Judge rules in favor of interested party in Trump Truth Social stock dispute

The judge on Friday granted summary judgment to Florida-based United Atlantic Ventures LLC in a lawsuit filed against Odyssey Transfer and Trust Co., a Minnesota company that handles transfers of securities between registered shareholders.

UAV is owned by Andrew Litinsky and Wesley Moss, former contestants on Trump’s TV show “The Apprentice,” who also helped facilitate a merger that took Trump Media public in March.

Since then, UAV and Trump Media have battled in courts in both Delaware and Florida over UAV’s stake in the company. Trump Media lawyers assured a Delaware state judge earlier this year that UAV was entitled to an 8.6 percent stake and would not suffer any merger-related dilution. They now argue, however, that UAV is not entitled to its shares because of pre-merger mismanagement by Litinsky and Moss.

Friday’s ruling involves UAV’s concern that it will not receive Trump Media shares, currently valued at about $350 million, from Odyssey when the post-merger lockup period expires on Sept. 19. According to court filings, Odyssey told UAV earlier this year that it would take guidance from TMTG and its lawyers.

After Odyssey filed suit, the parties appeared to have reached a resolution, with Odyssey saying it would remove the transfer restrictions on the stock after the lock-up period expired “without preference to any TMTG shareholder.” However, after seeking Trump Media’s approval, Odyssey sought to change the language “on the same basis as other similarly situated TMTG shareholders.”

Trump owns about 115 million TMTG shares, or about 60 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Williams questioned Odyssey’s conduct, noting that it had argued that the language change was “immaterial,” while allowing it to scuttle settlement negotiations.

“Even outside of settlement negotiations, Odyssey’s behavior has been evasive,” Williams wrote.

Williams ordered that when Odyssey is notified by TMTG of the expiration of the lockup provisions, it must promptly notify UAV, remove the transfer restrictions on all shares and not interfere with the delivery of the shares.

TMTG’s share price hit a high of $79.38 on the first day of trading, but is now hovering around $17, closing at $17.10 on Friday.