Trump Media CEO Asks Nasdaq to Cooperate with Investigations into Alleged Short-Selling Manipulation of TMTG Stock

What Nunes Asked For

Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), sent a letter to Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman requesting the exchange "fulsomely cooperate with any and all congressional or other investigations" into alleged manipulation of TMTG's share price, according to Business Standard citing a June 2024 report from Reuters.

Specifically, Nunes asked that Nasdaq provide electronic blue sheet data covering TMTG's trading activity from April 29 through May 3, 2024, as well as additional dates in May and June. Electronic blue sheets contain both trading records and account holder information, giving regulators the ability to analyze a firm's activity in granular detail.

Nunes named specific financial firms in his request: Citadel Securities, Jane Street Capital, and UBS. He cited data from the SEC and claimed that trading "anomalies" in TMTG shares "appear to be growing even more severe."

The Naked Short-Selling Allegation

"Naked" short-selling is generally illegal in the United States. It involves selling shares without first borrowing them or confirming they can be borrowed, which creates the risk that the seller cannot actually deliver the shares to the buyer. TMTG has alleged this practice is being used to artificially suppress its stock price.

Nunes had written to Friedman previously on the same subject, alerting the exchange to "potential market manipulation" and asking for its help in preventing it. The June 2024 letter was an escalation of that effort.

Separately, in late May 2024, TMTG asked the commissioner of the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions to open an investigation into alleged "illicit activities" in its share trading. TMTG also wrote to Congress requesting that lawmakers urge FINRA to issue the electronic blue sheet data.

What Is and Isn't Established

As of the publication of this story in June 2024, no investigation had been publicly announced by Nasdaq, FINRA, the SEC, or Louisiana regulators in response to TMTG's requests. No charges had been filed against any of the named firms. The allegations of naked short-selling remain allegations, made by the company and its CEO, and have not been independently verified by a regulatory body in the public record.

Citadel Securities, Jane Street Capital, and UBS had not publicly responded to TMTG's claims as of the sourced reporting.

TMTG's Stock Trajectory

TMTG went public in March 2024 via a SPAC merger. Its shares surged sharply after the listing, driven in part by retail investors and Trump supporters, before declining significantly. The stock has been volatile throughout, with the company reporting minimal revenue relative to its market valuation.

The stock's decline is also consistent with the financial reality TMTG itself has disclosed in SEC filings: Truth Social has a small user base compared to established social media platforms and has not demonstrated a path to profitability. That context matters when evaluating TMTG's claims. A stock falling because a company has thin revenue is different from a stock being manipulated downward by bad actors.

The Strongest Case for TMTG's Concern

The concern about naked short-selling is not inherently frivolous. Regulators have documented real instances of the practice in other stocks over the years, and meme or politically charged stocks with high retail interest have historically attracted outsized short interest. The SEC's own Regulation SHO was created specifically to address delivery failures associated with short-selling. If blue sheet data shows patterns of persistent fails-to-deliver in TMTG stock, that would be material evidence worth scrutiny. TMTG's request for that data through legitimate regulatory channels is a standard, legal avenue for raising the concern.

The harder question is whether the anomalies Nunes cites are the product of intentional manipulation or of ordinary high-volatility trading in a stock with unusual retail dynamics. That is precisely what blue sheet data would help determine, and it has not been released publicly.

The Unresolved Question

Whether FINRA, the SEC, or Nasdaq will produce the electronic blue sheet data TMTG has requested, and what that data would show about the named firms' trading activity in TMTG shares, remains the open question this entire effort hinges on. Without that data entering the public record, the manipulation allegation stays unproven in either direction.