Marty Davis, the rich Minnesota head of a kitchen countertop manufacturing firm, is a steadfast supporter of former President Donald J. Trump. He contributed lots of of hundreds of {dollars} to assist elect Mr. Trump in 2020, and inspired him to battle to overturn the 2020 election outcomes.
Shortly after Mr. Trump’s social media firm mentioned in October 2021 that it deliberate to go public by merging with a cash-rich shell firm, Mr. Davis was one of many first to lend the fledgling enterprise thousands and thousands in order that it may keep afloat till its merger closed and finance the launch of its Reality Social platform.
Mr. Davis gave Trump Media & Expertise Group a $5 million mortgage, in response to paperwork reviewed by The New York Occasions. His mortgage was a part of $40 million Trump Media raised from greater than a dozen personal buyers, a few of whom have helped finance efforts to elect Mr. Trump and at the moment are possible shareholders of his social media firm.
It’s not unusual for start-ups to hunt out rich buyers for financing, however the inventory holdings increase questions concerning the potential for conflicts of curiosity and undue affect over Mr. Trump ought to he return to the White Home.
Different early backers embody two Texas billionaires, a Florida hedge fund supervisor, and a belief with ties to a Russian American proprietor of an offshore financial institution who’s the nephew of a former high-ranking Russian authorities official, the paperwork present. One of many billionaires, Kenny Troutt, a retired Dallas telecommunications government, has given greater than $1.1 million to efforts backing Mr. Trump’s three White Home bids. Mr. Troutt is serving as a co-chair of a significant fund-raiser on Saturday in Palm Seaside, Fla., for the previous president.
“It was the deal of the century,” mentioned Massimo D’Angelo, a lawyer for Patrick Walsh, a Florida hedge fund supervisor who lent $6.2 million to Trump Media.
When Trump Media lastly went public in March after closing its merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., these early buyers stood to revenue handsomely: A lot of the loans had been designed to transform into shares at round $22 a chunk, whereas Trump Media shares traded round $40. It’s unclear if any of them have cashed in by promoting their shares.
Some Trump Media backers like Mr. Walsh have little or no political connection to the previous president. As an illustration, Karl Pfluger, an oil and gasoline billionaire who was one of many largest lenders to Trump Media, offered almost $10 million, is a major donor to Republicans in Texas however not a outstanding Trump donor.
Shannon Devine, a Trump Media spokeswoman mentioned: “The media must be cautious of counting on paperwork provided by detractors of our firm who’ve a historical past of offering outdated, misleading and manufactured information to the press.”
Mr. Davis declined to remark. Mr. Pfluger, who’s president of Oryx Midstream Providers, an oil pipeline firm, didn’t reply to a request for remark. An government at Mr. Troutt’s household workplace, who signed the mortgage settlement, declined to remark. Mr. Troutt, who now breeds racehorses, made his $3 million mortgage to Trump Media via an affiliated firm.
Mr. Trump, who owns 57 % of Trump Media, didn’t personally put a major amount of cash into getting the corporate off the bottom.
Ethics specialists have mentioned if Mr. Trump wins the White Home and fails to divest himself of his stake in Trump Media, it may open up a completely new avenue for overseas actors or particular pursuits to attempt to curry favor with him, together with by shopping for promoting on Reality Social.
Eventually depend, Mr. Trump’s stake was value about $3 billion. Trump Media itself is at the moment valued at round $5 billion despite the fact that it misplaced $58 million final 12 months and earned simply $4.1 million from promoting on Reality Social, its sole income. On Friday, Trump Media shares fell about 12 % and closed at round $40 a share — giving again all of the positive aspects it recorded since its first day of buying and selling.
Roy Bailey, the co-chair of Mr. Trump’s 2020 marketing campaign who helped to boost among the financing for Trump Media, declined to debate any of the lenders. Mr. Bailey’s Dallas-based agency lent at the least $33,000 to Trump Media, in response to a mortgage settlement seen by The Occasions.
