Citadel Securities blasts Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes over DJT short-selling letter

Citadel
Securities
ripped


Trump
Media
CEO

Devin
Nunes
on
Friday
for
a
letter
he
sent
to
the
Nasdaq
that
mentioned
Citadel
Securities
and
other
major
market
companies
after
warning
of
possible
illegal

short
selling
of
Trump
Media
shares.

“Devin
Nunes
is
the
proverbial
loser
who
tries
to
blame ‘naked
short
selling’
for
his

falling
stock
price,”
said
a
spokesperson
for
Citadel
Securities,
underscoring
the
sharp
fall
of
Trump
Media
stock
since
it
began
public
trading
with
the

DJT
ticker
in
late
March.

Citadel
Securities’
founder
and
non-executive
chairman,
Ken
Griffin,
is
a
major
donor
to
Republican
candidates
—
among
them
Nunes,
a
former
GOP
congressman
whose
company
owns
the
Trump
Social
app.

“Nunes
is
exactly
the
type
of
person

Donald
Trump
would
have
fired
on
[The]
Apprentice,”
said
Citadel
Securities
spokesperson,
referring
to
the
former
Republican
president’s
business
competition
reality
TV
show.

“If
he
[Nunes]
worked
for
Citadel
Securities,
we
would
fire
him,
as
ability
and
integrity
are
at
the
center
of
everything
we
do,”
the
spokesperson
added.

A
Trump
Media
spokeswoman
fired
back,
saying: “Citadel
Securities,
a
corporate
behemoth
that
has
been
fined
and
censured
for
an
incredibly
wide
range
of
offenses
including
issues
related
to
naked
short
selling,
and
is
world
famous
for
screwing
over
everyday
retail
investors
at
the
behest
of
other
corporations,
is
the
last
company
on
earth
that
should
lecture
anyone
on ‘integrity.'”

In
a
filing
later
Friday
with
the
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission,
Trump
Media
noted
it
issued
that
response
on
its
Truth
Social
and
to
media
outlets.

“Rather
than
support
our
common
sense
efforts
to
promote
transparency
and
compliance,
Citadel
Securities
bizarrely
targeted
our
CEO
with
an
unhinged
attack,”
the
company
said
in
that
filing.

Nunes’
letter
to
Nasdaq
CEO
Adena
Friedman
was
dated
Thursday,
the
same
day
that
Trump
Media
notified
the
SEC
it
had
issued
shareholders
detailed
instructions
on
how
to
avoid
their
DJT
shares
being
used
by
short
sellers
who
are
betting
that
the
price
of
the
stock
will
fall.

While
Trump
Media’s
share
price
has
risen
strongly
in
the
past
three
days,
it
is
still
trading
sharply
lower
than
its
debut
opening
price
on
March
26.

The
company,
which
owns
Truth
Social
and
had
just
$4.1
million
in
revenue
last
year,
has
seen
its
market
capitalization
shed
billions
of
dollars
as
a
result
of
the
share
price
drop.

Nunes
told
Friedman
in
his
letter, “I
write
to
bring
your
attention
to
potential
market
manipulation
of
the
stock
of
Trump
Media
&
Technology
Group
Corp.”

Nunes
suggested
that
Trump
Media’s
price
had
been
used
for
so-called
naked
short
selling,
a
practice
in
which
traders
sell
shares
of
a
company
that
the
seller
had
not
actually
borrowed
for
that
purpose.

Nunes
said
brokers
had
a “significant
financial
incentive
to
lend
non-existent
shares”
to
short
sellers
because
of
the
unusually
high
premiums
they
have
been
able
to
charge
for
such
loans
of
Trump
Media
shares.

“Data
made
available
to
us
indicate
that
just
four
market
participants
have
been
responsible
for
over
60%
of
the
extraordinary
volume
of
DJT
shares
traded:
Citadel
Securities,
VIRTU
Americas,
G1
Execution
Services,
and
Jane
Street
Capital,”
Nunes
wrote.

Citadel
Securities
has
been
the
only
one
of
those
four
companies
to
comment
on
Nunes’
letter.

The
strong
language
in
its
response
is
striking,
particularly
because
of
the
political
background
of
people
involved
in
Trump
Media
and
Citadel
Securities.

Nunes
resigned
his
seat
representing
a
California
district
in
the
House
of
Representatives
in
late
2021
to
become
the
head
of
Trump
Media
when
it
was
privately
held.
The
company
became
publicly
traded
last
month
as
a
result
of
a
merger
with
a
shell
company.

Donald
Trump,
who
is
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee,
is
the
majority
shareholder
in
Trump
Media,
holding
a
stake
of
nearly
60%.

Citadel
Securities’
founder,
Griffin,
contributed
$5
million
to
a
political
action
committee
backing
former
South
Carolina
Gov.
Nikki
Haley
in
her
unsuccessful
campaign
against
Trump
for
the
GOP
nomination.

In
September
2021,
Griffin
donated
$5,800
to
Nunes’
congressional
campaign,
three
months
before
Nunes
said
he
was
resigning
his
seat
to
become
Trump
Media’s
CEO,
according
to
a
Federal
Election
Commission
filing.

Citadel
Advisors,
an
investment
management
firm
also
founded
by
Griffin,
as
of
December
owned
nearly
160,000
shares
valued
at
$2.8
million
in
Digital
World
Acquisition
Corp.,
the
shell
company
whose
merger
with
Trump
Media
last
month
enabled
Trump
Media
to
become
publicly
traded.

A
Citadel
spokesperson
told
CNBC,
when
asked
about
that
stake
in
DWAC,
said, “Consistent
with
our
role
as
a
market
maker
we
often
have
some
level
of
inventory
for
highly
traded
shares.”

“The
purpose
is
to
facilitate
trading
for
clients,
not
to
take
a
directional
bet
one
way
or
another,”
the
spokesperson
said.

—
Additional
reporting
by
CNBC’s


Brian
Schwartz.