Trump Media SPAC insider trading defendant hit with new money laundering count

• A man already charged with insider trading related to a shell company's planned merger with Donald Trump's social media firm was hit with a new money laundering count in Manhattan federal court.
• Michael Shvartsman allegedly used more than $12 million in profits from the purportedly illicit sales of Digital World Acquisition Corp. securities to buy a luxury yacht.
• Shvartsman, his brother Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick were first indicted in June on securites fraud charges related to their sale of DWAC securities.
• They allegedly bought those securities after learning about the planned merger with Trump Media & Technology Group before it became public.

A man already charged with insider trading related to a shell company's planned merger with Donald Trump's social media firm was hit with a new money laundering count in Manhattan federal court.

Michael Shvartsman was also accused in a superseding indictment unsealed Wednesday of engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from unlawful activity.

The new indictment details two money transfers Shvartsman conducted after netting a profit of about $18.2 million from selling Digital World Acquisition Corp. securities in fall 2021. Later that year, he used a large chunk of that money to buy a luxury yacht, prosecutors allege.

Shvartsman, his brother Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick were indicted in June on securites fraud charges related to their sale of DWAC securities in fall 2021 and other conduct.

The trio of investors allegedly bought DWAC securities after learning on a confidential basis that the so-called special purpose acquisition company was eyeing a merger with Trump Media and Technology Group. TMTG includes the social media platform Truth Social,