Truth Social’s latest hurdle to going public: An insider trading scandal

Elizabeth Holmes is behind bars. Sam Bankman-Fried is under house arrest. MoviePass’s Ted Farnsworth was arrested. Frank’s Charlie Javice has been indicted. And yesterday, a venture capitalist who was one of the Trump SPAC board members—as well as two others—were arrested and charged with insider trading. 

Whew. It would be great if, you know, people stopped breaking the law.

I’ve been reading through the charges against the Trump SPAC investors because I can’t help myself. Michael Shvartsman, 52, a nightclub owner-turned-venture capitalist, and his employee and investor Bruce Garelick, 53, are at the center of it, as is their VC firm Rocket One Capital, which has backed GoPuff and Airbnb, according to an archived version of its now-dark website. Colluding with Shvartsman’s younger brother, Gerald, the investors allegedly made more than $22 million from using inside information to trade securities of Digital World Acquisition Company, the SPAC that went public in 2021 before announcing it would merge with former President Donald Trump’s media company. Prior to the deal being announced, Shvartsman and Garelick invested in the shell company, and Garelick was put on the board of directors. Using his board position, Garelick allegedly told Shvartsman (who then allegedly alerted his brother) that the SPAC had identified Truth Social’s parent company as its target before it was publicly known. All of those individuals went on to purchase shares on the public market and later sell them after the announcement, and make millions of dollars.

To make matters worse, the three of them allegedly ended up leaking the inside information—ahead of the public announcement—to a slew of friends and employees, including an employee at Gerald Shvartsman’s furniture store, who ended up telling his father, too.

Apparently, a junior employee at Rocket One Capital even emailed himself a note five days before the Trump Social announcement, writing in choppy shorthand: “DWAC stock** BUY 10 unit gives you warrant and full share can’t lose money. . . . bought 2m warrants b/c target is trump media.” 

Insider trading is bad. So is emailing yourself that note.

The Shvartsman brothers and Garelick were arrested yesterday—adding to a growing list of reasons the deal to take Truth Social’s parent company public likely won’t go through. Earlier this month, Digital World told the Securities and Exchange Commission Garelick was resigning from the board. In its form, the shell company also reminded investors it was still under investigation over its registration statement, and that the SEC is seeking documents on topics like its due diligence of Trump’s media company, and relationships between Digital World and other entities, including its sponsor. In other words, Digital World still has a lot of other problems.

All of this is making a deal look rather unlikely. My condolences to Dinesh D’Souza, who is rather active on Truth Social. (He is one of the five people I follow.)

A Digital World spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment regarding the arrests, investigation, and subpoenas, or whether they still anticipate completing the deal. A phone number found on an archived version of Rocket One Capital’s website had been disconnected. Term Sheet reached out to several people affiliated with Garelick and Shvartsman, including cofounders of the fintech where Shvartsman is listed as CEO, Rocket Financial, but no one could be reached for comment.

Sometimes it’s fun to see what’s on someone’s website before it goes dark, so take a look at Rocket One Capital’s. I was particularly impressed by the first line of their firm’s vision statement, posted to the site: “Think of what you could achieve if you didn’t have to say, that can’t be done.”

Turns out there are some things that can’t be done—or at least shouldn’t be.

Not Boring…Less than a year after he had moved to Austin, venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale called (and emailed) the city’s then-mayor to propose that he and some of his friends pay for a one-mile, approximately $6- to $7-million underground tunnel system, built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company, that would connect his friends’ land around town. He said that the initial mile-long tunnel could spark interest from leadership for a citywide tunnel system that The Boring Company could ultimately build in partnership with the city. I was sent these details in response to a freedom-of-information request. Want to know what came of it? You can read the full story here.

A programming note…In observance of the holiday weekend, Term Sheet will not be in your inboxes this Monday or Tuesday. Enjoy the long weekend and Happy Fourth!

Until Wednesday, 

Jessica Mathews
Twitter:@jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
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Jackson Fordyce curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- Inflection AI, a Palo Alto-based personal A.I. company, raised $1.3 billion in funding. Microsoft, Reid Hoffman, Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, and NVIDIA invested in the round. 

