The Shvartsman brothers from Florida pleaded guilty on Wednesday to insider trading charges, admitting to making over $22 million illegally before the public announcement in 2021 that an acquisition firm was taking former President Donald Trump's media company public. Michael and Gerald Shvartsman entered their pleas to a single count of securities fraud in Manhattan federal court, where Judge Lewis J. Liman set their sentencing for July 17. The brothers confessed to knowing they were committing a crime when they made trades in October 2021 through a New York broker, buying shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a blank check company that was planning to merge with Trump Media & Technology, the owner of the social media network Truth Social.

The indictment did not implicate Trump or his media company in any way. Trump Media & Technology Group, which began trading on the Nasdaq stock market last week with a value of about $6.7 billion, is owned by Trump himself. The brothers invested millions of dollars in Digital World and sold the securities for $22 million in profits after the news of the merger with Trump Media was made public. They also shared their insider information with friends and employees, who also bought securities ahead of the announcement.

The merger and public trading of Trump Media & Technology Group was eagerly anticipated by Trump's political supporters, who saw the Truth Social platform as a response to Trump's temporary removal from some social media platforms after the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Michael Shvartsman faces a recommended sentence of about four years in prison and must forfeit $18.2 million in profits, while his brother Gerald faces a recommended three-year sentence and must relinquish $4.6 million. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated that "insider trading is cheating, plain and simple," and that the convictions should serve as a reminder to anyone tempted to corrupt the integrity of the stock market.