Donald Trump‘s social media company sued The Washington Post for $3.8 billion in a defamation lawsuit, claiming that the publication made false and defamatory statements against it.
What Happened: The Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG), which is set to merge with the blank check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:DWAC), said the news publication knowingly made "false" and defamatory statements against the company "in order to harm TMTG's business."
The company also alleges that The Post conspired with an ex-Truth Social employee who shared documents to create a "fraudulent narrative about securities fraud."
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The lawsuit was filed after The Post published an article titled “Trust linked to the porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump's Truth Social" earlier this month, that alleged that the bank, ES Family Trust, could obtain a large stake in TMTG.
It also said that the former president's company purportedly provided a $240,000 finder’s fee to the ES Family Trust for facilitating the $8 million loan agreement, an amount the company said it never paid.
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Why It Matters: The Post's article published weeks ago cited internal documents obtained from a whistleblower and former executive vice president of operations at TMTG, Will Wilkerson. He reportedly shared around 150,000 emails, contracts, and documents sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission and investigators in Florida and New York. However, Truth Social has argued that Wilkerson was an ex-employee with a grudge who allegedly provided misleading information to several publications.
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