Earlier this year conservative right-wing media outlet Newsmax went public and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NMAX. Newsmax raised $75 million through the sale of 7.5 million shares at $10 per share. In the first few days of trading the stock surged to $233, briefly pushing the market cap above $20 billion and making Newsmax founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy a new billionaire. Recently Newsmax has traded closer to $14 per share, with a market cap of $1.8 billion and Christopher Ruddy’s stake is worth closer to $550 million.
Per a recent Forbes story the Newsmax cable channel is now the fourth-largest news channel in the U.S. with 30 million monthly viewers “according to data from Nielsen cited in Newsmax’s public filings.”
Newsmax was founded by Christopher Ruddy in 1998 with funding from Richard Mellon Scaife. Christopher Ruddy is known to be a friend of Donald Trump – and now their businesses are aligned as well. Earlier this month, Trump Media and Technology Group announced the launch of their Truth+ social media apps globally and that they were making their Newsmax channel available internationally.
According to Forbes Newsmax revenues have grown steadily in recent years. But the company took a hit last year when it agreed to pay a $40 million settlement to voting machine company Smartmatic, which had sued Newsmax for false claims related to the 2020 election. Newsmax is fighting a lawsuit by voting machine company Dominion, which settled a similar suit with Fox News for $787 million.
With Jeffrey Epstein flooding the news these days, a side note is that earlier this year Alex Acosta, the former Secretary of Labor in Trump’s first administration, joined the Newsmax Board of Directors. Alex Acosta was a former federal prosecutor in Florida who negotiated a plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein in 2008 that allowed Epstein to serve a 13-month work-release program. The Department of Justice conducted an investigation of Acosta’s handling of the plea deal and in 2020 reported that he exhibited poor judgement.
While there has been brief reporting on the largest investors in Newsmax, this story provides a closer look at one of them, Vadim Shulman. For years Shulman was a close business partner – and later a bitter legal opponent – of Ukrainian oligarch, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who has been sanctioned in the U.S., charged with embezzling billions from Ukrainian PrivatBank, and who is under arrest in Ukraine on charges related to a 2003 contract killing.
Newsmax’s largest outside investors: Thomas Peterffy, Qatari Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al-Thani and Vadim Shulman
In March Forbes reported that in addition to Christopher Ruddy, several other major investors also made out well from the Newsmax IPO earlier this year – including billionaire Thomas Peterffy, Qatari Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al-Thani and Ukrainian oligarch Vadim Shulman. The valuations described below were based on the stock price at that time, which has since declined sharply.
Ruddy isn’t the only one who won big in the listing: stock brokerage billionaire Thomas Peterffy owns an 18% stake in Newsmax worth an estimated $1.9 billion. It’s unclear when Peterffy invested in the company, and a spokesperson for him declined to comment. Other major investors include Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al-Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, with a 15% stake worth an estimated $1.6 billion, and Ukrainian businessman Vadim Shulman with a 4% stake worth an estimated $361 million. Al-Thani reportedly invested $50 million in Newsmax between 2019 and 2020, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Thomas Peterffy is a billionaire who founded Interactive Brokers Group. He backed Donald Trump in 2020, was briefly against Trump ahead of the 2024 elections, but now appears to be back on the Trump train. Thomas Peterffy owns his shares in Newsmax through Conyers Investments, LLC.
Per ICIJ in 2019 and 2020, Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al-Thani, a former Qatari government official and the owner of a London-based investment fund, Heritage Advisors, invested in Newsmax “at a time when Qatar was facing intense diplomatic pressure from its neighbors and seeking allies in the United States.” Jassim Al-Thani’s shares in Newsmax are through Naples Investment Holdco, which is managed by Heritage Investments LP.
The Newsmax investment by Vadim Shulman was made through Ekwatoria Enterprises, Inc. While this investment has been previously reported, little has been reported on Vadim Shulman’s business history, including his early work with a sanctioned Ukrainian oligarch and his more recent links to a lawyer connected to several associates linked to Trump family business deals.
Vadim Shulman was a former business partner who became a legal rival of Ihor Kolomoisky who is sanctioned and charged with various crimes
For several decades Vadim Shulman had worked closely with Ukrainian oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov – until they had a falling out and Shulman filed lawsuits against his former partners in the U.K. and U.S.
The Kyiv Post reported that in 2017 Vadim Shulman sued his former business partners Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov and alleged that they had both stolen over $500 million from him.
Shulman is demanding repayment from Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov, claiming that they used a 15-year friendship to defraud him in business deals from Russia’s Altai Mountains to Warren, Ohio. The lawsuit details a trail of self-dealing and lawlessness that extends from the late 1990s to 2016, featuring cameos from ex-Prime Minister and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, and Vladimir Putin friend Viktor Medvedchuk.
