Earlier this yr, two obscure firms from Northern Louisiana brokered a multimillion-dollar take care of former President Donald Trump’s Fact Social and walked away with a finders’ payment valued at $155 million.
The businesses—WorldConnect IPTV and JedTec—shaped a three way partnership, named WorldConnect Applied sciences, which served because the intermediary between Trump Media & Know-how Group (TMTG) and Notion TV CDN, the corporate employed to construct the tech infrastructure wanted to energy Fact Social’s foray into video streaming.
To raised perceive the character of TMTG’s burgeoning media holdings and the businesses constructing it, Fortune examined dozens of enterprise filings from the U.S. and overseas, and spoke to seven sources that beforehand labored with Notion’s cofounders, its present chair Matjaz “Matt” Vidmar and CEO John Mills.
What emerged from these sources was a “no questions asked” coverage at Notion and former firms linked to Vidmar and Mills that led them to work with Chinese language and Russian state-backed propaganda networks, Islamist tv channels, and Iranian firms. TMTG selected to work with Notion regardless of the very fact that previously it did enterprise with now-sanctioned entities.
Vidmar and Mills’ pursuits within the U.S. had been represented by a tag-team of Louisiana salesmen, Jarret Flood and Von Boyett, who run WorldConnect IPTV, an organization with no web site. JedTec, the opposite half of the three way partnership, is registered to James E. Davison—a robust however reclusive Louisiana businessman and main Republican donor. Davison counts a number of Republican presidents as pals and has a repute as a statewide powerbroker. Since 2014, Davison has made private political contributions to the GOP of a minimum of $2.8 million, in accordance to Federal Election Fee information. Within the 2024 election cycle, Davison made $465,000 in private political contributions, in accordance to information from OpenSecrets.
JedTec, which is registered in Davison’s identify, had no clear function within the deal, in accordance with these concerned. “We never even heard about that company,” Vidmar instructed Fortune in an interview. “I know about JedTec as much as I read in the press and in SEC filings.” WorldConnect and legal professionals representing Davison’s firms didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark.
For negotiating the deal, introduced in July, WorldConnect and JedTec obtained 2.6 million shares of TMTG between them, with the choice for one more 2.5 million upon completion of the mission, in accordance with paperwork filed with the SEC. TMTG may even buy Notion’s supply code from WorldConnect for $17.5 million, payable over three years, in accordance to a disclosure made with the SEC when the deal closed in August.
When despatched an in depth record of questions concerning TMTG’s enterprise dealings with Notion, WorldConnect, and JedTec, a TMTG firm spokesperson brushed them off.
“This story, which combines nonsensical insinuations about our company and our partners with false allegations appropriated from other publications, is a textbook example showing why Americans now dismiss the legacy media as a collection of politicized hacks,” they stated.
‘Just another customer’
TMTG employed Notion to construct a “content delivery network” (CDN). These networks primarily retrieve content material from servers in information facilities and cargo it onto a person’s system so it may be streamed with out interruption, wherever they may be watching. In current months, TMTG has been clear that it desires to construct its personal CDN to realize its dream of making a media firm that wouldn’t be topic to denials of service from the businesses that handle the web’s plumbing. The CDN was “created with the goal of rendering the service uncancellable by Big Tech,” the corporate stated in an SEC submitting earlier this month.
One former Notion worker expressed shock at TMTG’s resolution to work with the corporate. “It’s surprising that Trump Media would sign a deal with such a small company that is just a few developers in Ljubljana,” the supply stated.
Notion has a convoluted company construction that spans three international locations and two continents. A holding firm referred to as Notion Group is listed in Ontario, Canada. It consists of two subsidiaries: one in London and one other in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in accordance with paperwork from the Ontario Ministry of Public and Enterprise Service Supply. The Slovenian workplaces home Notion’s software program improvement arm referred to as Fora. Filings in Corporations Home, the U.Ok’s official enterprise registry, present the London-based firm, Notion TV CDN, was unprofitable with internet liabilities of £20,000 and had about two staff in 2023. When requested about Notion’s funds Vidmar stated, “Could be, I am not into accounts detail.” Vidmar added that the U.Ok. firm wasn’t the primary supply of the Notion’s revenues.
