Donald Trump paid the bail of 175 million dollars in the financial fraud case in New York

Former US President Donald Trump has posted a $175 million bond in his New York financial fraud case, thus avoiding the seizure of his assets. Meanwhile, the share price of his company Trump Media & Technology Group fell more than 22% on Monday after the social media app company reported a net loss of $58.2 million on revenue of just $4.1 million of dollars in 2023.

Donald Trump was initially ordered to pay the full $464 million, but an appeals court said he can pay a lower amount within 10 days. In February, the court found that Trump fraudulently increased the values ​​of his properties, in order to obtain loans and more advantageous interest rates, writes the BBC, according to News.ro.

The Republican denies any wrongdoing and says this case is a political witch hunt by the Democratic prosecutor. Last month, in addition to ordering Trump to pay a significant financial penalty, Judge Arthur Engoron banned him from conducting business in New York for three years.

He was also banned from obtaining loans from financial institutions in New York for three years.

Forbes magazine currently estimates Trump’s fortune at $6.4 billion, rising after the parent company of his social media platform Truth Social went public last week.

Around the same time that a judge found him responsible for financial fraud, Trump also had to post $91 million in bail after losing a defamation lawsuit filed by writer E Jean Carroll.

Trump Media stock price down more than 22%

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group fell more than 22% on Monday after the social media app company, closely linked to former President Donald Trump, reported a net loss of $58.2 million on revenue of just 4 .1 million dollars in 2023, reports CNBC, according to News.ro.

Despite this drop in shares, the company’s market capitalization is still more than $6.8 billion, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that revealed the loss for last year.

Much of the net loss appears to have come from interest expense of $39.4 million, according to the statement.

A company spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the financial statement. This shows that, in 2022, Trump Media had a net profit of $50.5 million and a total income of only $1.47 million.

The company ended 2023 with just $2.7 million in cash.

Last year’s losses at Trump Media – owner of the Truth Social app, commonly used by the former president, could continue for some time, according to the company.

“TMTG expects to experience operating losses for the foreseeable future,” said the filing, which came a week after the company began trading under the symbol DJT on Nasdaq.

The statement also warns shareholders that Trump’s involvement in the company could expose the company to greater risk than other social media companies.

TMTG also disclosed to regulators that it had identified “significant deficiencies in its internal control over financial reporting” when it prepared a previous financial statement for the first three quarters of 2023.

As of Monday, Trump Media said these “identified material weaknesses continue to exist.”

Risks for Trump’s company

Trump owns 57.3 percent of Trump Media, a stake valued at more than $4 billion, which Forbes said last week would represent more than half of his total net worth.

He will also receive another 36 million shares of so-called shares earn-outin the next three years, as long as the shares of Trump Media reach a series of reference values ​​during that period.

These targets are all well below the company’s share price as of Monday morning.

Trump Media’s stock price soared when its shares began trading last Tuesday, days after the firm merged with a special-purpose acquisitions company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., which traded under the symbol DWAC.

The newly merged company now trades under Trump’s initials, DJT.

Analysts note that the company’s high valuation is partly due to purchases of shares by Trump’s political supporters, who are excited to own a piece of a company so closely associated with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

However, this enthusiasm creates unique risks for the company. The new 8-K filing says Trump Media “may be subject to greater risks than conventional social media platforms because of the concentration of its offerings and the involvement of President Trump.”

“These risks include active deterrence of users, harassment of advertisers or content providers, increased risk of hacking of the TMTG platform, less need for Truth Social if First Amendment speech is not suppressed, criticism of Truth Social for its practices moderation and increase in the number of shareholder lawsuits.”

Publisher: BP

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