Trump’s “harvesting” scheme: the political and business playbook behind the $7 billion in losses suffered by retail investors

Author: Dan Alexander, Forbes

Translation: Nora, Forbes

Proofread: Lemin

Vadim Fistikan left for work at 17. He saved money through years of overtime, delaying all kinds of spending, and self-restraint after reaching adulthood. When he was nearly thirty, his savings had already exceeded $100k. In 2021, the Washington state truck driver spotted a waterfront home in Florida. The house had a pool, with waterways running all the way to the river, flowing into the sea, and his family lived nearby. “We were ready to close on the place,” he said. “Turns out all kinds of Trump-related investment projects were suddenly on fire.”

The core of this surge is Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG)—the operating entity behind the social platform Truth Social.

In October 2021, Trump officially unveiled the company’s development plan, claiming it would build a social platform with no content moderation on the platform, and would use a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to open investment channels to supporters. The SPAC’s share price surged 1,650% within two days, then fell about 30% by the opening of the third trading day. But in Fistikan’s view, this was not a risk warning—rather, it was an opportunity to enter at a discount. “I thought, I have to get in.” The three-time voter for Trump kept adding positions, and his total投入 ultimately reached $205k.

Today, the market value of this investment is only $30k.

Last autumn, Fistikan logged onto Truth Social to vent his dissatisfaction. “I posted plainly that it was basically a scam,” he recalled. “But many users argued back that I was just a Trump hater. I told them: I was firmly optimistic about the project from the start… and now I’m down to nothing.”

01. The losses are far from just his.

Truth Social’s account now reposts a song in which former SPAC chief financial officer Katherine Chiles accuses Trump of betraying supporters, directly cursing: “Donald Trump is a complete jackass.” Chad Nedohin leads worship for a church congregation. He was once a community organizer who also served as a part-time Trump media retail shareholder advocate; now he says bluntly that the company is only a money-making tool for Trump and his inner circle. “In their eyes, we’re just leeks they harvest for profit,” Nedohin said. “He doesn’t care about anyone at all.”

Looking back on Trump’s half-century career, the many signature businesses he built—Atlantic City casinos, projects that completed securities public offerings on the NYSE, and the sweeping political movement across the United States—all relied on one kind of people: loyal followers. When Trump left office in 2021, he still had a massive base of supporters behind him. He quickly launched a monetization plan, executed in three steps: first, create business projects out of thin air, putting in almost no of his own money while taking the vast majority of the equity; second, urge loyal supporters to pile in wildly and cash out as much profit as possible; third, stand by while assets collapse, and divide up whatever remaining scraps are left. From 2021 to 2025, five Trump family projects raised funds from ordinary investors: Trump Media Technology Group, World Liberty Financial, a Trump meme coin, a Melania Trump meme coin, and American Bitcoin.

Now, all the projects have fallen into the wreckage of step three.

Trump Media shares have plunged 89% from their peak; World Liberty Financial tokens are down 82%; Trump’s meme coin is down 98%; Melania’s meme coin is down 99%; American Bitcoin’s share price is down 95%. Data calculated by Forbes shows that the Trump family has cashed out a total of $1.9 billion, and still remains net profitable by $3.1 billion overall; investors collectively lost about $7 billion.

A representative for the Trump Group did not respond to a request for comment from reporters; a spokesperson for Trump Media also declined to comment. The company previously sued multiple media outlets including Forbes, claiming that reporting about the company’s first-year operating losses was inaccurate. The White House did not address questions about various self-dealing business projects by the president, and only released a policy statement. Deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said: “President Trump deeply cares about the patriotic people who voted to put him in office, and every day he is working to fight for the rights of the people.”

02. The painful cost this scam imposed on ordinary people can be seen in Fistikan’s experience.

What he bought was not just stocks, but an entire set of outrageous talking points—claiming that Trump would treat supporters as partners, not as tools to harvest. “I basically put my life savings into just this one stock,” Fistikan said. “It’s the worst plunder and scam he’s ever done.”

In January 2025, Nick Pinto was dining at the Champion’s Restaurant at Trump’s Miami golf resort, decorated in wood and genuine leather. A phone notification came in from Robinhood: Trump released a personal meme coin.

The 26-year-old Pinto mainly earns his living by creating videos for major social platforms. His due diligence was basically just a quick Google search and scrolling through relevant content on X (formerly Twitter). “I thought, I’ll buy a little first and see—nobody knows what will happen with the next move,” he initially invested $7,000.

Pinto was one of the ordinary investors swept into the frenzy. When Trump returned to the White House, the heat brought huge windfalls to the “First Family.” The source was World Liberty Financial, a crypto project Trump introduced the previous September. Justin Sun, a billionaire mired in a wave of allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), injected $45 million into the project’s token after Trump won the election, and then added another $100 million to buy Trump’s personal meme coin. Melania Trump also launched her own meme coin. Around the time Trump formally took office, trading in these three tokens was extremely hot, generating tens or hundreds of millions in cash-out profits for the Trump family.

Trump then rolled out an extra benefit: meme coin investors ranked among the top 220 by holdings could go to a dinner at his private golf club in Virginia.

