Investment firm says apparent massive short of Trump stock before his shooting was a 'clerical error'.
Friday, 19 July 2024
A Texas-based wealth management firm has apologised for a clerical error that gave the appearance it took a massive short position on shares in Donald Trump’s social media company just before Saturday’s assassination attempt.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by Austin Private Wealth dated July 12 showed the firm had shorted 12 million shares in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (DJT) via a put option, sparking frenzied conspiracy theories after the unusual trade was highlighted by a number of social media users.
Short selling is betting that a stock will fall in a given period.
A Texas-based wealth management firm has apologised for a clerical error that gave the appearance it took a massive short position on shares in Donald Trump’s social media company just before Saturday’s assassination attempt.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by Austin Private Wealth dated July 12 showed the firm had shorted 12 million shares in Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (DJT) via a put option, sparking frenzied conspiracy theories after the unusual trade was highlighted by a number of social media users.
Short selling is betting that a stock will fall in a given period.
Here is the statement from Austin Private Wealth
Statement on Incorrect Filing with the SEC
7/17/2024
The SEC filing which showed that Austin Private Wealth shorted a large number of shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (DJT) was incorrect and we immediately amended it as soon as we learned of the error.
No client of APW holds, or has ever held, a put on DJT in the quantity initially reported. The correct holding amount was 12 contracts, or 1,200 shares — not 12 million shares, as was filed in error. In submitting the required report for the second quarter of 2024, a multiplier was applied by a third-party vendor that increased the number of the shares by a multiple of 10,000 for all options contracts (not just DJT). We did not catch the error before approving the filing.
We filed the report on July 12 to reflect our positions on June 28. We amended it on July 16.
We deeply regret this error and the concern it has caused, especially at such a fraught moment for our nation. We are committed to full transparency and maintaining the trust of our clients. As such, we are reviewing our internal procedures and our processes with the third-party vendor that assists with SEC filings to better understand how this happened and avoid similar issues moving forward.