The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump COULD GET SUED for Stock TANKING

Episode Date: April 6, 2024

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on his opinion how Donald Trump’s recent public statements about Trump Media could result in securities lawsuits for making false and misleading statements about a publicly traded company. Head to https://ShopMDHearing.com and use code MEIDAS to get get our $297 when you buy a PAIR offer. Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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law violations that Donald Trump committed by making posts that would seem to me to kind of pump the stock, and then the stock took a massive downfall shortly thereafter. I mean it was for the entire week but I want to explain to you the way securities law works. I want to make it clear this is my opinion. I'm not giving any stock advice at all and this is just one lawyer's opinion but let me break down the law for you. So under the securities law, there's a number of things about material false statements being made to the market and how that is prohibited. Securities law prohibits false or misleading statements. One of the federal securities laws that deals with security statements is the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Under the Securities Exchange Act, Rule 14a-9,

it's enacted to prohibit false or misleading statements, and specifically, Rule 14a-9 states, no solicitation shall be made by means of any proxy statement, form of proxy, notice of meeting, or other communication, written or oral, containing any statement which at the time, and in light of the circumstances under which it is made, is false or misleading with respect to any material fact, or which omits to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein not false or misleading. And under federal securities law, investors and others harmed by false or misleading statements can file civil lawsuits to recover their losses. Civil lawsuits against the company, against the board of directors,

against the individual making the statement. So what type of statement did Donald Trump make? Well, a typical Trumpian statement where he boasted about how, quote, very solid Trump media is. That's the language that he used. Very solid. This is what Donald Trump wrote. He goes, all of the competitors to Truth Social, especially those in the radical left Democrats party who are failing at every level, like to use their vaunted disinformation machine to try and convince people,

and it's not easy to do, that truth is not such a big deal and doesn't get the word out as well as various others, which they know to be false. So in my opinion, that right there is a material false statement right there. Trump media's platform, Truth Social, has under 10 million unique users every month. I've seen some months where it's closer to 5 million unique users. So Trump saying that this is a bigger platform or words to those effect than other media platforms like let's just say Facebook or Reddit or even X or YouTube or others. One of my views that's a materially false misstatement right there. Again this is now a publicly traded company DJT. It is subject to a different set of rules and a different set of laws now

than if it was a private company. Trump goes on to say, I think truth is amazing. First of all, it is very solid, having over $200 million in cash and zero debt. More importantly, it is the primary way I get the word out and for better or worse, people want to hear what I have to say, perhaps according to experts, more than anyone else in the world. My TV ratings are by far the highest and my rallies are not equaled even close anywhere or by anyone. Look, I had hundreds of millions of followers on various platforms and could have them back again, but was canceled largely for political reasons. Again, him saying that this is a very solid platform, in my opinion, that's a materially false statement. And him saying that

he's being canceled is also a materially false misleading statement. He's the leader of the Republican Party, and he can go back on Twitter or X at any time. He just is not doing that for his own reasons. Now, with respect to him saying it is a very solid company, all you have to do is look at the independent auditor, Ben Borger's report that was filed in the most recent 8K. Donald Trump's own independent auditor, who's like a solo auditor, it seems, out of a small office in Colorado, which in and of itself is odd for any publicly traded company. He says, Trump's own auditor says that there is substantial doubt that Trump media can continue as an ongoing concern based on the fact that it had substantial losses in 2023. $58 million net loss in 2023 on $4.1 million in revenue, M million, not million, $4.1 million in revenue, $1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. And from that $4.1 million in revenue, Devin Nunes was paid about $750,000.

Former MAGA Republican, who's now the leader of Trump media, Dan Scavino, one of Donald Trump's campaign guys and who worked with Donald Trump when Trump was disgracing the office, was paid about $220,000, given a $2.2 million promissory note. And speaking of cash being paid to Donald Trump insiders, Kash Patel got $120,000 consultant contract. Now, how strict are these security laws for publicly traded companies, which DJT is? registered rechargeable hearing aid that costs a fraction of what typical hearing aids cost. MD Hearing's Neo model costs over 90% less than clinic hearing aids. And the Neo is MD Hearing's smallest hearing aid ever. It fits right inside your ear and no one will ever know that it's there. Now, MD Hearing recently cut their price in half. That means you can get high quality, rechargeable, and digital hearing aids for only $297 a pair.