The lawsuit described a convoluted business partnership in which Shulman and Kolomoisky at various points appeared to have loaned each other $100 million. Many of their deals involved transactions with Ukraine’s PrivatBank, which was founded by Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov and later nationalized in 2016 after $5.5 billion was found missing. Kolomoisky and Bobolyubov have been sanctioned and charged in various cases since.
A 2007 deal had involved the sale of some Ukrainian factories by Kolomoisky, Bobolyubov and Shulman to Roman Abramovich’s company Evraz. Shulman claims he was paid $284 million less than he was owed, but Shulman continued to do business with Kolomoisky and Bobolyubov after that. Their big falling out came later and centered on a 2001 investment in a steel plant in Warren, Ohio. Vadim Shulman said that he investigated that deal in 2012 and alleges Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov robbed the company.
In 2024 Kolomoisky, who is under U.S. sanctions and has faced charges of fraud and money laundering related to PrivatBank, was separately named as a suspect in an attempted murder in 2003 and has since been jailed in Ukraine.
In addition to his legal battles with Kolomoisky and Bobolyubov, Vadim Shulman has been involved with other deals that have lead to contentious lawsuits and he has been the subject of some investigations. According to a 2020 Al Jazeera story on wealthy Ukrainians who had bought Cypriot passports, in 2019 Vadim Shulman was placed on a list of wanted persons by Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and was accused of money laundering, which he strongly denied.
Vadim Shulman once led Pathway Genomics and now faces an investor lawsuit
In 2018 Vadim Shulman was listed as a Director of genetics testing company Pathway Genomics Corporation, along with James Plante, and Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace under President George W. Bush.
In 2021 Reuters reported on an investor suit that claimed a company called OME Ventures (also known as OmeCare) appeared to control Pathway Genomics Corporation, although shareholders were not informed about any transactions between Pathway and OME. Shulman previously led Arizona-based Ome Ventures Inc. which is now inactive.
This past May Bloomberg reported on a 2022 lawsuit in which the plaintiffs allege that Vadim Shulman “looted the now defunct biotech company Pathway Genomics.”
At issue: An offshore investment firm sued Ukrainian businessman Vadim Shulman in March 2022, alleging he looted the now-defunct biotech company Pathway Genomics Corp. Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace was initially named as a defendant, but Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will dismissed him without prejudice from the case in December 2022. The matter went to trial in December. Shulman says in a post-trial brief that he attempted to save Pathway, making loans to the company, until he decided in 2019 that he could no longer fund its operations. The plaintiffs say Shulman engaged in conflicted transactions before the company’s dissolution.
A December 2024 filing in this case described how Vadim Shulman took control of Pathway Genomics in 2017 and in 2018 became Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO. The filing mentions ‘Non-party Dennis Hawk is a lawyer who formerly represented Mr. Shulman.’ The next sections of this article provide more detail on Shulman and Dennis Hawk, who set up the company that Shulman used to invest in Newsmax.
The December filing also noted that Shulman is not allowed entry into the U.S. and that he required a Russian translator:
Defendants have represented to Plaintiffs that at this time, Mr. Shulman is not allowed entry into the United States and, therefore, cannot appear in person at trial. Defendants have represented to Plaintiffs that any live testimony by Mr. Shulman will require a Russian language translator.
An April filing by Shulman noted that he had invested around $100 million in Pathway by the end of 2016 and had acquired approximately 28% of the company and that Pathway steadily lost money and had encountered issues with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FDA.
In or about December 2015, Pathway agreed to pay over $4 million to settle claims by the U.S. Department of Justice related to alleged kickbacks meant to incentivize healthcare providers to use Pathway’s genetic tests. Coupled with allegations in the Fall of 2015 by the Food and Drug Administration that one of Pathway’s products was being inappropriately marketed to consumers, Pathway’s reputation took a serious hit.
The April filing by Shulman also described how he became more active in the company in 2016 to 2017 and conducted an audit:
he had “never seen anything like that …. I’ve never seen the disarray, the financial disarray that I saw on paper. I mean, it was pure stealing. Somebody was just stealing money from the company. I had not seen that before.”
It is somewhat ironic that Shulman said he had never seen the stealing like what was taking place at Pathway before, since during a similar period in 2017 Shulman filed the lawsuit alleging that his former business partners Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov had stolen over $500 million from him.
Per the December 2024 filing in the Pathway lawsuit, Vadim Shulman was not allowed to enter the U.S. In a similar timeframe, a September 2024 filing for Newsmax shows that Shulman’s Ekwatoria Enterprises owned 7.5% of Newsmax’s Class B shares. A May 2025 filing shows Ekwatoria Enterprises Inc. holds 4,465,157 shares, which at the recent $14 share price would be worth approximately $62 million.
