Trump Media & Technology, the newly public company of former president Donald Trump, may have been the subject of market manipulation, according to a letter from CEO Devin Nunes to Nasdaq CEO Adena Friendman dated Friday. Since going public on March 26, the shares of the stock, which are traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol D-J-T, have experienced significant fluctuations.
“As of April 3, 2024, DJT was reportedly “by far the most expensive U.S. stock to short,” indicating that brokers have a substantial financial incentive to lend shares that do not exist. Four market participants—Citadel Securities, VIRTU Americas, G1 Execution Services, and Jane Street Capital—have accounted for more than sixty percent of the extraordinary volume of DJT shares traded, according to data made available to us, Nunes wrote in a letter disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ken Griffin, a multibillion hedge fund investor, oversees Citadel.
An investor can profit from the depreciation of a stock through short selling by borrowing against the purchase price and repurchasing it at a reduced cost.
“Devin Nunes is the proverbial loser who attempts to charge ‘naked short selling’ for the decline in his stock price,” Citadel said in a statement to FOX Business. Donald Trump would have dismissed Nunes immediately if he had been a contestant on ‘The Apprentice.’ Because competence and honesty are fundamental values in our organization, we would terminate his employment at Citadel Securities.
FOX Business was unable to obtain immediate responses to inquiries directed at the Nasdaq, VIRTU, and Jane Street Capital. The regulatory body that regulates broker-dealers and markets, FINRA, declined to comment.
DJT shares have reached a peak price of $79 per share since the IPO, providing the former president with a temporary paper net worth of more than $9 billion for the stock. This has decreased to approximately $3 billion as of Friday.
Along with other actively traded stocks such as AMC and GameStop that are prominent in social media discussions such as Reddit, the shares have been accepted into the meme society. Frequently, the shares experience significant daily fluctuations in the absence of any noteworthy news.
Additionally, retail traders favor these equities more than large institutions, per market experts.
The organization has implemented several strategic initiatives since its inception. It announced this week its intention to launch a livestream service for the parent company’s Truth Social. Additionally, the organization disclosed its prospective sale of an additional 146 million shares, of which Trump, as stated in an SEC filing, possesses more than 114 million.
As stated in its IPO prospectus, DJT has not yet generated any revenue as a newly formed company, in contrast to some of the other meme stocks. Furthermore, its Annual Report discloses that the company incurred a loss exceeding $58 million in 2023.
As Trump stands trial in New York City for alleged hush money payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels, the allegations surface. Currently, jury selection is in progress.
Until 2022, Nunes held the position of Republican representative for the state of California.
