Russian-American financier who loaned $8M to Trump Media in 2021-2022 sent $10.8M to firm that may link to Don Jr. and Eric Trump’s new business partners
Last year The Guardian reported that Russian-American businessman Anton Postolnikov, the nephew of an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, provided $8 million in loans to Trump’s social media company in late 2021 and early 2022. Anton Postolnikov co-owned Paxum Bank, and the trust he managed that loaned $8 million to Trump Media & Technology Group also sent $10.8 million to a venture capital firm Eleven Ventures LLC.
I recently reported on Dominari Holdings, where Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are advisors and investors, and a related company Unusual Machines where Don Jr. is an advisor and investor. Dominari and Unusual Machines both have some connections to people linked to a network involved in what the SEC called a $27 million stock fraud run by investor Barry Honig. While several people connected to Honig are linked to Dominari and Unusual Machines, there is no evidence of illegal or criminal behavior or wrongdoing. However, this Trump family business partnership should be scrutinized more closely.
One of the people in this network is Hartley Wasko, who runs a firm based in Colorado called Eleven Ventures LLC, which helped finance Unusual Machines.
Hartley Wasko has ties to Michael Shvartsman, who was convicted of insider trading ahead of Trump Media merging with a publicly traded shell company. Shvartsman is also linked to Anton Postolnikov’s trust, which loaned Trump Media and Technology Group $8 million and sent $10.8 million to a firm named Eleven Ventures LLC.
It is not yet confirmed that the Eleven Ventures LLC that received $10.8 million from Anton Postolnikov’s trust is the same Eleven Ventures LLC run by Hartley Wasko who has links to Eric and Don Jr.’s new business partners and Trump Media. However, new research described below shows Wasko’s connections to Micheal Shvartsman, who in turn is connected to Postolnikov’s trust.
If the same Eleven Ventures LLC that received $10.8 million from Postolnikov is the same Eleven Ventures LLC run by Wasko – it raises questions about more extensive funding related to Trump family deals by someone with family links to Putin than has been previously reported.
Note: Hartley Wasko’s Eleven Ventures LLC based in Colorado has no known association with another firm named Eleven Ventures based in California, and all reporting here is on the Colorado company run by Wasko. I was unable to find contact information for Wasko. The only data on the website (listed on Pitchbook) is the firm name and login box. There is no evidence of any illegal or criminal behavior or wrongdoing. This story is to help provide transparency on the network of people involved in business deals with the Trump family.
Trump’s social media company received $8 million in loans from a Russian-American under criminal investigation
Last year The Guardian reported that Trump’s social media company had received $8 million in loans from a Russian-American under criminal investigation.
An entity called ES Family Trust provided loans of $2 million in December 2021 and $6 million in February 2022 to Trump Media & Technology Group in the form of promissory notes — which meant the loan principal could be converted later into shares of company stock. According to the Washington Post Trump Media paid a $240,000 finders fee for the loan to Entoro Securities where Patrick Orlando, the head of a shell company that was planning to merge with Trump Media, was registered as a broker.
The loans from ES Family Trust were paid through Paxum Bank which was co-owned by Anton Postolnikov, who is the nephew of Putin ally Aleksandr Smirnov (Note: this is not the same person as indicted former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov). Postolnikov’s Paxum Bank is favored by the porn industry and Postolnikov reportedly set up dodgy sex pill sites.
Documentation for the ES Family Trust listed Paxum employee Angel Pacheco as the trustee and listed Michael Shvartsman as successor if Pacheco stepped down. While the documents listed Pacheco and Shvartsman, it was Anton Postolnikov who appeared to have used the trust to loan money to help save Trump Media when it needed financing.
Postolnikov was under investigation along with several others for possible insider trading ahead of the merger of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) with publicly listed shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC). Postolnikov was never charged with any wrongdoing. According to reports he is suspected of making nearly $23 million in profits from DWAC stock.
Michael Shvartsman, who had been under investigation, was charged with money laundering and insider trading related to the merger of TMTG and DWAC. Shvartsman and his brother Gerald pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison for securities fraud along with colleague Bruce Garelick. I published this chart on Bruce Garelick, who had been a former director of Trump Media partner DWAC and an executive at Shvartsman’s company Rocket One.
The Guardian noted that in addition the $8 million loaned to Trump Media, the ES Family Trust invested in two other companies: $10.8 million to Eleven Ventures LLC, a venture capital firm and $1 million to Wedbush Securities, a wealth management firm.
ES Family Trust sent $10.8 million to Eleven Ventures LLC – a similarly named company has links to Don Jr. and his new business partners
My recent story described how Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are advisors and investors in Dominari Holdings run by Kyle Wool and Don Jr. is an advisor and investor in a drone manufacturer called Unusual Machines.