It seems notable that one of the largest owners of Newsmax is Vadim Shulman, who per the Pathway lawsuit was not allowed to enter the U.S. at the end of 2024. It is not clear what this claim was based on and I have not found other reporting that Shulman was barred from entering the U.S.
Vadim Shulman’s company Ekwatoria Enterprises which invested in Newsmax was originally set up by lawyer Dennis Hawk
Vadim Shulman invested in Newsmax through Ekwatoria Enterprises, which was incorporated by lawyer Dennis J. Hawk in 2014. On a 2024 filing for Ekwatoria, the officer name was changed to Vadim Shulman. As noted earlier Dennis Hawk was mentioned in the Pathway lawsuit as a lawyer who formerly represented Shulman.
Shulman and Hawk have a connection through a company called Artstory Advisors.
Dennis Hawk was General Counsel of Artstory Advisors in 2021 per the wayback archive, with other executives Yuri Vanetik (whom I wrote about briefly here), Alexandra Listerman, and Kristina Semenovskaya. A 2019 corporate filing for Artstory Advisors, LLC lists Kristina Semenovskaya at 21808 PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) in Malibu. This is the address of a mansion that was bought by Vadim Shulman in 2014 , with a $12.5 million loan from BofI, later renamed Axos Bank, which has provided over $500 million in financing to Donald Trump in the past few years. Vadim Shulman sold the Malibu home in 2022 for $40 million to Grant Cardone.
In 2023 Vadim Shulman filed a lawsuit against Dennis Hawk in California. While Vadim Shulman has been described as a Ukrainian tycoon or oligarch, the 2023 complaint says he is a citizen of Israel and resident of Monaco.
Shulman’s complaint said that Dennis Hawk took $10,000 per month starting in 2014 as his fee to maintain Shulman’s Malibu home and Shulman provided $100,000 per month to Hawk to manage the home, pay staff and related expenses. Shulman’s complaint alleges breach of contract, civil theft, negligence, embezzlement and more – including that Shulman is entitled to recover approximately $870,000 and that over $1 million in personal property was missing. It appears that the case is still ongoing.
Oddly, despite the lawsuit, a June 2025 filing for Ekwatoria Enterprises run by Vadim Shulman, which invested in Newsmax, still lists the same address as the law office of Dennis Hawk. The Ekwatoria Enterprises filings list the type of business as “Real Estate Holdings,” but it is not clear if Ekwatoria is connected in any way to the Malibu home.
The connections between Shulman and Hawk are interesting because Dennis Hawk has worked closely with several people who have been closely linked to the Trump family.
Dennis Hawk has business ties to Michael Liberty who was pardoned by Donald Trump in 2021 and whose son invested with Don Jr. last year
Dennis Hawk is an officer in multiple companies with Michael Liberty, his wife Brittany (who also goes by Brittany Abbass), and another lawyer Anthony Fratianne. Hawk made a small cameo in a 2016 story about the rivalry between two L.A. schools, one of which was majority owned by Michael Liberty and Brittany Abbass.
Last year Maine publication The County reported that In 2024 Donald Trump Jr. bought hunting land in Maine from Austin Theriault’s family. The land was purchased by the company Trump Timberland & Wildlife Management, LLC and the officers are Donald Trump Jr., Anthony Fratianne, and George Liberty – the son of Brittany and Michael Liberty.
The other two men listed on the filing are linked to Michael Liberty, a real estate developer who was pardoned by the elder Trump during the waning hours of his first presidency in 2021. That pardon centered on Liberty’s earlier conviction for violating campaign finance laws by illegally contributing $22,500 to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential bid, but it also helped to resolve a wire and securities fraud case that he was fighting in federal court in Portland. Trump Jr.’s business also includes lawyer Anthony Fratianne, who works for the Liberty family, as well as Liberty’s son, George Liberty. The Trump Organization, that family’s main company, did not respond to emailed questions sent late Monday.
I had been following Michael Liberty since 2018 because he reportedly had pledged $100,000 to help Peter Smith try to find Hillary Clinton’s ‘missing’ emails from hackers. Peter Smith had been on the board of Mozido which was founded by Michael Liberty.
As a side note, Dennis Hawk (along with Vadim Shulman and Ekwatoria) came onto my radar in 2022 because of links he had to several people I have researched over the years. For example, Dennis Hawk is listed on company filings with Dolapo Asiru who was covered in this Mother Jones story about his work with former Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy. Years ago Dennis Hawk briefly represented Michael Jackson and was involved in some discussions with another former Trump fundraising and now U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, about buying Neverland.
