Former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is suing his co-founders of the social media platform Truth Social, arguing that they mismanaged the business in its early days and that their stake in the company should be revoked.
The lawsuit, which was filed on March 24, targets Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who helped start the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform, Trump Media. The former president alleges that Litinsky and Moss mismanaged the company during its launch.
The complaint describes the two co-founders as “faithless fiduciaries” who have “inflicted” harm on Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. It stated its intent to “halt their ongoing attempts to do even more damage.” The lawsuit comes shortly after the Truth Social parent company’s stock went public.
YOUR REACTION: Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the co-founders of Truth Social, accusing them of mismanagement that led to delays in the platform's public launch. Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. alleges that Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky's errors… pic.twitter.com/yO7idPNnUI
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) April 3, 2024
According to Trump’s legal team, the two co-founders “failed spectacularly at every turn” when it came to their responsibilities for establishing the company. Among the accusations in the complaint are allegations that Moss and Litinsky did not obtain corporate governance, engaged in several “reckless and wasteful” business moves and led the company while its “stock price of its merger partner” fell.
The lawsuit further claimed that the company managed to “remedy Moss’s and Litinsky’s mismanagement” in 2022, when the business hired a new CEO and a “duly constituted Board of Directors” and the co-founders’ plan to complete a merger was rejected, allegedly seeking to “thwart” the merger deal that was recently established.
Trump’s legal team has requested Moss and Litinsky be held liable for damages and give up their stake in the company, which amounts to 8.6% and a value of more than $600 million.
Shortly after filing the lawsuit, the stock in Trump Media fell considerably on April 1 in stark contrast to its booming profits during the first week of its public listing. The stock fell by around 20%, leaving its value at a $2 billion decline. The former president’s value in the stock fell from $6 billion to $3.7 billion within the past week.
Trump’s decision to sue the co-founders of his media corporation was met with mockery by left-wing media pundits, including Joe Scarborough of MSNBC. During the April 3 edition of his show on MSNBC, the well-known critic of the controversial businessman and politician described the new lawsuit as “the Trumpiest story of all time.” He also berated the former president for his business tactics, saying this was not the first time he had jumped to legal action against business partners and calling the move “sleazy.”