Dominari is a tenant in Trump Tower and appears to pay almost $750,000 in annual rent. Trump Organization executive Ron Lieberman was appointed to the board of directors of Dominari, showing how strong the ties are between Dominari and the Trump family business. Kyle Wool, who runs Dominari, previously ran Revere Securities which has done many deals partnering with Dominari. Wool previously worked at Morgan Stanley where he managed some financial transactions for Hunter Biden’s former business partner Devon Archer.
Dominari Securities, a subsidiary of Dominari Holdings, was the lead underwriter and placement agent for Unusual Machines and has a stake in them as well. Several people connected to Dominari and Unusual Machines have ties to a network linked to an alleged $27 million stock fraud. As I previously wrote:
In 2018 Florida businessman Barry Honig was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his role leading a group of fraudsters in a $27 million pump-and-dump scheme that ran from 2013 to 2018. Barry Honig was accused by the SEC of manipulating the share price of three companies. Miami biotech billionaire Phillip Frost was also charged for allegedly participating in two of the three schemes. In 2019 Barry Honig settled with the SEC without admitting or denying the allegations and agreed to civil penalties and other restrictions.
There is no indication that Dominari, Unusual Machines or any of the people described in their network participated in criminal or illegal behavior or wrongdoing. However, the connections to the Barry Honig network provide transparency into Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s new business partners.
Hartley Wasko’s firm Eleven Ventures provided financing for Unusual Machines and has a July 2024 exchange agreement as holder of an 8% Promissory Note for $2.18 million and an August 2024 4% convertible promissory note for $1.68 million due December 2025.
Barry Honig’s brother Jonathan did a financing deal similar to Wasko’s with Unusual Machines. Jonathan Honig’s company Titan Multi-Strategy Fund I Ltd has a July 2024 exchange agreement with Unusual Machines as holder of an 8% Promissory Note for $1.8 million and an August 2024 4% convertible promissory note for $1.3 million due November 30, 2025.
I found that this March 2023 filing for Unusual Machines lists Eleven Ventures as an owner of 500,000 shares or 7.2%, and the footnote says that “Jonathan Honig has the power to sell and vote common stock owned by Eleven Ventures.” It’s not clear beyond that footnote what the nature of Jonathan Honig’s connection is to Eleven Ventures and Wasko. The website Tracxn notes another Honig connection to Eleven ventures and lists two team members, Wasko and Jacob Honig, but that information is not verified elsewhere. An old SEC filing lists Barry Honig as the father of Jacob Honig, but it’s not clear if this is the same person.
A December 2024 filing for a company called Spectral AI, Inc. has information on selling security holders of up to 1,000,000 shares of common stock and lists two owners — IP Protocol, LLC run by Peter Benz with 4.19% of common stock, and Eleven Ventures LLC run by Hartley Wasko with 1.19% of common stock. Peter Benz runs Blue Finn Group which owns 5.7% of Dominari Holdings.
A recent filing for Spectral IP, Inc., a company focused on intellectual property-related transactions, has a public offering prospectus and resale prospectus with underwriters Dominari Securities and Revere Securities. The filing mentions the Spectral AI transactions with IP Protocol (Peter Benz) and Eleven Ventures (Hartley Wasko).
The Spectral IP filing notes: “Upon the closing of this offering, Eleven Ventures LLC will hold (i) 2,442,708, which represents less than 5% of the outstanding shares of our common stock and (ii) 22,535,714 shares of our preferred stock, which represents 100% of the outstanding preferred stock of the Company.” The list of selling stockholders includes Donald Trump Jr. – as well as Dominari CEO Kyle Wool and his wife, Dominari executive Soo Yu and a few dozen others.
Peter Benz who owns 5.7% of Dominari Holdings stock and helped finance Unusual Machines along with Jonathan Honig was also an investor in a company Polariyte, Inc. along with Barry and Jonathan Honig.
Hartley Wasko’s connection to Michael Shvartsman who was convicted of one count of securities fraud related to inside information on the Trump Media merger
Several people affiliated with Michael Shvartsman’s firm Rocket One were found guilty and sentenced to prison for illegally trading on insider information before it was publicly announced that shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) was going to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the company that runs Donald Trump’s Truth Social.
In June 2023 the SEC charged Bruce Garelick, Michael Shvartsman, Rocket One Capital LLC, and Gerald Shvartsman (I captured part of this network in this chart).
The SEC’s complaint alleges that, after DWAC appointed Garelick as a member of its board of directors in September 2021, Garelick learned about, and voted on, material nonpublic actions and updates regarding the negotiations between DWAC and its merger target, TMTG. Garelick, who was separately employed as the chief strategy officer at Rocket One Capital, then allegedly shared those updates with his boss, Michael Shvartsman, who in turn shared them with his brother, Gerald Shvartsman. Each then allegedly purchased DWAC securities on the open market based on the material nonpublic information they learned about DWAC.
Michael and Gerald Shvartsman pleaded not guilty to SEC charges, but they both faced federal charges and each pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud. Bruce Garelick was convicted by a federal jury of securities fraud and charges that he leaked confidential information to Michael and Gerald Shvartsman, helping them make nearly $23 million in illegal trading profits.
