More than 13,000 say Trump should be investigated for Truth Social stock fraud
Trump's Truth Social Nasdaq run so far has been topsy turvy — having suffered a nearly $4 billion hit since last week's money monsoon debut — and now a petition has amassed 13,000 digital signatures to push for former President Donald Trump to be investigated for fraud.
"Just days after it went public, and its stock price placed its value in the billions, Donald Trump's 'Truth Social' crashed back to Earth, with that same stock dropping like a rock," reads the petition launched by a progressive organization known as Left Action, and first reported by Newsweek.
Their pitch continued by asking where the blame should be cast for letting the $50 million profit from 2022 pruned into a $58 million loss the following year, with trickling revenue of $4 million.
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The numbers are hard to hide.
Truth Social boasts "far fewer users than any other social network that has gone public," PBS' William Brangham reported. "The tech research firm SimilarWeb estimates TRUTH Social had about five million users last month. That's compared to more than three billion on Facebook and two billion on TikTok."
The downturn in the stock fueled Left Action's fraud probe call.
"In short, it was a disastrous performance," the petition states, adding, "but the numbers weren't revealed until after the stock went public, meaning those buying the stock were left in the dark until it was too late — and their investments had collapsed in value."
The petition throws up two scenarios: the rollercoaster stock, bearing Trump's initials "DJT" was all happenstance and "legit" or "maybe critical information was withheld in order to keep the true state of the company out of the spotlight."
The stock for the Truth Social platform came out of the gate last Monday going for $49.90 per share. It shot up to a high of $79.38 on March 26, CBS News reported.
Then the fall on earnings and losses took it down 21% on Monday, closing at $48.66 and suffering a $3.8 billion bite, the outlet reported
As of Wednesday's close, the stock was $48.81.
The source of its shaky start on the public stage has Left Action pointing all fingers at the 45th president.
"No doubt, anyone foolish enough to buy into Trump's promises was probably someone who would lose their money on some idiotic venture soon enough," according to the petition. "But fraud is fraud, and there are laws, and Donald Trump is not above them."