3 have been indicted in an insider trading case related to disclosures at former President Donald Trump’s media company

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By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) Three Florida men were arrested Thursday and charged with illegally making more than $22 million through insider trading ahead of the public announcement that a special purpose acquisition corporation would take over a media company owned by former President Donald Trump in public.

The charges were outlined in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court that did not implicate Trump in any way. The indictment is among four separate insider trading charges brought against 10 people, including an employee and colleague of Pfizer and an executive director of the investment firm.

According to the indictment pertaining to the media company, the men were invited to invest in Digital World Acquisition Corp. and provided confidential information that the potential target of DWAC and another acquisition corporation, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., was Trump Media & Technology Group .

Authorities said the defendants bought millions of dollars of DWAC securities on the open market before news of the Trump media business was made public.

After the public announcement, the men disposed of their securities for a large profit, according to court papers.

Insider trading is not easy money, US Attorney Damian Williams said in a release. This is cheating. It’s a bad bet. Because my Office, the Southern District of New York, is watching. And we are moving quickly to investigate and prosecute anyone who disrupts our financial markets. And we’ll be here as long as it takes. You can bet on that.

The men arrested were identified as Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick. It was not immediately clear who would represent them in the initial court appearances in Florida.

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