Trump’s Truth Social stock drops by 9% – tanking former president’s net worth by $530 million after being found guilty in hush money trial

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, plunged Thursday after former President Donald Trump was convicted in his hush money trial.

A New York jury has found Trump guilty of falsifying company records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who claimed the two had sex.

Shares of Trump Media fell nearly 9 percent in after-hours trading Thursday as news of the verdict emerged.

The stock, which trades under the ticket symbol “DJT,” has been extremely volatile since its debut in late March, joining the ranks of meme stocks prone to bouncing from highs to lows as deep-pocketed investors try to build upside momentum. to take. waving at the right time.

Earlier this month, Trump Media reported that it lost more than $300 million last quarter, according to its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.

After the closing bell, the stock traded at $48.44. It closed at $51.12 during regular hours on Thursday, giving it a valuation of $9 billion.

The former president owns 65 percent of the company and he said the drop in share price would amount to a $532 million drop in the value of Trump’s shares. Forbes.

Trump’s net worth was $7.8 billion as of the market’s close at 4:00 PM ET, making him the 334th richest person in the world, according to Forbes calculations.

The bulk of Trump’s fortune comes from his $5.9 billion stake in Trump Media – which appears to be losing $5.4 billion after trading hours.

A jury of seven men and five women in Manhattan Criminal Court deliberated for nearly 10 hours before convicting the former president Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

It was the first time a former US president had faced a criminal trial, and the verdict could upset the 2024 White House race, which would prove a pivotal moment in US history.

The verdict comes after five weeks of dramatic evidence and 22 witnesses questioned on the stand.

The 34 charges Trump faces each carry a maximum prison sentence of up to four years. The sentencing date is set for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET.

Prosecutors told of a plot by Trump to “corrupt” the 2016 election by concealing a $130,000 hush-money payment from his “fixer” Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Daniels claimed she and Trump had sex a decade earlier, which he has denied.

The former president owns 65 percent of the company and the drop in share price would amount to a $532 million drop in the value of Trump’s stock.

The case featured explosive evidence from Daniels and exposed the “catch and kill” practices of the tabloid National Enquirer, which bought and suppressed stories that could be damaging to Trump.

But the actual criminal complaint concerns something more prosaic: the reimbursements that Trump signed for Cohen for the payment.

The fees, paid by Trump in monthly installments, were recorded as legal fees.

Prosecutors say this was a fraudulent label intended to conceal the purpose of the hush money transaction and illegally interfere with the 2016 election.

Defense lawyers argued that Cohen actually did substantial legal work for Trump and his family and was paid for it.