Last month the New York Times reported on a dinner Donald Trump had with a small group of donors, including large backers of his 2016 campaign, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer. Other attendees included entrepreneur Omeed Malik, cosmetics firm founder Trish McEvoy and real estate billionaire Richard Kurtz.
In April the Mercers and Malik were among a few dozen co-chairs of a Trump fundraising dinner hosted by John Paulson, along with other notable co-chairs including Wilbur Ross, Steve Wynn, Howard Lutnick, Robert Wood, Kelly Loeffler, Kenny Troutt and Linda McMahon – who is also a board director of Trump Media which owns Truth Social. The Trump campaign claimed it raised over $50 million at the event.
Omeed Malik was once known as a democrat who had worked at former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine’s brokerage firm. But he is now emerging as a prominent Trump donor and a vocal supporter of ‘anti-woke’ and ‘patriotic’ policies and businesses.
In the past few years Omeed Malik has launched businesses with some key Trump supporters including Rebekah Mercer, Blake Masters, Nick Ayers and Kelly Loeffler. He is a minority owner of the Daily Caller founded by Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel and Malik founded a company with Rebekah Mercer that provided seed funding for Carlson and Patel’s newest media business.
After bringing one company public as a special purpose acquisition company, known as a SPAC, Malik oversaw the business combination with another company that promotes conservative far-right values, and he has now launched a second SPAC which may repeat the same strategy. SPACs are also referred to as ‘blank-check companies’ and ‘shell’ corporations because they do not have an existing business — they were set up to launch as publicly traded companies and after going public, to combine with existing businesses, enabling the existing business to bypass the initial public offering process.
Trump recently merged his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which owns Truth Social, with a SPAC called Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC). The TMTG and DWAC merger along with Omeed Malik’s recent SPAC deals shows how these SPAC business combinations are being used to fund some far-right businesses by merging them with publicly listed shell companies and then raising money from conservative and right-wing investors.
While Malik is not a billionaire donor, he is aligned with powerful partners and is actively building businesses that target Trump voters and he is using the SPAC fundraising model which is likely to become more prevalent. Following is an overview of some of Omeed Malik’s prior and current business ventures.
Omeed Malik and Bank of America
According to his bio, Omeed Malik had been a corporate lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. He had worked at former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine’s brokerage firm MF Global Holdings and then he became a senior executive at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
In 2018 Reuters reported that Malik was leaving Bank of America to launch a fund advisory firm. The day after the Reuters story broke, the New York Times reported that Malik had departed Bank of America after claims of sexual misconduct were made against him.
Malik filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Bank of America and according to the New York Post, BofA agreed to an eight figure settlement with Malik.
Omeed Malik’s recent business ventures
Omeed Malik is the founder and CEO of boutique investment bank and broker/dealer Farvahar Partners and he is the President of investment firm 1789 Capital which he co-founded with Republican donor and Cambridge Analytica funder Rebekah Mercer.
Malik was the Chairman and CEO of Colombier Acquisition Corp. a SPAC which merged in 2023 with PSQ Holdings, Inc. which does business as Public Square and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under symbol PSQH.
Malik is now the CEO of a second SPAC called Colombier Acquisition Corp. II along with other executives and directors that overlap with many of his other business ventures.
Malik’s 1789 Capital launched with Rebekah Mercer funds Tucker Carlson’s media company and a 3D-printable rocket fuel company
Last year the Wall Street Journal reported on Omeed Malik’s firm 1789 Capital and described his transition from corporate Democrat to a key financier of right-wing companies.
Five years ago, Omeed Malik was a self-described “run-of-the-mill corporate Democrat,” with a seat on the Council on Foreign Relations, a summer house in the Hamptons, and stints at Bank of America and white-shoe law firm Weil, Gotshal under his belt. Then Covid happened. Chafing under government mandates he found illogical and corporate limits on speech that felt to him like censorship, he moved from Manhattan to Florida and began hanging out with Republican donors. He discovered a business opportunity in a so-called parallel economy of conservative-friendly companies. Now, he is one of their financiers.
Malik launched 1789 Capital with Rebekah Mercer and Christopher Buskirk. The February 2023 Form D filing for 1789 Capital and the 13F filing both list directors Omeed Malik, Christopher Buskirk and Rebekah Mercer. The 13F below shows a January 2023 sale of $100 million offered and $10 million sold and $10 million of assets under management.
The 1789 Capital website shows that the team includes Omeed Malik Founder and President, Christopher Buskirk Founder and CIO, Jordan Cohen COO, Joe Voboril Head of Research, and Blake Masters Board of Advisors. Cohen and Voboril both work with Malik at Farvahar Partners. And Blake Masters is a director with Malik at PSQ Holdings. The website does not display Rebekah Mercer.
