies.
Mr. Postolnikov is the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, who served as a high-ranking Russian government official for almost 15 years. As of two years ago, he was the deputy head of a state-owned enterprise governing seaports.
A statement published on Mr. Postolnikov’s behalf last year denied that he was connected in any way to allies of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and said Russian websites were spreading lies about him. Mr. Postolnikov drew scrutiny in an insider-trading investigation by federal prosecutors who looked into trading of Digital World securities around the time of the merger announcement in 2021, according to a filing in connection with the matter. He was not charged with any wrongdoing and his lawyer declined to comment.
Kitty Bennett, Rachel Shorey and Oleg Matsnev contributed research.
Matthew Goldstein covers Wall Street and white-collar crime and housing issues.
Sharon LaFraniere is an investigative reporter currently focusing on Republican candidates in the 2024 presidential election.
A version of this article appears in print on April 6, 2024, Section B, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Allies Helped Fund Media Group. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
See more on: Donald Trump, Digital World Acquisition Corp, Trump Media & Technology Group, 2024 Elections: News, Polls and Analysis, U.S. Politics
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ggl 7 25
[### Trump Media saved in 2022 by Russian-American under ...
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com › us-news › apr › trump-...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/03/trump-media-es-family-trust-2022-loans)
Apr 3, 2024 — Postolnikov appears to have used the trust to loan money to help save Trump Media – and the Truth Social platform – because his bank itself ...
[### Who Is Anton Postolnikov? Kremlin-Linked Fintech Guru ' ...
Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com › postolnikov-putin-trump-...](https://www.newsweek.com/postolnikov-putin-trump-kremlin-1886745)
Apr 4, 2024 — Anton Postolnikov, who is currently under federal investigation for insider trading and money laundering, made a sweetheart loan that Truth Social desperately ...
[### Links between Trump associates and Russian officials
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Links_between_Trum...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links_between_Trump_associates_and_Russian_officials)
$2 million was paid by Paxum Bank, part-owned by Anton Postolnikov, a relation of Aleksandr Smirnov, a former Russian government official who now runs the ...
[### Attorneys Seek Sanctions Against Trump Media in Putin ...
Mincey Bell Milnor
https://minceybellmilnor.com › news-insight › mincey-...](https://minceybellmilnor.com/news-insight/mincey-bell-milnor-attorneys-ask-florida-court-to-sanction-trump-media-for-lawfare-campaign-against-whistleblower-client-who-exposed-millions-in-suspicious-loans-tied-to-vladimir-putin/)
May 14, 2025 — ... Trump Media received from a Dominica-based bank owned by Anton Postolnikov, nephew to a senior ranking Kremlin official. Despite Trump Media ...
[### Update on Russian-American financier who loaned Trump ...
NewsTRACS
https://newstracs.com › 2025/03/24](https://newstracs.com/news-on-russian-american-financier-who-loaned-money-to-trump-media/2025/03/24/)
Mar 24, 2025 — Anton Postolnikov co-owned Paxum Bank, and the trust he managed that loaned $8 million to Trump Media & Technology Group also sent $10.8 million to a venture ...
[### Some of Trump's Biggest Political Backers Also Threw ...
The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 2024/04/05 › business › tru...](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/business/trump-media-backers-investors.html)
Apr 5, 2024 — The trust has ties to Anton Postolnikov, a Russian American financier who lives in South Florida. Divorce records for Mr. Postolnikov and ...
[### Trump Media deal faces calls for inquiry over alleged ' ...
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com › us-news › apr › trump-...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/04/trump-media-stock-russia-links)
Apr 4, 2024 — Stock debut that could net the former president billions was kept afloat by opaque loans provided in part by Anton Postolnikov.
[### Russian made millions on insider trading tied to Trump Media
Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com › news › article284580595](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article284580595.html)
Jan 24, 2024 — A Russian-American businessman based in Miami is suspected of making nearly $23 million from alleged insider trading involving former President Donald Trump's ...
[### Investor With Putin Ties Loaned $8 Million To Trump Entity ...
National Memo
https://www.nationalmemo.com › trump-insider-trading](https://www.nationalmemo.com/trump-insider-trading)
Jan 25, 2025 — Documents show Postolnikov loaned $8 million to Trump's company through a Caribbean bank he owns that frequently works with the pornography ...
[### 2 Brothers in Trump Media Insider-Trading Scheme Plead ...
The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 2024/04/03 › business › tru...](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/business/trump-media-insider-trading-guilty.html)
Apr 3, 2024 — Among them was Anton Postolnikov, a Russian American financier who made $22.8 million in trading profits. But none of those individuals were ...
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