Trump Media investor convicted of insider trading ahead of merger

• A New York federal jury convicted an investor of insider trading in a company's stock ahead of the firm's announcement that it would merge with Trump Media.
• The investor, Bruce Garelick, had been on the board of directors of the company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., at the time it was negotiating plans to merge with Trump Media, the owner of the Truth Social app.
• Trump Media's majority shareholder is former President Donald Trump, who was not accused of any wrongdoing in the case.

A federal jury in New York on Thursday convicted an investor of insider trading in the stock of a shell company ahead of its announcement in October 2021 that it would merge with Trump Media.

The investor, Bruce Garelick, had been on the board of directors of the publicly traded company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., at the time he was accused of sharing and exploiting non--public information with others about its plans to merge with then-privately held Trump Media, the owner of the Truth Social app.

Trump Media's majority shareholder is former President Donald Trump, who was not accused of any wrongdoing in the case against Garelick in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

But Garelick's trial, which began on April 30, took place just blocks away from where Trump is on trial in Manhattan Supreme Court on criminal charges related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Two co-defendants of Garelick, the brothers Michael and Gerald Shvartsman, pleaded guilty to insider trading charges on April 3.

Jurors in Garelick's case began deliberating on Wednesday afternoon after hearing closing arguments from prosecutors and a defense lawyer. After several hours of deliberation Thursday, jurors returned guilty verdicts on the five counts