- Runway, a New York-based applied A.I. research company, raised $141 million in Series C extension funding. Google, NVIDIA, Salesforce, and others invested in the round.

- Author Health, a Boston-based care and treatment platform for Medicare Advantage recipients with mental illness and substance use disorders, raised $115 million in funding. General Atlantic led the round and was joined by Flare Capital Partners.

- Red Oak Compliance Solutions, a Cedar Park, Texas-based intelligent compliance software solutions provider, raised $51 million in funding from Mainsail Partners. 

- Anzu, a Tel Aviv-based in-game advertising solution provider, raised $48 million in Series B funding. Emmis Corporation led the round and was joined by PayPal Ventures, Evolution, Simon Equity Partners, Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund, and others. 

- Cyware, a New York-based threat intelligence solutions provider, raised $30 million in Series C funding. Ten Eleven Ventures led the round and was joined by Advent International, Zscaler, Emerald Development Managers, Prelude, and Great Road Holdings.

- IP Fabric, a New York-based automated network assurance company, raised $25 million in Series B funding. One Peak led the round and was joined by Senovo and Presto Ventures.

- GeologicAI, a Calgary, Canada-based rock and resource digitization services provider, raised $20 million in Series A funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures. 

- Material Evolution, a Middlesbrough, U.K.-based sustainable cement producer from industrial waste streams, raised £15 million ($18.93 million) in Series A funding. KOMPAS VC led the round and was joined by Norrsken VC and Circle Rock.

- Gradient Comfort, a San Francisco-based HVAC company, raised an additional $9 million in Series A funding led by Climate Investment.

- Causely, a Boston-based A.I. company for IT, raised $8.8 million in seed funding. 645Ventures led the round and was joined by Amity Ventures, GlassWingVentures, and TauVentures.

- Quandri, a Vancouver-based digital worker automation platform for the insurance industry, raised $8.5 million in Series A funding. FUSE led the round and was joined by Defined.

- Nokod Security, a Tel Aviv-based security development company for low- and no-code custom applications and robotic process automation, raised $8 million in seed funding. AcrewCapital, Meron Capital, and Flint Capital invested in the round. 

- Speakeasy, a San Francisco-based API infrastructure company, raised $7.6 million in seed funding. GV led the round and was joined by Quiet Capital, Firestreak Ventures, Flex Capital, and StoryHouse Ventures. 

- Memphis.dev, a Palo Alto- and Tel Aviv-based event streaming platform, raised $5.5 million in seed funding co-led by Angular Ventures and boldstart ventures.

- Revcast, a Raleigh, N.C.-based revenue plans management and optimization platform, raised $3 million in seed funding. CRV led the round and was joined by Coughdrop Capital, Firsthand Alliance, IDEA Fund Partners, LorimerVentures, and Tiferes Ventures.

- Alfie Health, a New York-based virtual clinic for patients with obesity, raised $2.1 million in funding. Y Combinator and Nina Capital co-led the round and were joined by GoodwaterCapital, Phoenix Investment Club, and other angels. 

- BidSight, a New York-based real estate development software company, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding. Outsiders Fund led the round and was joined by Y Combinator and other angels. 

PRIVATE EQUITY

- General Atlantic invested $500 million in Authentic Brands Group, a New York-based brand owner, marketing, and entertainment platform.

- Tech24, backed by HCI Equity Partners, acquired Harris Warren Commercial Kitchen Service, a West Yarmouth, Mass.-based foodservice and commercial HVAC equipment repair company. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Weaver Leather, a Blue Point Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Rex Specs, a Mount Hope, Ohio-based outdoor products brand for dogs. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

- An affiliate of Lone Star Funds acquired Titan Acquisition Holdings, a Norfolk, Va.-, Portland, Ore.-, and San Diego-based ship repair services company, from funds managed by Carlyle and Stellex Capital Management. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Visa agreed to acquire Pismo, a São Paulo-based issuer processing and core banking platform, for $1 billion.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- Cathay Capital, a Paris-based private equity and venture capital firm, raised $270 million for a fund focused on consumer, health care, and technology companies across Europe, Asia, and North America.