Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

The Securities and Exchange Commission and another federal regulatory agency are conducting investigations into Donald Trump’s new “media” company, including a planned merger “with a so-called blank-check company that raised nearly $300 million in an initial public offering in September,” The New York Times reports.

The S.E.C. and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority “are looking for information regarding the trading in shares of Digital World. The S.E.C. is also looking into ‘documents and communications’ between Digital World and Trump Media.”

According to the Times, “Digital World said it was cooperating with the requests for information and ‘the investigation does not mean that the S.E.C. has concluded that anyone violated the law or that the S.E.C. has a negative opinion of D.W.A.C. or any person, event, or security.'”

Noted attorney George Conway weighed in, noting that DOJ has the ability to criminally prosecute violations of federal securities law:

The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman called it “The inevitable.”

And the Times’ David Enrich calls it a “high-stakes development for Trump.”