Donald Shaw Accused Trump of Possible Stock-Market Manipulation Using Insider Information

In the US, a report by journalist Donald Shaw is being discussed after he accused Donald Trump of possible stock-market manipulation using his political position.

Shaw says Trump’s investment accounts repeatedly bought or sold large blocks of assets shortly before major White House economic decisions that had a significant effect on the stock market.

One example was April 8, 2025. A day before Trump announced a 90-day pause in the application of higher import tariffs, large blocks of Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, and other companies’ shares were bought from his investment accounts. The total value of the transactions, according to Shaw’s estimate, may have reached $13 million.

After the pause was announced, those shares rose by an average of about 10%. That, the journalist says, may have increased Trump’s wealth by roughly $1 million in just one day.

Another episode concerns July 23, 2025, when the White House published a national plan for the development of artificial intelligence. On the same day, according to the investigation, Trump’s accounts bought shares in Amazon, Apple, Broadcom, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and other companies worth up to $30 million. After the plan was presented, those securities rose by an average of 2–3% in a day.

Shaw also says that on August 18, 2025, Trump became the owner of shares in Nvidia, Intel, Microsoft, and other companies worth about $75 million shortly before the announcement of a government-support program for microchip manufacturers. In January 2026, according to the journalist, he bought about $1 million worth of Nvidia shares shortly before the company received a license to export AI chips to China.

Using insider information to trade on the stock market is a criminal offense in the US. The White House denies wrongdoing and says Trump’s investment accounts are managed by a trust that makes trading decisions independently and does not receive instructions from him.