Trump’s statements certainly weren’t enforceable under contract law, said Robert Bartlett III, a professor of law and business at Stanford Law School. The former president’s press conference remarks weren’t accompanied by the formalities that made the lockup agreement binding.

But securities law might have something to say if Trump didn’t mean it when he said he had “no intention of selling.” That would make it a misstatement, under securities fraud laws, said Bartlett. And given how much Trump Media stock moved after the Sept. 14 press conference, a plaintiff could argue that the misstatement was “material.”

A sale by Trump on Friday would be an easy case, said Adam Pritchard, a University of Michigan law professor who’s written extensively on securities regulation.

‘If he sold today, that would be fraud,” said Pritchard on Friday. “The chance of lawsuit would be exceedingly high and even the SEC might decide it was worth a lawsuit.”

But Trump didn’t say he intended to hold his stock forever. If Trump starts selling stock some weeks from now, it becomes harder to argue that his statement was false, said Pritchard.

https://www.marketwatch.com/articles/trump-djt-stock-sell-lockup-d4b275bf?mod=mw_quote_news