Trump Faces Market Manipulation Allegations After Buying Palantir Shares, Sparking 'Pump-Up' Controversy

[Financial News]  
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U.S. President Donald Trump is facing allegations of stock market manipulation.
CNBC reported on the 15th (local time), citing documents released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE), that Trump bought a large amount of Palantir shares weeks before praising the company extensively on his social media platform Truth Social.
Palantir is an AI platform company that has played a role in helping the United States Department of Defense make strategic decisions in the Iran War.
According to OGE records, Trump made thousands of stock trades in the first quarter of this year, with a total value reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. Each filing listed only a price range rather than a specific amount.
The records show that Trump bought between $247,008 and $630,000 worth of Palantir shares during the first quarter.
Trump sold up to $5 million worth of Palantir shares on Feb. 10 and sold the stock several times over a two-week period. In March, however, he bought up to $530,000 worth of shares on at least seven occasions.
A month later, Trump promoted Palantir on Truth Social even as the stock struggled through its worst week in a year. At the time, Palantir shares were falling after Michael Burry, the real-life investor portrayed in the film The Big Short, strongly warned that the stock was overvalued, despite the special circumstances created by the Iran War.
Trump posted on Truth Social, "Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to be a tremendous war-fighting and equipment capability," adding, "Ask our enemies!!" Palantir equipment is believed to have been used to identify Iranian targets.
The Trump Organization, which functions as Trump’s holding company, denied the market manipulation allegations. In a statement, it said, "The President's investment assets are managed through independently managed, fully discretionary accounts based solely on independent and exclusive investment decisions by third-party financial institutions," and added that "transactions are carried out according to the automated investment procedures and systems of these institutions."
The statement also emphasized that Trump, his family, and The Trump Organization "do not play any role in selecting, directing, or approving specific investments."
A Trump Organization spokesperson claimed, "They receive no advance notice of trading activity and do not interfere in any way with investment decisions or portfolio management."
Palantir is so deeply tied to the U.S. defense industry that it is classified as an AI defense contractor. More than half of its revenue comes from the government, and it has benefited especially as military modernization has accelerated under the second Trump administration.
Alex Karp, the CEO and a strong advocate of expanding U.S. military power, once supported Joe Biden’s presidential campaign but has backed the current administration under Trump’s second term.
Palantir also supported Trump’s military parade in Washington, D.C. last June to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
Meanwhile, OGE records show that Trump traded stocks actively in the first quarter of this year, and there were signs that he may have used advance information.
About a week after Trump bought between $1 million and $5 million worth of NVIDIA Corporation shares in February, NVIDIA announced that it would expand its AI partnership with Meta Platforms Inc.
That same month, Trump bought between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares in ServiceNow, Workday, Oracle Corporation, and Microsoft (MS).
He also purchased more than $1 million worth of shares in Amazon.com, Inc., Apple Inc., and Broadcom Inc.
dympna@fnnews.com Song Kyung-jae Reporter