A political consulting firm behind President Trump’s prominent social media accounts is caught in a legal battle with one of its co-founders, who is alleged to have embezzled millions to fund his luxurious lifestyle, which involves gambling.
X Strategies Goes After One of Its Own
X Strategies manages, among other things, the Trump War Room and Team Trump accounts on the social media platform X, previously Twitter, and is also working with the President on his TikTok channel. However, the company has now filed a lawsuit against co-founder Derek Utley, who helped co-found the company in 2017.
Utley and Alex Bruesewitz founded the company to mostly spearhead MAGA ideology and help political allies, prominently Donald Trump, ensconcing the company in the two-time President’s good graces and maintaining his online presence.
According to the complaint, Utley has embezzled at least $5 million from company accounts to fund his lifestyle, as well as fuel his gambling addiction. According to the complaint, the stealing of company funds began in 2021 and was not uncovered until later due to fabricated financial records.
Utley has responded to a comment request by Politico, the media outlet that did the original reporting. According to him, the allegations were false, and he was prepared to dispute them and would do so through the appropriate legal channels. Utley refused to go into detail and added that he had no further comment.
X Strategies’ legal team has accused Utley of taking from the company’s funds to fund his gambling habit, with the complaint also citing one example where the man allegedly spent 200 days at a South Florida casino and ended up betting tens of millions on slot machines. He ended up winning $26 million, but ultimately lost $3 million of the $29 million he came to the floor to play with.
Debilitating Gambling Addiction to Blame for Utley’s Alleged Actions
X Strategies became aware of the issue when a new president, Michael Seifert, was brought on board and immediately noticed that the available cash was less than the reported revenue.
Utley is said to have been actively seeking to secure money to hide his alleged acts while engaging in his gambling addiction.
While a serious health issue, gambling addiction is unlikely to exempt Utley from potential wrongdoing in the eyes of the court.