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CNN
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Former President Donald Trump spent months sitting on a social media fortune he couldn’t touch. That’s about to change.

The lock-up period that prevents Trump from selling or even taking out loans on his $2.3 billion stake in Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), the owner of Truth Social, expires on September 25, according to the documents.

In theory, this gives Trump access to a pot of money that he could use to pay horrendous legal fees or even finance his presidential campaign. In reality, Trump faces huge obstacles that would make it very difficult to sell a large portion of Trump Media – unless he doesn’t mind seeing the stock crash.

“It would be virtually impossible for Trump to liquidate all or even a third of his stake without the stock price crashing completely,” Michael Ohlrogge, an associate professor of law at New York University School of Law who specializes in corporate governance and financial regulation, said in a phone interview with CNN.

And the share price is already falling.

Trump Media fell another 4% on Wednesday, trading below $20 during the session for the first time since the merger that created the company in the spring.

Trump Media has lost an incredible 70 percent of its value since late March, a sell-off that has accelerated as Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has caught up with Trump in the polls.

This sell-off has significantly reduced Trump’s net worth.

As of May 9, Trump’s controlling interest of 114.75 million shares of Trump Media was worth $6.2 billion.

But Trump had no access to this wealth because – as is usual in such deals – certain shareholders are subject to a lock-up period that prevents insiders from selling immediately.

According to the documents, Trump’s embargo is set to expire on September 25, but it could be sooner.

The lock-up would be lifted if Trump Media’s stock price reaches or exceeds $12 or more on 20 trading days within a 30-day period beginning August 22. Unless the price falls further, that would mean the restrictions would be lifted as early as September 20.

The main problem Trump would face if he sold most of his shares in Trump Media is that he is the dominant figure in that company.

Not only does Trump own the majority of shares, he is also the most popular user of the company’s core product, Truth Social. The company’s ticker symbol is even “DJT.”

The race for the exits could easily trigger a loss of trust in Trump’s media

“Major shareholders like President Trump aren’t selling a lot of stock because that drives down the price,” says Charles Whitehead, a professor of business law at Cornell Law School. “From the market’s perspective, that could look like rats jumping off a sinking ship.”

Investors would be similarly unsettled if Elon Musk suddenly sold off the majority of his Tesla shares or Mark Zuckerberg sold large shares in Facebook owner Meta.

Some Trump insiders are already selling, which may have contributed to the recent crash in the stock price.

Trump Media’s chief financial officer and treasurer Phillip Juhan, for example, recently announced that he had sold $1.9 million worth of stock. Trump Media’s general counsel Scott Glabe, chief operating officer Andrew Northwall and chief technology officer Vladimir Novachki also sold smaller shares last week.

Even Devin Nunes, the former Republican congressman and current CEO and president of Trump Media, sold $632,000 worth of stock last week.

In the case of Trump, political considerations could also play a role.

“If Trump were to sell a large number of stocks and the stock price crashed, he would in some ways be burning his own supporters who bought the stocks,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business. “Politically, that might not be particularly positive for him.”

Another problem is that Trump Media’s pricing defies logic, according to experts.

Despite the recent sell-off, Trump Media is still valued at nearly $4 billion, and that’s hard to reconcile with the fact that the company only brought in $837,000 in revenue last quarter.

“It is significantly overvalued,” Ritter said. “It is difficult to determine a value of the company that is much higher than the cash on the balance sheet.”

Trump Media has $344 million in cash and equivalents that the company says it could use to expand its streaming business.

Ohlrogge, the NYU professor, said the fundamentals “look even weaker” than they did before Trump Media’s IPO because his supporters cannot argue that the company is short of cash.

“The current price is much higher than could be justified based on the fundamentals,” said Ohlrogge.

While Trump can’t sell many shares right now, he has another way to tap into his Truth Social wealth. After the lock-up period ends, Trump will no longer be prohibited from borrowing against his stake in Trump Media.

This means that Trump could pledge some or all of these shares as collateral for a loan.

Of course, says Ohlrogge, “many banks are reluctant to do business with Trump because of their previous contacts with him.”

But even if banks don’t want to lend Trump money, his wealthy backers might.

“It could be a wealthy individual who either thinks it’s a good deal or sees it as an opportunity to curry favor with the potential next president,” Ohlrogge said.

If Trump does indeed take out loans at the expense of his stake in Truth Social, experts say he may not be required to disclose them.