Notion beforehand labored with a minimum of two Iranian firms: the Iranian telco Baran Telecom and the IT agency Fanap, in accordance with Notion’s web site. In 2015, Notion introduced it could design a CDN for Baran, Vidmar instructed Fortune in an interview. A month later Notion introduced a three way partnership with Fanap, referred to as Notion Gulf, that aimed to promote the corporate’s companies all through the area, in accordance to a press launch. Fanap is part-owned by the semi-public Pasargad Financial institution, which the U.S. instantly sanctioned in 2020 over fears cash from the financial institution can be used to fund Iran’s nuclear program.
Vidmar stated Notion stopped working with Baran Telecom as quickly as sanctions had been introduced, and that Notion Gulf—the three way partnership with Fanap—was canceled with out conducting any extra offers. He forged Notion’s work in Iran as a consequence of the 2015 Joint Complete Plan of Motion, often known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, that stabilized the connection between Iran and the West. Many international locations “were eager to re-establish trade and investments in Iran,” Vidmar stated in an announcement.
A few of Notion’s different purchasers embody the Saudi Arabian media big Rotana Media and the Sudanese telco Zain. There have been no allegations of wrongdoing or sanctions violations concerned in these offers.
TV channels for Russia, China, and Islamic fundamentalists
Vidmar’s earlier firm, Vision247, additionally had a historical past of working with purchasers that ran afoul of regulators. Vision247, based by Vidmar in 2005, was a London-based firm that made a enterprise of rebroadcasting channels from totally different international locations within the U.Ok. and the world over. Mills additionally labored at Vision247 alongside Vidmar, in accordance with enterprise information. Vidmar and Mills stepped away from Vision247 in 2019, in accordance with former staff and filings from Corporations Home within the U.Ok.
The corporate exhibited little discernment concerning who it could work with, putting offers with Russia At present (RT), China Central Tv (CCTV), and several other Islamist networks, former staff instructed Fortune.
RT and CCTV are the state-backed media shops of Russia and China respectively. Vision247 additionally carried the printed channels of the Islamist media firms Peace TV and Almajd Community. Almajd is an Arabic-language media firm that has shut ties to the Salafi department of Islamic fundamentalism. In 2019, Peace TV’s content material led to it being banned from broadcasting within the U.Ok. in 2019 for inciting violence and hate speech. Peace TV was a shopper of Vision247 on the time it was booted from British airwaves.
“I remember they had about five channels with us,” the previous worker stated.
Vidmar and Mills had been not concerned with Vision247 on the time Peace TV had its broadcasting license revoked. RT additionally had its license banned in a number of international locations, together with the U.S. and U.Ok. following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. RT was not a Vision247 shopper by that time.
When requested about Vision247’s previous work with Peace TV and RT Vidmar stated the corporate by no means offered service to banned channels. “We provided broadcast distribution services, and as long as clients complied with regulatory and licensing requirements, we continued servicing them,” he stated in an announcement to Fortune.
Vidmar added that different broadcasting firms carried RT earlier than it was banned.
A number of of Vidmar and Mill’s former coworkers stated they had been supportive mentors. Vidmar was praised for his foresight within the broadcasting business—two former staff referred to as him a “visionary.”
Nonetheless, others stated he cultivated an organization tradition that didn’t consider the content material it broadcasted. “We don’t see it that way,” the previous worker stated. “We were broadcasting channels from everyone, we never judged anyone on their content.”
Vidmar echoed these sentiments, saying tv was a world enterprise. “CCTV was just another customer for whom we provided satellite distribution.”
A Louisiana hamlet turned tech hub
It was throughout his tenure at Vision247 that Vidmar was launched to WorldConnect, run by Boyett and Flood, the 2 Louisianans who would in the end dealer Notion’s take care of TMTG. Vidmar instructed Fortune he first met Flood and Boyett when the 2 had been representing the tv channel SonLife Broadcasting, which belonged to Louisiana televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. (A former worker instructed Fortune Vision247’s purchasers included Christian evangelist channels and grownup networks, equivalent to the favored U.Ok. gentle porn channel Babestation. Vidmar stated Babestation briefly rented studio house from Vision247).
