The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Bruce Garelick, a former board member of Digital World Acquisition Corp., and two others with trading on inside information that DWAC had reached an agreement to acquire Trump Media & Technology Group.
The SEC alleges that Garelick learned about DWAC’s plans to acquire a company owned by former President Donald Trump, and which operates the social media platform Truth Social, after voting on the move as a member of DWAC’s board.
The complaint also names Gerald Shvartsman, Garelick’s boss at the private equity firm Rocket One Capital, and Schvartsman’s brother Michael with trading on information that generated $20 million in illicit profits.
“As a board member, Garelick not only had access to information about DWAC’s upcoming merger announcement, but also a duty to maintain the confidentiality of that information,’ said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Rather than adhere to his duty as an insider, we allege that Garelick, together with the Shvartsmans, monetized that information.”
