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Former US President Donald Trump now faces a whopping 78 criminal counts across three investigations, with the latest four grand jury counts filed just today for alleged interference in the 2020 general elections. As the former president’s legal woes continue to spiral down a seemingly endless vortex, the planned merger between the SPAC Digital World and the entity behind the Truth Social platform, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), faces substantially lengthening odds.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries call the Jan. 6 indictment “the most serious and most consequential thus far.” pic.twitter.com/ZQLq6Bjsjr

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 1, 2023

For the benefit of those who might be unaware, Trump now faces 34 counts related to falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels case, 40 counts in the classified documents case, and four counts related to interference in the 2020 general elections. The new counts include:

Conspiracy to defraud the United StatesConspiracy to obstruct an official proceedingObstruction of, and attempt to obstruct, an officialConspiracy against constitutional rights

Of course, each additional legal hurdle makes it progressively less likely that the planned merger between Digital World and TMTG would be able to reach consummation. In fact, TMTG has already communicated that it might not remain bound to the merger agreement beyond the current terminal date, which currently falls on the 08th of September 2023:

“Pursuant to its electronic mail, TMTG believes it is currently only bound under the Merger Agreement through September 8, 2023.”

Today’s development comes as the SEC recently acquiesced to a multi-million-dollar settlement with the SPAC Digital World. As per the SEC’s findings, the CEO of Digital World had held a number of preliminary discussions with TMTG as well as other investors in the spring and summer of 2021. However, the SPAC failed to disclose these important discussions in its filings. Later on, once the merger between Digital World and the Trump Media and Technology Group had been finalized, the SPAC’s Form S-4 filing “mischaracterized and omitted” certain pertinent portions of the history of interactions between DWAC and TMTG. As restitution, Digital World agreed to pay an $18 million penalty and gave an undertaking to file an amended Form S-4.