WorldConnect then continued to work with Notion, culminating within the July settlement with TMTG. Vidmar, although, stated he doesn’t understand how the deal took place. “I don’t have a clue,” Vidmar instructed Fortune. “I never asked. It’s none of my business. Genuinely, I never even ask … Never even came to my head. Why would I even ask?”
When Fortune identified that in a literal sense it was Vidmar’s enterprise, he replied that it was a normal gross sales course of, which didn’t warrant extra scrutiny. “I meant it’s not really for me to interrogate somebody on how they find the customer,” Vidmar stated.
A tech hub in Dodson, Louisiana, pop. 294
WorldConnect is headquartered in Dodson, Louisiana, a village with a inhabitants of simply 294, in accordance to the U.S. Census Bureau. Flood and Boyett look like serial entrepreneurs with a minimum of 16 companies between them, eight of that are not lively, and three that record them each as administrators, in accordance with Louisiana state enterprise filings seen by Fortune. The web site for WorldConnect was taken down shortly after ProPublica despatched the corporate a listing of questions concerning its relationship to JedTec and Davison, in accordance to the publication.
Nonetheless, an archived model of their web site exhibits a bare-bones web page with a smattering of data that lists a disconnected cellphone quantity. Imprecise press releases on the web site announce tasks like Vision247’s take care of CCTV, and a gathering with the mayor of a “key Southern city” to transform it right into a “Gigabyte City.” A collection of headshots for workers are equivalent to these proven on the web site for the Von Boyett Company, a separate firm owned by Boyett and an affiliate named Blake Boyett. One of many headshots belongs to Mills, the Notion CEO, who is known as as WorldConnect’s U.Ok. Enterprise Developer. (Mills didn’t reply to a request for remark).
WorldConnect shares not solely a employees however an deal with with the Von Boyett Company. In reality, the identical Dodson deal with, 1405 Freeway 505, is listed on dozens of Louisiana state filings relationship again greater than 20 years—all carrying the Boyetts’ names. One in every of Boyett and Flood’s common associates, Kayla Nelson, who’s featured on each web sites and quite a few enterprise filings, lists her deal with as 1796 freeway 505, a three-minute drive from the deal with Boyett makes use of, in accordance with Google Maps. (Nelson didn’t reply to requests for remark).
Flood, WorldConnect’s different principal, says he’s a physician, though he doesn’t seem to follow drugs, in accordance with searches in state medical databases. Nonetheless, along with his varied companies with Boyett, Flood additionally owns a number of healthcare-related companies. Vidmar stated Flood was Notion’s major level of contact and that he anticipated to see him in Dubai for a commerce present this month. Flood and Boyett didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark made through electronic mail, cellphone, and social media.
The Boyetts and Flood seem to have operated primarily within the vitality sector, the identical business the place Davison made a lot of his fortune.
Von Boyett is at the moment listed because the CEO of the Von Boyett Company, which operates in all kinds of extremely complicated companies such because the sale of energy vegetation and petro-chemical tools, financing for his or her purchases, and investing in medical applied sciences, in accordance with its web site. His private skilled background options an equally astounding set {of professional} {qualifications}: 30 years of expertise within the petro-chemical, telecommunications, and “product sourcing” and 15 years of servicing photo voltaic generators and medical tools.
Boyett’s bio additionally particulars a number of hyperlinks to Russia. He offered tools to Russian vitality big Gazprom within the Eighties and claims he negotiated the sale of the primary international tv program within the Soviet Union.
Flood, Boyett, and Davison seem to have additional plans to proceed their partnership. On Aug. 5, the identical day TMTG issued a press launch saying its CDN was up and operating, the three filed articles of group for a brand new restricted legal responsibility firm referred to as WCT Streaming headquartered at 1405 Freeway 505 in Dodson. It’s not but clear what WCT Streaming will do, or whether or not it can service TMTG.
Fortune did attain the Von Boyett Company through the quantity listed on its web site. A person answered and stated to name again in half-hour for an interview with Boyett. Fortune’s comply with up calls went unanswered.