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$297 when you buy a pair offer. Take a look at this story right here. And I think this story shows just how specific it actually is. Let me pull this up right now. This is an advisory from Ballard Spar, a law firm, and this is a case study that they're putting out about securities law. Companies must show discretion in public statements when they are sued. Think about how strict this is. A recent U.S. District Court, this was 2023, a recent U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruling in the city of Fort Lauderdale, police and firefighters retirement systems versus PEGA systems, should give legal leaders and communications management pause about making routine public statements disdaining the merits of pending claims. In an opinion and order denying

a motion to dismiss on July 24th, the court held that a defendant public company's boilerplate public denial of the merits of a lawsuit against it could form the basis for a claim that the statement was false or misleading in violation of the federal securities law. So here a company was sued, a company in this case, a company put out a statement, boilerplate, we deny the accusations and we believe the statements are without merit. That's a public communication that a publicly traded company made. When the stock price decreased after that statement was made, then what happened? That company was sued for making materially false and misleading statements in violation of securities

laws. And a district court, a federal judge, said that simply putting out a boilerplate denial that allegations are without merit could constitute securities law violations. So if that can, think about Donald Trump saying things like the company's very solid. No one's doing it better than Trump media. Our competitors are saying that we don't get the word out. They don't know what they're talking about. I'm being canceled from other platforms. In my opinion, materially false statements.

Also, the SEC has a guidance regarding statements that are made on social media and how those statements can be communicated. And if you look at Regulation FD, which was discussed in a press release in April 2013, which gave clarification to this, so it's not like, oh, they're out to get Trump. This is 2013 when Obama was in office. Talks about how regulation FD from the SEC requires companies to distribute materially information in a manner reasonably designed to get that information out to the general public broadly and non-exclusively. It is intended to ensure that all investors have the ability to gain access to material information at the same time.

One set of shareholders should not be able to get a jump on other shareholders just because the company is selectively disclosing important information, said George Kanellos, acting director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement in 2013. Most social media are perfectly suitable methods for communicating with investors, but not if the access is restricted or if investors don't know that's where they need to turn to get the latest news. So one of my views is if Trump's going to be using his own social media platform as well to put out material information and not post it on other platforms, that could run afoul to SEC regulation, FD as well. So what would the damages in a lawsuit look

like if you were curious? The way the securities damages would be determined usually would be, OK, Trump made, if it's determined that Trump made materially false statements about the stock on this day, people bought the stock on that day. And then there was a decline in the price from the inducement of the Trump statement, induce somebody to buy, and then let's say it went down 8%, 9%, 10%, 22%, then the person who made the statement and the board could be responsible for that amount. So if the valuation of the company is, many are saying, artificially inflated at $6 or $7 billion and a materially false statement is made causing a 22% drop,

let's say, that could potentially result in the board and Trump being sued for somewhere in the range of the high hundreds of millions of dollars or the low billions of dollars. That's at least how you would calculate the damages in a securities violations case for making materially false statements. The way these cases would be brought would be a shareholder class action. A shareholder would bring it on behalf of all similarly situated shareholders. And we'll see if ultimately that happens. I would not be surprised if we start seeing lawsuits like that. Again, let me make it very clear. I'm just one lawyer.

This is my opinion and my analysis of the securities law. You're entitled to hold different analysis and opinion. And I'm not giving stock advice in any way. But now that DJT, Trump Media, is this publicly traded company, it now has these whole set of rules and it's regulated by securities law. And it doesn't even just require the government to be the ones who filed the lawsuit. Shareholders can file this lawsuit against it. And I mean, in my own opinion, I would not be surprised if we start seeing those soon. I'm Ben Micellis. This is the Midas Touch Network. Hit subscribe. We're on our way to 3 million subscribers. Thanks to your support. Thanks

for watching. It's Ken Harbaugh with the Midas Touch Network. The film Against All Enemies, which I co-produced with Ben Mysalis and this network, has won awards around the world for its up-close portrayal of America's insurrectionist movement. It premieres in the U.S. on March 29th on Amazon and Apple TV. Go to againstallenemiesfilm.com or click the link below. But don't just watch Against All Enemies. Tell your friends about it. It's one more way to

hold accountable those who threaten our democracy thanks mightest mighty let's use our power well