Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., conducts a news conference in the Capitol, March 1, 2021.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate a planned SPAC deal involving former President Donald Trump‘s planned social media platform.
Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, in a letter to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler noted recent news reports that Digital World Acquisition Corp., which last month announced plans to merge with Trump’s new company, “may have committed securities violations by holding private and undisclosed discussions about the merger as early as May 2021, while omitting this information [SEC) filing and other public statements.”
Warren also wrote, “The reports about DWAC and Trump Media and Technology Group appear to be a textbook example of a SPAC misleading shareholders and the public about materially important
information.”
Her letter cited an Oct. 29 article in The New York Times, which carried the headline, “Trump’s $300 Million SPAC Deal May Have Skirted Securities Laws.”
The SEC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Special purpose acquisition companies such as DWAC are created to raise capital in public equity markets with the goal of purchasing or merging with private firms.
Trump Media & Technology Group last month said it had entered into a merger agreement with DWAC that would end with Trump’s company becoming a publicly listed company, subject to regulatory and stockholder approval.”
Trump at the same time said he would roll out a platform called “TRUTH Social,” which he claimed will “stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech.”
The Republican ex-president was banned by social media giants Twitter and Facebook earlier this year after accusations he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by his supporters.
– Additional reporting by CNBC’s Thomas Franck
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