Trump Media on Jan. 28 awarded thousands of shares of company stock to President Donald Trump's then-nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, to Trump's eldest son and to four other board members, regulatory filings at the time showed.
The company awarded 25,946 shares each to Patel, Donald Trump Jr., and the president's pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, who all served as Trump Media directors at the time, the Jan. 30 filings said.
The stock awards were made public hours after Patel appeared for a Senate hearing on his nomination to lead the FBI, the top U.S. law enforcement agency.
Patel told senators in a written response to their questions that he would not accept the stock award.
"On January 28, 2025, the TMTG board convened without my presence or participation and awarded all board members—including myself—compensation for past services provided, including a monetary award and shares," Patel wrote in response to a question from Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
"Even though this represented compensation for past services I had provided, out of an abundance of caution and to avoid any appearance of any conflict, I did not and will not accept that compensation," he added.
The questionnaire was delivered to the Senate on Jan. 30 and posted on the Judiciary Committee's website Feb. 3.
Patel also wrote that he would step down from the board of Trump Media if he were confirmed as FBI director. The Senate voted to confirm Patel Feb. 20, and the company announced the same day that he was no longer a director of Trump Media.
McMahon wrote in a Feb. 7 ethics filing that she would resign from the Trump Media board if she were confirmed as Education secretary and forfeit the portion of the stock award that had not yet vested.
McMahon added that she would divest from the remaining one-fourth of the stock award, which has already vested, within 90 days of her confirmation.
McMahon has not yet been confirmed, but the Senate panel with jurisdiction voted Feb. 20 to send her nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.
Three other directors on Jan. 28 — former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Eric Swider and Kyle Green — were granted the same number of DJT shares at no cost, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
The filings said the awards were made on Jan. 28, and Trump Media closed trading that day at $30.04 per share.
At that price, each individual's stock award had a paper value of more than $779,400. But most of these shares had restrictions on when they could be sold.
The filings said the stock was granted "as consideration for services provided" between late March — when Trump Media went public after completing a merger with a blank-check company — and Dec. 25.
Weeks after winning the presidential election, Trump transferred his majority stake in Trump Media to his revocable trust. Trump is the sole beneficiary of the trust, and Trump Jr. is its only trustee.
The SEC filings said the shares awarded were restricted stock units that would vest in installments.
Twenty-five percent of the awarded RSUs — about 6,487 shares per director — immediately vested, meaning they can be sold at any time. The paper value of those shares was nearly $195,000 as of the closing price on Jan. 28.
The remaining 75% of the RSUs will vest in nine quarterly installments over two years beginning March 25.
Trump Media did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.
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