SF City Attorney sues Truth Social for enabling insider trading by selling early access to Trump posts

San Francisco, CA (September 22, 2026) — San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced today that he filed a lawsuit against Truth Social’s parent company for selling early access to Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts, aiding violations of federal ethics laws, and facilitating insider trading. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the People of the State of California, alleges Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (Trump Media) has violated multiple state and federal laws through its pay-to-play Truth API service that gives wealthy trading firms advance access to market-moving, government announcements before everyday ordinary market investors.

This unprecedented corrupt scheme turns material nonpublic information gained from Executive Branch service into profit for Trump and Trump Media, for which the President remains the largest shareholder.

“Trump Media created a marketplace that enables insider trading, which Trump directly profits from,” said San Francisco City Attorney Chiu. “This scheme turns the public trust into private profit. It is corruption, plain and simple. Californians should not be forced to compete against wealthy trading firms buying early access to market‑moving information. We are acting decisively to stop this corruption and protect Californians, who work hard, save, and invest responsibly. They deserve a fair marketplace and an ethical government that won’t sell them out to make a quick profit.”

“When the President of the United States makes decisions that can move markets, access to that information should not be something wealthy traders can buy before everyone else,” said former Attorney General of New Jersey and partner at Platkin LLP, Matt Platkin. “Trump Media should not be able to monetize presidential communications by selling Wall Street an early look at Truth Social posts. The presidency is a public office, and communications made in that capacity should not become a commercial product. No company should be allowed to turn access to the President’s official communications into a pay-to-play information advantage.”

"The president is the largest shareholder of Truth Social, and he is cashing in," said Norm Eisen, executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. "Trump Media has turned advance access to the president's posts into a personal profit center. To call this an unprecedented level of corruption is an understatement. Trump Media's actions violate the most basic ethical principle that government information is owned by the people."

Background
Trump Media was incorporated in 2021, and Trump created and launched Truth Social under that parent company the next year. Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media and owns 41 percent of the company through a revocable trust in which he is the sole beneficiary.

Truth Social is often the first, and sometimes only, place where the President announces major Federal decisions and policies. His posts can immediately and drastically move financial markets.

Truth Social has reported that it has struggled to develop a financially sustainable social media business model. To create an ongoing source of revenue, Trump Media announced on July 17, 2026, that it was launching a new, paid data service called “Truth API” to capitalize on Trump’s market-moving posts.

Truth API delivers posts from the platform’s ten most influential accounts, including Trump’s account, to paying subscribers faster than the same information is delivered to other Truth Social users. Subscribers pay up to $100,000 per month to have a 50 millisecond early access to the President and other high-ranking White House officials’ posts.

In the financial industry, large firms use sophisticated algorithms and other technology to analyze information and make trades within microseconds. A 50 millisecond start on material non-public information gives high-frequency trading firms the potential to make rapid trades and millions in profit at the expense of other investors in the marketplace. Truth Social has admitted its current subscribers are primarily high-frequency trading firms, and the company hopes to expand the subscriber base to cryptocurrency firms and artificial intelligence companies that operate large language models.

Truth API went live on August 1, and that same day, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was calling off a planned strike on Iran. That post immediately led to a 5% decline in oil prices. On August 21, Trump announced on Truth Social that the Federal government was taking action to allow tariff-free ground beef imports, which caused a notable decline in cattle futures.

Selling early access to material non-public government information and announcements provides wealthy trading firms with advantages over law abiding businesses and ordinary investors. This puts millions of Californians at a disadvantage, including retirement account holders, 529 education savings plan holders, and public pension holders. Ironically, Truth API could even undermine the owners of “Trump Accounts,” which Trump created and are intended to give children born between 2025 and 2028 a financial head start.

Trump Media has knowingly created a mechanism designed to convert nonpublic government information into private profit for both the company and Trump himself. In a press release announcing Truth API, interim CEO of Trump Media Kevin McGurn said, “Markets already move on Truth Social posts… Truth API delivers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving [posts] while advancing our strategy to monetize proprietary assets through a high-margin, recurring revenue stream.”

The company’s own statements acknowledge the potential trading advantage a firm may get by subscribing to the service. After the launch of Truth API, McGurn expressly stated that the service pushes out information at a 50 millisecond advantage that “goes right into an algorithmic trading platform and they start to look at context and figure out what those trades can be.”

There has been bipartisan criticism of this effort to monetize government information through Truth API. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said the service is “a form of buying access,” and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski commented, “You can’t use the presidency to enhance your own personal wealth.” Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff separately asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate and determine whether the service violates insider-trading and market-manipulation laws.

Similarly, financial industry leaders have criticized the service as scandalous but noted that financial firms would likely feel pressure to subscribe to Truth API despite ethical and legal concerns. One brokerage firm principal noted, “For the big guys, it’s going to be something they need… It’s market-moving information.”

The lawsuit filed yesterday alleges Trump Media’s scheme violates multiple state and federal laws. Federal ethics laws prohibit executive branch officials, including the President, from using nonpublic government information for private profit. U.S. securities laws prohibit trading on, or enabling trading on, material nonpublic information. The complaint asserts that Trump Media is facilitating violations of both federal ethics law and federal securities law and that the company’s conduct constitutes unlawful and unfair business practices under California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL). State law authorizes the San Francisco City Attorney to enforce the UCL to protect California consumers from unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices.

The lawsuit is seeking injunctive relief to stop Trump Media from offering Truth API or any similar service in violation of California law. The lawsuit also seeks civil penalties and costs.

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, Platkin LLP, Washington Litigation Group, and Democracy Defenders Fund are representing the People in the lawsuit.

The case is the People of the State of California v. Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., San Francisco Superior Court. View a copy of the complaint.