A former nominee for director of the so-called blank-check company that plans to merge with former President Donald J. Trump’s social media start-up is suing, claiming he was frozen out of the deal.
Brian Shevland, the former nominee, is seeking monetary damages over what his suit calls a “brazen act of fraud.”
The lawsuit, which is aimed at the chief executive of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company that raised nearly $300 million for the merger, was filed in Miami federal court on Tuesday. Mr. Shevland, who runs his own investment management firm, says that he only found out that he was no longer a nominee for the company’s board when Patrick Orlando, Digital World’s chief executive, filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission that no longer included his name.
The lawsuit says the unexplained removal from the filing in August, a month before the Digital World’s initial public offering, “cemented the freeze-out” of Mr. Shevland, who said he was owed 7,500 shares of Digital World and was deprived of his right to buy more shares at a low price. The suit says Mr. Orlando also broke a commitment to involve Mr. Shevland in other SPACs.