The initial investment made by 1789 Capital was acting as a lead for a $15 million seed round with other investors in Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel’s new media company. Malik was previously a minority investor in The Daily Caller founded by Carlson and Patel.
The WSJ noted last year that 1789 had been finalizing its next investment in Firehawk, a startup that makes 3D-printable rocket fuel for missiles that it claims is safer and cheaper than traditional methods. Several months ago Firehawk announced a new round of funding that featured 1789 Capital.
PSQ Holdings and PublicSquare
In 2021 Omeed Malik’s Colombier Acquisition Corp. completed a $150 million initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The special purpose acquisition company known as a SPAC was created to combine with an existing established business. In 2023 they announced approval for Colombier Acquisition Corp. to merge with PSQ Holdings, Inc. (“PublicSq.”), a leading marketplace of patriotic businesses and consumers.
PublicSquare describes itself as “America’s marketplace in the parallel economy that empowers like-minded, patriots to discover and support companies from a wide variety of industries that share their values” and “the largest, traditional-values-driven marketplace in the country.”
In a recent interview that Malik did with Megyn Kelly she said YouTube and Amazon suppress patriotic voices. The interview, ironically, is available on YouTube where Megyn Kelly has 1.8 million subscribers. Kelly said Chris Pavolvski’s Rumble is the alternative to YouTube and PublicSquare is the alternative to Amazon. I wrote about Rumble here and how closely they work with Trump’s Truth Social.
Omeed Malik is now a director of PSQ Holdings (aka PublicSquare) along with Nick Ayers, the former Chief of Staff for Vice President Mike Pence, Blake Masters a venture capitalist and former protege of Peter Thiel, and Kelly Loeffler the former U.S. senator from Georgia and a co-host with Malik of Trump’s April fundraiser.
Per an April 2024 Schedule 14A filing for PSQ Holdings, CEO Michael Seifert had 10.24% of class A common stock and 50.69% of the voting percentage, and Omeed Malik had 8.41% of class A common stock and 4.24% voting percentage. Malik has control of shares held by Malik Advisors LLC and Knights Court LLC. Other investors that are 5% or more stockholders include SuRo Capital Corp., Richard L. Jackson, and Davis Pilot, Jr.
PublicSquare just acquired firearms financing company Credova
In March 2024 PublicSquare announced the acquisition of Credova Holdings, Inc described as a point-of-sale financing platform providing “Buy Now Pay Later” (BNPL) solutions catered to the shooting sports and firearms industries.
A 2022 New York Times story by Matthew Goldstein reported on the little known fin-tech company Credova and the work it was doing to offer installment plans to buyers of guns and hunting supplies. The company was run by Dusty Wunderlich who is now a director of PSQ Holdings along with Malik. The 2022 New York Times story described how at that time Credova’s profile in the gun industry had been rising:
It has teamed up with the National Rifle Association on at least two occasions, including sponsoring a luncheon at the association’s annual meeting in 2019…More recently, Credova drew attention because it offers financing plans to customers of Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the gun used by the Uvalde, Texas, school attacker. Credova told Bloomberg that it did not finance the gunman’s purchase of firearms. Investigators said he had bought the guns with a bank debit card.
In addition to financing guns and hunting supplies, Credova was also in the business of leasing pets.
Credova was “one of two companies that settled with regulators in Massachusetts over allegations that they illegally leased dogs in the state.” Under a settlement reached with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office “Credova agreed to waive balances totaling more than $126,000 for consumers who wanted to purchase dogs from retailers.”
Per Goldstein last year Credova signed an agreement with the Firearm Industry Trade Association, NSFF, to provide buy-now, pay-later services to members.
Colombier Acquisition Corp. II
After Colombier Acquisition Corp. merged with PSQ Holdings/PublicSquare, Omeed Malik launched a second SPAC called Colombier Acquisition Corp. II. In November 2023 Colombier Acquisition Corp. II completed a $170 million initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
According to their 10-K annual report filed in March 2024 for the year ending December 31, 2023, the company which was incorporated in the Cayman Islands is seeking a business combination and has not yet generated any revenues or selected a business combination target.
Omeed Malik is the CEO of Colombier Acquisition Corp. II, Joe Voboril is the CFO and Co-President, Andrew Nasser, is CIO and Co-President, Jordan Cohen is COO and directors include Ryan Kavanaugh, Chris Buskirk, Candice Willoughby and PublicSquare CEO Michael Seifert.
It will be worth watching this SPAC to see what business combination Omeed Malik pursues next in the coming year.
2 thoughts on “Omeed Malik is a Trump fundraiser who invests in ‘patriotic’ ‘anti-woke’ businesses including one with Rebekah Mercer that funded Tucker Carlson”