Former Digital World Acquisition Corp. CEO accuses successor of hacking

According to a report by Wired, two former executives of the company that recently acquired Truth Social are currently involved in a legal battle regarding the purchase of Trump’s social media platform. The former CEO of Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), the special purpose acquisition company created to buy Trump Media & Technology Group, is suing his successor for allegedly hacking into his private accounts in what he describes as a “coup d’etat.”

The situation is quite messy. Patrick Orlando, who was the CEO of DWAC until March 2023, claims that he was forcefully removed from his position by Eric Swider, a board member of Trump Media who was appointed CEO right after Orlando’s departure. Orlando filed the lawsuit against Swider through the Benessere Investment Group, a company under his control.

Following Orlando’s dismissal, Swider allegedly sought the help of his former personal assistant, Alexander Cano, to gain unauthorized access to Orlando’s accounts. Cano supposedly accessed an electronic storage account at Box.com linked to Benessere and ARC Global Investments II, which contained login details for Orlando’s Mailchimp and DocuSign accounts, as well as confidential files. Cano reportedly passed this information to Swider.

According to the lawsuit, Swider used Orlando’s Mailchimp account to send emails to ARC II’s investors regarding the Truth Social deal post-Orlando’s termination. These actions by Swider have led to legal troubles and financial losses, as stated in Wired’s report.

Orlando’s leadership at DWAC faced challenges, with the proposed Trump Media-DWAC merger experiencing significant delays due to regulatory investigations. These delays reportedly resulted in DWAC losing $100 million, as per CNBC’s 2023 report.