Vadim Shulman’s investment in Newsmax through a company set up by Dennis Hawk – who has worked closely with the Liberty family – is interesting because Hawk also worked closely with the CEO of a company that Donald Trump Jr. recently invested in.
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Dennis Hawk worked with Rightscorp founder Robert Steele who now runs Thumzup where Donald Trump Jr. recently invested
A July filing for Thumzup Media Corporation lists Donald Trump Jr. as a selling stockholder with 350,000 shares. Based on the recent share price of Thumzup of slightly more than $14, Don Jr.’s stake is worth approximately $5 million.
The CEO of Thumzup Media has worked previously with Dennis Hawk.
Thumzup Media CEO Robert Steele was President of Rightscorp, Inc. from 2010 to 2016. Rightscorp is a copyright enforcement company that seeks out copyright infringements and demands payments. A 2015 lawsuit against Rightscorps and Robert Steele also included Dennis Hawk and described his role in issuing subpoenas.
Defendant Dennis Hawk, acting “on behalf of Rightscorp and the copyright owners it represents” initiated 142 miscellaneous proceedings in this Court to obtain DMCA Section 512(h) subpoenas.
A posting by a lawyer who has closely followed Rightscorp described their practices.
Rightscorp defendants deceptively are not told that it is Rightscorp who is suing them. Rather, they will receive a subpoena relating to some ‘motion to compel’ that they have filed in a federal court. Their subpoenas force the ISP to hand over account information to a place called “Inquest Resources” at 807 Brazos Street, Suite 805 in Austin, TX. The subpoenas usually come with a Declaration by Dennis J. Hawk of the Business Law Group under the 17 USC 512(h) statute.
On a separate tangent from the Dennis Hawk connection, I had been researching Thumzup Media because the company has many links to the Barry Honig network that I have reported on extensively. Barry Honig and several associates and entities were charged by the SEC in 2018 for a $27 million stock fraud scheme. Honig and several in his network were previous investors in Dominari Holdings, a company that is now part owned by Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and several other Trump Organization executives. Dominari acted as the placement agent for Thumzup Media.
Thumzup Media Corporation CEO Robert Steele had been an executive of IRTH Communications from 2017 to 2019. Thumzup Media board director Robert Haag runs IRTH with his brother Andrew Haag, who is also an investor in Thumzup.
IRTH worked with several companies linked to the Barry Honig network as noted here and here. In 2020 the SEC charged IRTH Communications and owner Andrew Haag for failing to disclose compensation for paid tweets.
In addition to Donald Trump Jr., below are several other Thumzup investors listed in the July filing:
- Eleven Ventures LLC – is run by Hartley Wasko, who I reported here worked closely with Michael Shvartsman who was convicted of insider trading in DWAC, the firm that merged with Trump Media. I reported that Wasko appears to have received $10.8 million from a Russian-American businessman who also loaned Trump Media $8 million. Wasko is also linked to several Dominari deals.
- American Ventures – is managed by Soo Yu, the wife of Kyle Wool who runs Dominari Holdings (which is part owned by Eric and Don Jr.).
- Valkyrie X Ser VII TZUP I – is managed by Jin Pyung Yoo who is an officer for Dogehash Technologies which has an address c/o Harvey Kesner, a lawyer who frequently worked with Barry Honig.
- Erica Groussman – is the wife of Mark Groussman who was charged by the SEC along with Barry Honig in the $27 million fraud scheme.
- Zi Ventures – is run by Ido Zaken, an investor in Dominari who also has links to the Honig network.
Newsmax, Vadim Shulman and Dennis Hawk
In my research, I don’t exactly “follow the money” – what I mostly do is “follow the people” involved with the money – and the trail is often a twisting convoluted mess. But it is essential now more than ever to provide transparency into the people and entities that are funding and promoting Trump’s right wing agenda.
Vadim Shulman manages Ekwatoria Enterprises Inc. which is one of the four largest investors in Christopher Ruddy’s Newsmax – which runs one of the four largest cable news channels in the U.S.
Donald Trump’s company Trump Media and Technology Group recently announced that they are helping to bring the Newsmax channel international.
While Ekwatoria Enterprises is now managed by Vadim Shulman, it was created by lawyer Dennis Hawk, and despite a 2023 lawsuit with Shulman, the company address in a 2025 filing is still the same as Hawk’s law firm address.
Dennis Hawk has worked closely with the Liberty family which has multiple ties to the Trump family. And Hawk previously worked with Robert Steele, the CEO of Thumzup Media where Donald Trump Jr. is a recent investor.
A December 2024 filing in the Pathway Genomics lawsuit said that Defendants had represented that Vadim Shulman was not allowed to enter the U.S. It is not clear why this statement was made or if it is still accurate – but it makes Shulman’s ownership of Newsmax shares worth approximately $62 million worth following more closely.