In May 2024 The Inner City Press reported on Bruce Garelick’s trial and described an exchange with witness Hartley Wasko of the Eleven Fund in Denver:
Assistant US Attorney: Have you heard of Rocket One?
Wasko: Yes, it’s Michael Shvartsman’s vehicle.
AUSA: Did you invest alongside Rocket?
Wasko: Yes, 5 or 10 times. I spoke with Michael every week.
AUSA: What opportunity did Michael bring to you?
Wasko: His SPAC called DWAC, Digital World. Patrick Orlando gave a pitch, late June 2021. The target was the Trump social media.
Apparently Michael Shvartsman convinced Hartley Wasko to make an investment because I found Wasko’s name on a list of around 130 investors in ARC Global Investments II, LLC, the initial investor and sponsor of Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC), which was run by Patrick Orlando and later merged with Trump Media.
The list of ARC investors, which was revealed in a lawsuit filing, does not show the amount owned so it is not clear how much Wasko invested in ARC and DWAC or the value of any stake that may have been transferred to Trump Media which now trades under the symbol DJT.
Hartley Wasko’s Eleven Fund led a $40 million funding round for a cannabis business that was reportedly linked to Michael Shvartsman
A 2022 press release announced that cannabis technology company Alleaves was finalizing a Series A funding round of $40 million led by Hartley Wasko’s Eleven Fund. Alleaves CEO Michael Beedles said:
This injection of capital from The Eleven Fund will accelerate our bold growth plans and expand our technology platform and commercial deployment.
The following year in early 2023 Alleaves acquired cannabis software company Bio-Tech Medical Software, Inc. (d/b/a BioTrack) from Forian Inc.
After Michael Shvartsman was convicted of insider trading, the Miami Herald and OCCRP reported that he and colleague Eric Hannelius (who was also charged by the SEC and settled without admitting or denying guilt) were involved in companies in the cannabis industry — Alleaves and BioTrack.
Corporate documents show that the cannabis company Alleaves acquired BioTrack in February 2023. Shvartsman and Hannelius have appeared as officers and CEOs in numerous corporate records for BioTrack and its parent company, Alleaves… An Alleaves spokesperson said that neither man has any role in Alleaves and that Shvartsman has no stake in the company.
While the Alleaves spokesperson denied that Shvartsman or Hannelius had any role in Alleaves – the company used BT Assets Group to acquire BioTrack.
BT Assets Group was named in an unrelated lawsuit where lawyers stated that Michael Shvartsman, along with Hannelius and his wife, were the beneficial owners of BT Assets Group, which was central to the Alleaves acquisition of BioTracks.
Hartley Wasko had testified at Bruce Garelick’s trial that he had invested alongside Michael Shvartsman’s Rocket One several times and that Schvartsman had told him about the DWAC and Trump Media deal. Wasko was listed as an investor in the firm ARC Global Investments that sponsored DWAC. Wasko’s Eleven Fund was named as the lead in a planned $40 million funding round for Alleaves which later acquired BioTrack and Michael Shvartsman was reportedly connected to both companies.
Michael Shvartsman was listed on the ES Family Trust, the financing vehicle of Russian-American Anton Postolnikov, that provided $8 million in loans to Trump Media and paid $10.8 million to a firm named Eleven Ventures LLC.
It would be a coincidence if the firm that received $10.8 million from Postolnikov is not the identically named firm run by Wasko. Hopefully others will research this further to provide clear confirmation one way or the other.
And speaking of coincidences – while researching Wasko, Shvartsman and cannabis companies Alleaves and BioTrack I ran into another familiar name.
A press release for another cannabis software company Akerna Corp. announced the sale of their software business to MJ Freeway for $5 million coinciding with their merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. Alleaves was participating in financing the acquisition by MJ Freeway. The Chair of the Board of Gryphon Digital Mining was Brittany Kaiser, a former executive of Cambridge Analytica.
Sometimes there are so many coincidences that it starts to feel like maybe there is more to these connections than meets the eye.
Hartley Wasko must be doing well with his Eleven Ventures business. At the end of 2022 Wasko purchased a home in Malibu for $11 million from actor Jonah Hill.
It will be interesting to see if further information confirms that at the same time Postolnikov was loaning millions of dollars to Trump Media he was also sending millions to Wasko’s firm.
And it appears that Dominari CEO Kyle Wool, who is a tenant at Trump Tower and in several business deals with Eric and Donald Trump Jr., has also invested in Wasko’s Eleven Ventures.
The ‘Other Business Activities’ section of Kyle Wool’s FINRA filing states that he made a private investment in August 2024 in Eleven Ventures LLC in Colorado (Series DGHI463) and says: ‘Not related to business.’
Brilliant and unsettling, Wendy.
Can we just call Anton Postolnikov a Russian mobster instead of "investor"?