Digital World sued as they merge with Trump Media

Brain Shevland, former nominee for director of the so-called blank-check company that plans to merge with former President Donald Trump's social media startup is suing claiming he was frozen out of the deal. He is seeking monetary damages over what he called a "brazen act of fraud".

The lawsuit is aimed at the chief executive of Digital World Acquisition Corp., which is a special purpose company that raised nearly $300 million for the merger. The suit was filed in Miami federal court on Tuesday. Mr.Shevland runs an investment management firm of his own and he found that he was no longer a nominee for the company's board Digital World's chief executive Patrick Orlando filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission omitting his name. Mr.Shevlanf in his lawsuit says that the exclusion of his name from the filing "cemented the freeze-out". According to him, he is owed 7,500 shares of Digital World and was deprived of his right to buy more shares at a lower price, he also claims to have been instrumental in the merger with Trump Media and Technology Group which in turn raised Digital World's capital. While the lawsuit doesn't mention exactly in what capacity Mr.Shevland was involved, former New York Times reportage confirms that Mr.Orlando and his colleagues were in talks with representatives of Trump Media. 

When acquisition companies or SPACs like Digital World go public, they are not supposed to have merger targets in sight. After the news about the Trump Media merger broke out, Digital World has announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into the same. They also denied being in talks with any potential merger targets before its initial public offering. 

Source: The New York Times