NEW YORK (AP) – Insider trading charges against financial executives accused of illegally making millions of dollars from bosses in the wake of news that a buyout firm would take former President Donald Trump's media company public. The trial began on Tuesday.
In her opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Hanft said Bruce Garerick tipped off his bosses and friends to the news that his special acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corporation, would be merging with Trump Media & Technology Group in 2021. blamed Mr.
Defense attorney Jonathan Buck argued in his opening statement that Garerick was innocent and had not tipped anyone off.
“He hasn't committed any crime. Bruce is an honest, ethnic human being,” Bach told jurors in Manhattan federal court.
A few weeks ago, Garelick's co-defendants, Michael Schwartzman of Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and his brother Gerald Schwartzman of Aventura, Fla., pleaded guilty to insider trading charges and were fined $22 million. He admitted that he earned more than that amount illegally. They are scheduled to be sentenced on July 17th.
Michael Shvartsman owns the venture capital firm Rocket One Capital LLC, and Garelick, of Providence, R.I., was the firm's chief investment officer but has worked primarily in the Boston area throughout his career.
The charges against the men include Mr. Trump, who is running for president again this year as a Republican, and Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Mr. Trump's Truth Social platform and began trading on the Nasdaq stock market on March 26. is not involved.
Mr. Hanft told jurors on Tuesday that Mr. Garelick and those he tipped invested millions of dollars in Digital World securities after being tipped off that a potential target of DWAC was Trump Media. said.
When the deal was announced, the defendants sold their company's securities for a profit of $22 million, but Bach noted that his client was only accused of making $49,000 on the trade. did. He asked the jury whether it made sense for Mr. Garelick to risk the reputation he had built over decades in the securities industry for that amount of money.
“He followed the rules,” Bach said. “Bruce was not part of the same social circle as the others involved in this case. … He was not a close friend or friend of anyone.”
But Hanft said Garelick took information he learned as a member of DWAC's board of directors and spread the secret to others.
He said prosecutors will use witnesses, transaction records and phone records, as well as emails and text messages, to prove the case.