“I was completely out of my mind back then,” Pinto said. He added his investment to $480k; nearly 60% of his total invested position was staked on this meme coin. The money was enough for him to secure a dinner entry slot. The dinner itself was both absurd and shabby. Pinto said it felt like a wedding: mediocre food and bad service. “They didn’t even offer me a can of soda—I only drank plain water the whole time.”

Another attendee recalled that he passed a cigarette to former NBA player Lamar Odom. When the two stood outside the door, Odom answered a video call. He told the person on the other end—Khloe Kardashian—“Me and these young guys who are shilling crypto are together!”

After the dinner, the meme coin price kept falling and never managed to recover. By the end of that year, it was down two-thirds. Around this time, with the help of a friend who attended the same dinner, Pinto was persuaded to go from “bullish” to “black” on the token.

Pinto relayed what the friend told him: “This thing was launched out of nowhere by the Trump family. Nobody can predict what will happen next with the token’s price, and nobody knows what plans they have for it.”

Pinto was convinced and sold 75% of his holdings, locking in an accounting loss of about $250k. He kept the remaining position, thinking that maybe something big would change later.

And he really did wait for a turnaround. In April of the same year, Trump held another investor event at Mar-a-Lago. All guests could receive a welcome package. Inside were Trump collectible cards, a presidential figurine with built-in cologne, and a Trump-branded wristwatch. “I almost didn’t get even one package—someone kept taking my share,” Pinto recalled. “There was someone who secretly took six. After my package was stolen, I saw an empty chair with a package on it, so I just took one too.”

Meme coin merchandise gifts

Trump held two offline events for meme coin holders—one at his own golf course in Virginia, and another at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Attendees could take home a full bag of Trump-branded merchandise gifts.

Bill Zanker, Trump’s business partner, said at the April Mar-a-Lago event: “I’m persuading the president to hold this kind of event every six months.”

Scent of victory

The package included a cologne bottle shaped with a golden portrait of Trump. The online retail price was $249. Nick Pinto attended both meme coin events and said: “I still haven’t used it—I just put it out as a decoration.”

Timepiece for sure-win confidence

Red-dial wristwatches became the hot commodity at the Mar-a-Lago event. Trump’s online store also sold other watch styles. One of them had fabric embedded inside, taken from the suit and tie Trump wore when he was photographed from behind bars in Fulton County Jail in Georgia after he was indicted in 2023 on multiple charges including extortion.

Collectible portrait cards

This set of Trump trading cards printed his catchphrase shouted after he was attacked in Butler, Pennsylvania, when bullets narrowly passed his ear: “Fight on to the end, fight on to the end, fight on to the end!”

Night-only limited baseball cap

The traditional red “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) baseball caps have long been outdated. Guests at this meme coin-themed dinner each received a black cap with Trump’s portrait, a replicated signature, and the name of his meme coin: $TRUMP .

“I thought, I’ll buy a little first and see—nobody knows what will happen with the token’s next moves.”

Some attendees wanted much more than cheap Trump-themed souvenirs. Before the first dinner, Erbil Karaman, co-founder of Huma Finance, added investment. At that time, the White House was reviewing a bill related to stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar, exactly the kind of tools this company used for cross-border capital transfers. Karaman said he was not doing any lobbying at this event. Two months later, he received an invitation from the White House and went to the White House to attend the signing ceremony for the bill.

03. Most of the people who truly made big money from Trump meme coins are those who never really treated the token seriously.

Morten Christensen, founder of the crypto news website airdropalert.com, bought in early when the token launched. After market hype faded for just a few days, he decisively sold and exited, profiting nearly 30 times. To get entry for both dinners, he held the token spot position and also opened a short position as a hedge. For the first event seat, he spent about $1,200 in fees; for the second seat, he spent only $500.

“Those diehard MAGA supporters genuinely believe this story,” Christensen said. “I’m here purely to make money. I joined several supporter group chats like this, and they always ignore all facts and data… I even feel a little sorry for them.”

Even Justin Sun no longer pretended that Trump-related crypto products had any investment value. In April, he filed a lawsuit, accusing World Liberty Financial of forcing him to make additional investments. When he refused to cooperate, the company froze his token assets. Sun accused the company of fraud and extortion; World Liberty Financial argued that it had the right to freeze the tokens Sun held and also countersued for defamation. Sun also said that after the enterprise funneled large sums of money to Trump and other insiders, it began to take on big risky loans. Besides Trump himself, the most aggressive promoter to the public back then was him—now he says the project is “on the verge of collapse.”

Fundraising trap born from the Capitol riot

January 6, 2021

Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol. Twitter permanently bans Trump’s personal account; this becomes promotional material he can use and hype. Amazon stops providing cloud server hosting services for the right-wing social platform Parler, creating a supply gap in the relevant market.

January 27, 2021

One week after leaving office, Trump meets two past contestants of The Apprentice at Mar-a-Lago and discusses building a media and technology empire.

October 20, 2021

Trump publicly announces Trump Media & Technology Group. The social media company plans to build a pro-Trump online ecosystem, and its first product is a Twitter clone: Truth Social.

