Shareholders approved a merger Friday to list Donald Trump’s social media venture on the stock market, providing a potential financial lifeline to the former president as he faces possible seizure of properties.After many previous delays, investors voted to approve the merger of Digital World Acquisition and Trump Media & Technology Group — owner of the Truth Social platform, company officials said on a webcast of the vote.The action provides Trump with potentially some $3 billion as he faces a $454 million court payment in a fraud case in New York state, although he may not be able to access the funds for several months.Truth Social was started by the ex-president and current presidential candidate after he was booted from Facebook and Twitter, which announced on January 8, 2021 that it was “permanently” banning him “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” The former president has since been reinstated to the platforms, which had been responding to the January 6 insurrection, when a mob of his supporters seeking to halt the certification of his election defeat to Joe Biden stormed the US Capitol in Washington.Trump’s expected bounty stems from millions of shares he owns in Trump Media that are now worth billions with Friday’s vote to combine with Digital World, a shell company created specifically to combine with an operating business.However, such deals require principal shareholders such as Trump to hold the equity for six months before selling.- Trump fury -Shares of Digital World — which is expected to be renamed in Trump’s name — were volatile Friday, falling 1.7 percent near 1615 GMT.Trump, who has clinched the Republican nomination for this year’s presidential election, is appealing his $355 million penalty, plus interest, after a New York court ruled that he, his sons and his Trump Organization company lied for years about the value of his assets, deceiving banks and insurers.A 30-day grace period to put up the money expires Monday, raising immediate questions about how Trump will respond. According to US media reports, New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken some preliminary steps to seize Trump assets in New York, but additional court actions would be needed if the properties were going to be taken.Trump lashed out at prosecutors earlier Friday, depicting the New York case as a political conspiracy orchestrated by Biden, his expected opponent again in November. “No trial, no jury, no crime, no victim,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Only a crooked judge and a corrupt, Trump-hating attorney general, who takes her orders directly from the White House.”Election interference at a level never seen before!”Despite the real-estate mogul’s $2.6 billion estimated net worth — and his own claims of having cash on hand — his lawyers say that it has been impossible to come up with the $454 million bond, due Monday.Typically, such bonds would be underwritten by an insurer or specialized bond company.But Trump’s lawyers say that after approaching 30 such companies, none will take the ex-president’s real-estate holdings as collateral.Trump’s shock victory in 2016 was credited in part to his leverage of social media and his enormous digital reach.Prior to January 6, 2021, the former reality TV star had spent weeks falsely claiming that the presidential election was stolen from him, and he was subsequently impeached for inciting the riot.But he has continued to press the narrative, leading millions of his supporters to believe the 2020 was stolen despite numerous court rulings upholding the vote.tu-jmb/st