Former President Donald Trump is now being accused in a lawsuit of intentionally devaluing the media company he co-owns with two associates who met him as contestants on his reality TV show "The Apprentice."
The case could complicate a long-delayed bid by Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of the social network Truth Social, to merge with a special purpose acquisition company called Digital World Acquisition and become a publicly traded company.
That merger deal, which could value Trump’s stake in the company at more than $3 billion, would offer the former president a financial lifeline at a time when he is facing more than $454 million in penalties from a civil fraud judgment this month in New York.