US President-elect Donald Trump has put all of his shares in the Trump Media & Technology Group (Parent company of Truth Social) into a trust that is controlled by his eldest son, according to a regulatory filing late Thursday (Dec 19). The Republican had transferred around 115 million shares to the trust, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
He did not sell the shares nor receive any financial consideration for the transfer of shares and the shares were described as a gift to the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust. Trump is the largest shareholder of the Trump Media & Technology Group (53 per cent).
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A regulatory filing said the trust is controlled by Donald Trump Jr, who serves as the sole trustee of the trust. He is on the Trump Media board of directors and “has sole voting and investment power over all securities owned”. The filing said Trump now “indirectly” owns the shares and is the trust’s beneficiary.
The motive behind the transfer of the shares is unclear as Trump has revealed during the presidential election campaigns that he had no plans to sell any of his shares.
In 2017, when Trump took office, he transferred some of his assets and business holdings to the same trust. At that time, some of the experts criticised Trump’s move as the trust was apparently created for Trump’s benefit.
What Experts Say?
Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets, a nonprofit that pushes for more transparency on Wall Street, told the New York Times that Trump’s move would do little to address potential conflict of interest as the trust was controlled by Trump Jr.
“This is not a blind trust with an independent trustee, where people can have confidence that the conflicts of interest are removed,” he told NYT.
William LaPiana, dean of faculty at New York Law School and an expert on trusts and estates told NYT, “The person who created it (revocable trust) can end it at any time. What you do is you tell the trustee: ‘I want all the property back'”.
(With inputs from agencies)