Former President Donald Trump is suing the co-founders of his social media platform, Truth Social, saying they should be stripped of shares in the now-public company because of early mismanagement.
The suit alleges Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who were contestants on Mr. Trump’s “The Apprentice” television show, failed to set up a proper governance structure for Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. and find a merger partner in a timely fashion.
The suit was filed on March 24 in Florida state court but hadn’t gained notice until a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
Mr. Trump appears to be trying to nudge aside Mr. Litinsky and Mr. Moss, who previously filed a lawsuit against Mr. Trump in Delaware Chancery Court that claims the ex-president tried to dilute their shares.
Truth Social’s merger and newly listed stock made Mr. Trump billions of dollars richer, at least on paper. The stock has been volatile, dropping over 20% on Monday amid reports of lousy Truth Social revenue but has gone up and down since then.
Mr. Trump cannot sell his stake in the company for six months under lockup provisions in the recent deal, though he may rely on the windfall to pay legal debts down the road.
Mr. Trump filed the suit after the late March merger between a shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., and Trump Media & Technology Group, which was the parent company of the Truth Social platform.
The merger was successful after long delays at the heart of Mr. Trump’s suit against partners in Truth Social, the platform the trio set up after Mr. Trump was kicked off prominent social platforms for his posts around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.