Wes Moss and Andy Litinksy, two of the founders of Trump Media, oversaw the fund-raising from outdoors buyers. The 2 males had been former contestants on Mr. Trump’s actuality tv present “The Apprentice.” They’d pitched Mr. Trump on the thought of beginning the corporate in January 2021 after he was booted off Twitter, now referred to as X, within the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol.
Mr. Moss and Mr. Litinsky had signed a lot of the mortgage agreements on behalf of Trump Media, however are not related to the corporate. They’re feuding in court docket with Trump Media to take care of their roughly 6 % fairness stake within the firm.
A lawyer for each males declined to remark.
The mortgage agreements reviewed by The Occasions had been offered by Stephen Bell, Philip Brewster and Patrick Mincey, legal professionals for a former Trump Media worker, William Wilkerson. The agreements had been included in hundreds of pages of paperwork provided to the Securities and Trade Fee in reference to a whistle-blower criticism filed by Mr. Wilkerson. The regulator was investigating whether or not Digital World had violated securities legal guidelines by participating in untimely merger talks with Trump Media. Final summer time Digital World reached a settlement with the S.E.C. and agreed to pay an $18 million penalty.
Mr. Davis, the Minnesota businessman, gave Trump Media a $5 million via an obscure restricted legal responsibility firm. He’s one in all Trump Media’s extra high-profile monetary backers.
A longtime Republican donor, Mr. Davis efficiently lobbied the Trump administration to impose tariffs in 2018 on quartz from China in an effort to counter what he mentioned was injury to his firm from unlawful dumping. Though he didn’t contribute to Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign in 2016, he gave about $350,000 towards efforts to re-elect Mr. Trump in 2020. In October 2020, he hosted a $100,000-a-person fund-raiser for Mr. Trump at his Minnesota house.
His efforts to push Mr. Trump to battle the outcomes of what he referred to as a “corrupt election” got here to mild throughout a congressional investigation of the Jan. 6 rebellion on the Capitol, and had been later reported by Speaking Factors Memo. In a Dec. 9, 2020 textual content message to Mark Meadows, then White Home chief of workers, Mr. Davis mentioned he wanted an Oval Workplace assembly with the president to “inform him what I’m doing to battle now for him!” He added: “Additionally, closely assist 2024 if he will get screwed.”
Per week later, he texted Mr. Meadows once more, saying that he advised Mr. Trump there was widespread unlawful voting in Minnesota — a declare that state election officers refuted.
Essentially the most curious of all of the buyers in Trump Media is a entity referred to as ES Household Belief that lent as much as $8 million in late 2021 and early 2022. The belief has ties to Anton Postolnikov, a Russian American financier who lives in South Florida. Divorce information for Mr. Postolnikov and his spouse, reviewed by The Occasions, recommend a monetary connection to the ES Household Belief.
As late as final 12 months, Mr. Postolnikov was the principal proprietor of Paxum Financial institution, a small financial institution primarily based within the Caribbean island of Dominica that wired among the mortgage cash to Trump Media, in response to paperwork reviewed by The Occasions. The financial institution processes funds for grownup leisure corporations.
Mr. Postolnikov is the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, who served as a high-ranking Russian authorities official for nearly 15 years. As of two years in the past, he was the deputy head of a state-owned enterprise governing seaports.
An announcement revealed on Mr. Postolnikov’s behalf final 12 months denied that he was related in any solution to allies of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and mentioned Russian web sites had been spreading lies about him. Mr. Postolnikov drew scrutiny in an insider-trading investigation by federal prosecutors who appeared into buying and selling of Digital World securities across the time of the merger announcement in 2021, in response to a submitting in reference to the matter. He was not charged with any wrongdoing and his lawyer declined to remark.
Kitty Bennett, Rachel Shorey and Oleg Matsnev contributed analysis.
