EARLY BIRDS

Feds Probing Miami Firm’s Trump Ties for Possible Insider Trading: NYT

Top staffers discussed ways to profit off Trump Media’s impending merger months before the deal was announced, sources said.

A $300 million fundraising deal between Trump Media and a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, was announced last October. But months prior, The New York Times reported Monday, an “obscure” investment firm in Miami knew about the merger, with top executives allegedly plotting ways to profit off the knowledge. A feeding frenzy on the SPAC’s securities in the days before the deal went public is now being looked at by federal investigators as part of a wider probe into the relationship between the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., and Trump Media. Rocket One has fewer than 10 employees, one of whom—its chief strategy officer, Bruce Garelick—sat on the board of Digital World until his recent resignation. Two people close to Rocket One told the Times that Garelick, who has denied wrongdoing through his representatives, discussed the deal with firm employees last summer. One employee was asked specifically to look into Digital World and its securities, one source added.