WASHINGTON, D.C. — May 8, 2026 — Mincey Bell announced today that it has filed a motion for attorneys’ fees and costs on behalf of Truth Social whistleblower Will Wilkerson following Trump Media & Technology Group Corp.’s voluntary dismissal of its defamation lawsuit in the Circuit Court for Sarasota County, Florida. The dismissal was filed on the eve of a scheduled hearing on Wilkerson’s motion to dismiss and for fees under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute.
As previously reported, in 2025 a Florida trial court dismissed Trump Media’s defamation claims against Wilkerson after finding the company failed to plead actual malice, the constitutional standard that governs defamation claims brought by public figures. The court further ruled that Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute applied, concluding that Trump Media had sued Wilkerson based on his constitutionally protected speech in connection with a matter of public concern.
Rather than defend its re-filed claims at the anti-SLAPP hearing set for April 14, 2026, Trump Media voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit without prejudice on April 10, 2026. Under Florida law, that dismissal rendered Wilkerson the prevailing party, entitling him to a mandatory award of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in defending the action. Wilkerson’s newly filed motion seeks enforcement of that statutory remedy.
The court has indicated it will hold a hearing on Wilkerson’s motion, which is available here.
Trump Media brought the lawsuit after The Guardian published investigative reporting in March 2023 examining federal criminal investigations into Trump Media’s receipt of $8 million in suspicious offshore loans routed through Caribbean entities tied to a Russian national with connections to Vladimir Putin. The articles reported that Wilkerson — a former Trump Media executive and co-founder of Truth Social — raised internal alarms about the origin of the funds and that Trump Media’s then-chief financial officer considered returning the money.
The Florida court rejected Trump Media’s defamation theories, finding that the reporting was supported by multiple sources and documentary records, and that Trump Media failed to plead facts showing that Wilkerson or the journalists acted with actual malice.
Attorney Patrick Mincey stated, “For years now, the President of the United States has wielded his publicly traded company as a war chest to wage a lawfare campaign and frivolous defamation claims after Mr. Wilkerson exposed voluminous and damning evidence that Putin-tied loans were a financial lifeline to Trump Media. This transparent attempt to intimidate a heroic whistleblower continues to fail. Spectacularly.”
Attorney Stephen Bell previously 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 that 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.”
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. The SEC continues to actively litigate against individuals who helped take Trump Media to public markets.
Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute prohibits lawsuits filed primarily to deter or punish the exercise of free speech on matters of public concern. The statute mandates an award of fees and costs to prevailing defendants forced to litigate such claims. Wilkerson’s motion documents a repeated pattern of re-filed, meritless pleadings pursued despite dispositive facts and prior dismissals.
In 2022, Trump Media told the Washington Post that 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.
In 2023, The Guardian and Washington Post published a series of articles detailing Wilkerson’s revelations 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. Congressman 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 others 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.
MSN— Judge Deals Major Blow to Trump Media’s Defamation Suit (November 25, 2025)
Mediaite—Judge Throws Out Truth Social’s Defamation Suite Against The Guardian. (November 24, 2025)
The Guardian – Trump Media executives worried over murky $8m loans, emails reveal (March 17, 2023)
Newsweek – Trump Defamation Suit Torn Apart by Lawyer: ‘Doesn’t Make Any Sense’ (May 23, 2023)
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