October 22, 2021

Digital World’s SPAC plans to merge with Trump Media to go public. The stock spikes to an all-time high of $175. Based on that, the valuation of a company with almost no real business exceeds $25 billion.

March 25, 2024

After years of regulatory obstruction, Trump Media finally completes its merger with Digital World and officially becomes a public company. The day after the merger, the stock jumps 59%.

September 30, 2024

In the final stretch of the presidential election campaign, Trump posts on Truth Social announcing a new project: “I once promised to make America great again. This time, we will deliver on that promise with cryptocurrency. World Liberty Financial will help America become the global crypto capital!” But market reaction remains sluggish.

November 5, 2024

Trump defeats Kamala Harris, becoming the first U.S. president elected twice with non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1892.

November 25, 2024

Billionaire Justin Sun, entangled in SEC allegations, buys $30 million worth of World Liberty Financial tokens, boosting the project’s heat. In the end, the project ultimately brings more than $800 million in profit to Trump.

January 17, 2025

Three days before the inauguration, Trump issues a personal meme coin. The fine print in the agreement warns buyers that the token is not an investment product, but Trump supporters still flood in, sparking a trading frenzy, ultimately generating more than $600 million in revenue.

January 19, 2025

Melania Trump launches her own personal meme coin to further increase her personal wealth. Financial disclosure reports show that this token, which has fallen 99% from its historical high, has brought $6 million in income to the First Lady.

May 12, 2025

American Bitcoin announces plans to merge with a SPAC and go public. Investors rush in and drive the stock price up 448%; afterward, the stock cumulatively falls 96%.

04. As more and more supporters begin to have doubts, the Trump family starts a series of intriguing asset reallocation moves.

The World Liberty Financial project—claiming it can overturn the traditional financial system—has generated about $850 million in profits for Trump in total; afterward, Trump heavily allocated to the most conventional and stable assets in financial markets—municipal bonds. On the other side, Trump Media Group is less a social media company than a large-scale bitcoin hoarder. When the company’s stock price is high, it raises $2.4 billion through equity and debt financing, and when the price of bitcoin nears its all-time peak, it invests all that financing money into bitcoin.

This move caused shareholders’ equity to evaporate by about $1 billion, yet it left the company with an asset far more durable than Truth Social. The Truth Social platform marketed as “free speech” has recently banned a Forbes reporter who used the platform to contact shareholders. Trump Media claims to give everyone the right to speak, but its definition of who gets to speak appears very narrow.

During Trump’s time in office, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and his younger son Eric Trump handled the day-to-day operations of all sorts of assets under their father’s name with full authority. The two brothers simply copied their father’s entire playbook for profiting. In March 2025, the brothers partnered with a data center company, securing a 20% stake in that company’s bitcoin mining equipment, and renamed the business as American Bitcoin.

What did the data center company get in return? A bunch of investors—swept up by Trump-related hype. The company could dump large amounts of shares to them; the proceeds were enough to fully offset the cost of giving up 20% equity. On May 12, 2025, American Bitcoin announced it would go public via a SPAC, and the SPAC’s share price surged 448%.

Ryan Kenney, 41, is a military family member. He once majored in architecture, and now most of his time is spent at home taking care of two kids. A week after the stock officially went public, American Bitcoin’s share price pulled back. He immediately put in $60k to buy the stock, convinced he had caught the low-price opportunity early. But the value of this stock depends entirely on market hype, lacking solid operating fundamentals—making the motivational slogans widely circulated in the meme coin circle (“Buy the dip!” “Buy more the more it drops to average down!”) especially dangerous. Kenney kept adding positions; his total investment reached $98k. Today, his holding’s market value is only $9,000.

Recently, he often thinks about investors stuck in the same situation. He also can’t help but think about the overall scale of the losses for these people. “Maybe nobody loses as much as me,” he said, “but across the U.S., there could be hundreds of thousands of people—each loses $5,000.”

Back to Fistikan, he still can’t let go of that Florida home. With his savings already wiped out, he could only settle for something else: a $18k plot of land overgrown with weeds, planning that one day he might build a house on it. He drives freight in the Pacific Northwest. The Iran-U.S. conflict pushed local diesel prices to above $6 per gallon, sharply squeezing his income.

“The money I make running freight now is about the same as working at a fast-food restaurant flipping burgers.”

With his cash strapped lately, Fistikan has had to sell assets to get by. He could have cleared out his Trump Media company stock—this company has continued to post operating losses of billions of dollars each year, yet its total market value has long stayed at more than three times the value of the bitcoin base asset it holds, with valuation still severely overheated. But for such Trump-concept-linked instruments, stock price movements are not driven primarily by a discounted cash flow valuation logic. What supports the price is more the loyalty of supporters, and the speculative mindset that “once the next hype wave comes, the market will rebound.”

So Fistikan sold his Ford F-150 pickup.

That is a snapshot of Trump-concept stock investing. Fistikan had originally hoped to buy a waterfront home in Florida. Instead, all he ended up with was a weed-choked vacant lot, an investment account that lost him badly, and cash barely enough to keep him afloat.