In this article, Trump Media gifted thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, to Trump’s eldest son, and to four other board members, as shown in new regulatory filings. The company awarded 25,946 stock shares each to Patel, Donald Trump Jr., and Linda McMahon, the president’s pick for Education secretary, who all serve as Trump Media directors, according to filings on Thursday.
Three other directors, including former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Eric Swider, and Kyle Green, received the same number of DJT shares at no cost, as per Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The filings indicated that the awards were granted on Tuesday, with Trump Media closing trading at $30.04 per share on that day.
At that price, the shares have a paper value exceeding $779,400, but most of the stock awarded has restrictions on when it can be sold. DJT was trading at around $31.50 per share as of 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday. The filings stated that the stock was granted “as consideration for services provided” between late March and Dec. 25, when Trump Media went public after merging with a blank-check company.
These disclosures arise as critics raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest due to the president’s financial ties and recent business endeavors of his administration. The stock awards were made public shortly after Patel’s appearance at a Senate hearing regarding his nomination to lead the FBI.
Trump Media, the operator of the Truth Social app, announced on Wednesday its expansion into financial services. Following his presidential election victory, Trump transferred his majority stake in Trump Media to his revocable trust, where he is the sole beneficiary and Trump Jr. is the only trustee.
The new SEC filings revealed that the shares granted to the six board members on Tuesday are restricted stock units that will vest in installments. Twenty-five percent of the awarded RSUs, approximately 6,487 shares per director, immediately vested, allowing them to be sold at any time. The paper value of these shares was nearly $195,000 as of Tuesday’s closing trade.
The remaining 75% of the RSUs will vest in nine quarterly installments over two years starting from March 25. Trump Media did not provide an immediate response to CNBC’s request for comment.
