Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities said that Truth Social’s parent company, CEO Devin Nunes, had previously blamed Wall Street market makers for Trump Media and Technology Group’s low stock price. He was criticized as a “proverbial loser” after Republican lawmakers criticized him.
The war of words was sparked by a letter Nunes sent to the Nasdaq stock market on Thursday, accusing Citadel Securities and others of “market manipulation,” specifically “naked short selling” in which traders sell shares in publicly traded companies. accused of being involved in. The seller was not actually borrowing for that purpose.
Griffin, a major Republican donor who gave to Nunes in 2021, denied any wrongdoing and accused the former lawmaker Friday, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
“Devin Nunes is a proverbial loser who is trying to blame the decline in stock prices on ‘naked short sellers,'” a Citadel Securities spokesperson told the Post. Told.
“Nunez is exactly the type of person Donald Trump would fire on ‘The Apprentice.’ If he worked at Citadel Securities, he would be the type of person that Donald Trump would fire on ‘The Apprentice.’ will fire him.”
The Trump media immediately fired back.
“Citadel Securities faces fines and charges for an incredibly wide range of crimes, including issues related to naked short selling and routinely defrauding retail investors at the behest of other companies. “It’s the last company on earth that deserves a lecture on ‘integrity,'” a spokesperson told the Post.
TMTG stock has been on a roller coaster since going public last month, losing more than half of its value as many on Wall Street bet on the company failing.
Despite the stock’s rise over the past three days, the stock closed at $36.38 on Friday, down about $25 from its opening price on March 26. .
In a letter to Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, Nunes wrote that short sellers have “a significant financial incentive to lend out stocks that don’t exist” because traders can command high premiums. I wrote that it is.
“According to data we have, just four market participants, Citadel Securities, Virtu Americas, G1 Execution Services, and Jane Street Capital, were responsible for more than 60% of the abnormal volume of trades in DJT stock. “It has been shown that this is the case,” Nunes wrote.
Mr. Nunes called on Nasdaq to require brokerages to disclose their short positions.
VIRTU declined to comment.
The newspaper has contacted Nasdaq and Jane Street Capital for comment. G1 execution service could not be reached.
Investors are trying to short Trump Media, but there are very few shares of the company available for trading, which makes borrowing shares expensive.
Griffin, on the other hand, is not a fan of the alleged Republican candidate, who owns 60% of TMTG stock.
He called on Republicans to remove Trump and support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. Both lost to Trump in the primaries.
In a recent news conference, Griffin said Trump is “good for our capital markets” and predicted the former president would defeat incumbent Joe Biden in November.
In 2021, Nunes left Congress to lead what was then a private company, the Trump Media and Technology Group. Three months before his resignation, Mr. Griffin had donated $5,800 to his own campaign, the documentary said.
TMTG merged with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a “blank check company,” allowing its stock to trade on the Nasdaq.
