Who Is Anton Postolnikov? Kremlin-linked fintech guru “saved Trump Media”

Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, is between individuals who have lifted issues about the Russian-American businessman Anton Postolnikov, who according to The Guardian held afloat the previous president’s social media firm Trump Media via crisis loans.

Trump may well make billions from the merger amongst Trump Media and Engineering Group and Digital Globe Acquisition Company, which took the parent business of Truth of the matter Social general public on March 26 on the Nasdaq trade with shares buying and selling at a high of $78.

But a report by The Guardian about the inbound links to the deal involving Postolnikov has sparked a solid response on line, including from Mary Trump, who posted on X that her uncle “has revealed time and all over again that he is ready to do small business with any person.”

The Guardian explained that regulators experienced opened a securities investigation into the merger in 2021 and that Trump Media invested a great deal of revenue the following calendar year as it waited for its inventory market place debut.

The paper said that Trump Media took unexpected emergency financial loans, two of which have been really worth $8 million, in the type of convertible promissory notes, from an entity known as the ES Relatives Have faith in, which opened an account with Paxum Lender that is co-owned by Postolnikov.

Postolnikov is reportedly the nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, a former Russian deputy minister of justice who worked in President Vladimir Putin’s executive office environment up to 2017. Postolnikov is also the topic of a legal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Protection about his part in the TMTG merger, The Guardian noted.

Newsweek has approached Postolnikov for remark by means of Paxum Financial institution.

Neither Trump nor TMTG has been accused of any wrongdoing, and there is no indicator that they knew about the history to the loans. A lawyer representing Trump Media told The Guardian that it was “a phony narrative that TMTG has these phony connections to Russia.”

Newsweek contacted TMTG and the Trump crew for comment at 5:17 a.m. EDT and will update this post if they answer. Newsweek also asked the SEC for remark by e-mail.

In 2017, Postolnikov confronted an arrest warrant in his house city of St. Petersburg on prices of tax fraud, according to a courtroom ruling acquired by The Washington Write-up in February. That warrant was lifted the pursuing calendar year immediately after the immediate intervention of Russia’s deputy prosecutor standard, who claimed the situation was with out benefit, the paper mentioned.

Paxum Financial institution does not have a banking license in the U.S. and is not regulated by the Federal Deposit Coverage Corporation.

The Guardian reported this was a problem since it could suggest the ES Spouse and children Have confidence in experienced been made use of by Postolnikov “to financial loan money to assist save Trump Media—and the Fact Social platform— since his bank by itself could not furnish the mortgage.”

Postolnikov has not been billed with any crime but has been detailed on modern search warrant affidavits along with associates which includes Michael Shvartsman.

Michael Shvartsman, a Florida enterprise capitalist, and his brother Gerald Shvartsman pleaded guilty on Wednesday to taking part in an insider investing plan linked to the deal that took Trump’s social media company community, CNN described.

On the Russian organization web page government.ru, Postolnikov is described as expert and developer of fiscal technologies, building fintech assignments in Russia and abroad. The profile reported he was born in Russia but educated in the U.S.

It claimed he completed his secondary training in 1999 at the Global Experiments Academy in San Francisco and went on to review at Skyline School and at the College or university of Marin in the Bay Area.

Mary Trump, a vehement critic of her uncle, wrote on X that “the critical section of the story” isn’t really just that Postolnikov is the nephew of an ally of Putin but “that who invests in Truth Social is mainly obscured.”

“Donald has shown time and once more that he is willing to do small business with any one, and get dollars from any one, as very long as it serves his pursuits,” she claimed, incorporating, “it is really critical for us retain a shut eye on Real truth Social. With such a significant valuation and minor revenue, the firm is screaming for an investigation into FEC or SEC violations.”

In the meantime, Olga Lautman, a senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Examination (CEPA) questioned on X how the SEC cleared the merger. “Do we have laws?”