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A Russian-American bank owner with ties to the pornography industry and Russian President Vladimir Putin has allegedly profited from an insider trading scheme involving Donald Trump's media company, court documents show.
Anton Postolnikov, 41, is suspected of earning nearly $23 million from alleged insider trading that involved the former president's Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of TRUTH Social.
Postolnikov is reportedly the nephew of Aleksander Smirnov, a former deputy minister of justice in Russia who worked in President Vladimir Putin's executive office for an unknown amount of time up to 2017. He also owns the Dominican bank Paxum that is involved with the porn industry, according to the Miami Herald. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing, but FBI search warrant applications have shown he had a relationship with three defendants in a New York securities fraud case.
FBI search warrant applications filed in the case reveal that federal agents investigated Postolnikov's relationship with three Florida-based men and his trades on Digital World Acquisition Corp's (DWAC) stock before and after the announcement of its merger with Trump Media and Technology Group in October 2021. The merger is still in progress. Newsweek has been unable to obtain contact details for Postolnikov at this time.
There is no suggestion made in court documents that Trump himself had any knowledge of the insider trading allegations. Newsweek has contacted Trump Media and Technology for comment via email.
The three defendants who Postolnikov had been in contact with, are: Michael Shvartsman, 52, of Sunny Isles Beach; Gerald Shvartsman, 46, of Aventura; and Bruce Garelick, 54, based in Fort Lauderdale.
Emails obtained in the documents show Garelick floated the prospect of Postolnikov investing in DWAC stock around four months before the merger was announced.
"Anton, Good times last night! Following up on that Trump Media Group SPAC we mentioned. The deal is going to finalize this week. Please let us know if you are interested in investing. . . .," Garelick said in an email to Postolnikov "on or about June 24, 2021." Shvartsman was also copied into the email, court documents say.
The FBI affidavit also says that Postolnikov communicated by phone with Gerald Shvartsman and Patrick Orlando, the former chairman and chief executive officer of DWAC, as he was purchasing shares prior to the merger announcement.
The document goes on to claim that Gerald Shvartsman and Postolnikov "learned the non-public information through a tip and traded on the basis of non-public information."
The document also alleges Postolnikov "communicated" with Gerald Shvartsman during the period in which he purchased "units and warrants of DWAC." He later "liquidated substantially" all of his DWAC holdings "for a profit of £22.8 million." The three defendants are also listed to have profited in the court document.
About the writer
Aliss Higham is a Newsweek reporter based in Glasgow, Scotland. Her focus is reporting on Social Security, other government benefits ... Read more