Mincey Bell Attorneys Ask Florida Court to Sanction Trump Media for Lawfare Campaign Against Whistleblower Client Who Exposed Millions in Suspicious Loans Tied to Vladimir Putin

May 14th, 2025

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WASHINGTON, D.C.— May 14, 2025—Attorneys for Truth Social Whistleblower Will Wilkerson have asked a Florida court to sanction Trump Media & Technology Group to pay his attorneys fees incurred in defending a frivolous lawsuit designed to intimidate and chill his constitutionally protected free speech. The President’s company sued Wilkerson for defamation after The Washington Post and The Guardian revealed in 2023 that Trump Media took $8 million in suspicious emergency loans from an offshore bank owned by a Russian citizen with ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Wilkerson, a co-founder of the President’s tech conglomerate which owns and operates the social media platform, Truth Social, has been cooperating with numerous law enforcement agencies and regulators under the Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower program since 2022. Wilkerson helped found the company after President Trump was kicked off Twitter following the events of January 6, 2021. To date, Wilkerson’s revelations to law enforcement have already resulted in more than $50,000,000 in settlements and numerous criminal convictions in connection with President Trump taking the company public prior to his re-election in 2024. More settlements are expected to be announced.

“With historic heroism placing him in the pantheon of American whistleblowers, Will Wilkerson has exposed profound levels of corruption within President Trump’s most important financial asset. This case poses existential questions about national security and the federal government’s ability to regulate the President’s publicly traded company,” said attorney Patrick Mincey. “The facts and evidence set forth in our filed exhibits are self-evident. They are damning to the President’s company, and they are damning to those individuals who facilitated and knew about these loans, of whom there are many. Neither Mr. Wilkerson nor his counsel will be intimidated by President Trump’s scorched earth lawfare campaign designed to intimidate and chill his speech in a manner that is specifically prohibited by law.”

“Trump Media must pay,” Mincey added.

Moving under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute—a law prohibiting Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation— the attorneys seek dismissal of the lawsuit and an award of attorneys’ fees permitted by the statute. Specifically, the law prohibits lawsuits filed intentionally to deny a citizen’s exercise of protected free speech. The attorneys point to more than 500 pages of filed exhibits including Trump Media’s corporate records, sworn law enforcement affidavits, criminal investigation reports in a Homeland Security Investigations case entitled “Trust Social,” among other documents.

Attorney Stephen Bell stated “This is the epitome of a SLAPP suit. Trump Media is a public company with a majority owner who is quite literally the most public figure on Earth. Its CEO is a former Congressman, and many of its board members, early shareholders and advisors are household names who occupy senior roles in the Trump administration. Large law firms who offend the administration receive Executive Orders barring them from entering public buildings; individuals like Wilkerson receive frivolous defamation suits meant to drain their assets and chill their speech. Perhaps most egregious, the public record clearly establishes that Wilkerson’s statements are true. This case is about nothing more than silencing any and all dissent.”

Timeline of Trump Media’s Lawfare Campaign Against Wilkerson

In 2022, Trump Media told the Washington Post Wilkerson’s allegations about securities violations committed in its public merger were “concocted psychodramas.” Later, the company’s merger partner, Digital World Acquisition Corp., settled with the SEC for $18,000,000 for committing violations Wilkerson exposed to prosecutors. Earlier this year, the SEC informed a court that Digital World former CEO Patrick Orlando would also enter into a settlement agreement.

In 2023, The Guardian and Washington Post published a series of articles detailing Wilkerson’s revelation and cooperation with federal law enforcement concerning $8 million in emergency bridge loans Trump Media received from a Dominica-based bank owned by Anton Postolnikov, nephew to a senior ranking Kremlin official. Despite Trump Media officials questioning the suspicious source of the loans, under President Trump and former U.S. Congressmen and CEO Devin Nunes, the company kept the money. Within days of The Guardian’s reporting on the loans, Digital World removed its CEO Patrick Orlando. According to records filed with the court, Donald Trump, Jr. was also aware of the suspicious loans.

Nunes and Trump Media then sued Wilkerson, the media companies and other seeking more than $3 billion in alleged damages for defamation. Despite a federal court already repeatedly dismissing related defamation claims against The Washington Post for its stories about the Putin-tied loans, and in the face of more than 500 pages of exhibits detailing the criminal money laundering investigation into the suspicious $8 million the President’s company received from the Putin-tied lender—in April 2025, Trump Media amended its complaint against Wilkerson on the eve of a long scheduled hearing where the court was to consider the records filed by Wilkerson which support the allegations.

View Wilkerson’s Motion for anti-SLAPP Sanctions & Attorneys Fees Here.