Florida Brothers Plead Guilty To Insider Trading Related To Trump Media

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Florida brothers pleaded guilty Wednesday to insider trading charges, admitting making over $22 million illegally before the public announcement in 2021 that an acquisition firm was taking former President Donald Trump’s media company public.

Michael and Gerald Shvartsman entered their pleas to a single count of securities fraud in Manhattan federal court, where Judge Lewis J. Liman set sentencing for July 17.

The men said that they knew they were committing a crime when they made trades in October 2021 through a New York broker.

“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” Gerald Shvartsman told the judge as he pleaded guilty. He added that it was “wrong and the mistake I will pay for dearly the rest of my life.”

His brother told the judge that he knew that his securities trades were wrong and illegal.

The indictment against them did not in any way implicate Trump — who is again seeking the presidency this year — or Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns his Truth Social platform and began trading on the Nasdaq stock market on March 26. Trump has a 60% stake in the company.

According to the indictment, the men invested millions of dollars in the securities of the special purpose acquisition company Digital World Acquisition Corp. after they were tipped off that a potential target of DWAC and another acquisition company, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., was Trump Media.

Authorities said the defendants sold their securities for $22 million in profits once the news about the Trump Media business was made public.

At the time, Michael Shvartsman owned Rocket One Capital LLC, a venture capital firm, according to court papers.

According to court papers, the men shared their secrets with friends and employees,