July 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange

Commission on Wednesday sued Patrick Orlando, ex-chief of

Digital World Acquisition Corp that helped former U.S. President

Donald Trump's social media company go public, for securities

fraud.

In a filing with the court of District of Columbia, the SEC

said Orlando broke rules concerning securities by issuing false

and misleading statements while he led the blank-check firm.

Orlando misled investors by failing to disclose that his

company had formulated a plan to acquire Trump Media &

Technology Group Corp ( DJT ) and was pursuing the acquisition before

DWAC's initial public offering, according to the filing.

In March, Digital World completed its merger with Trump

Media & Technology Group ( DJT ) that owns social media platform

Truth Social, which is backed by Trump.

In July last year, DWAC had settled regulatory charges of

"material misrepresentations" to investors.

The SEC had said DWAC was found to have violated antifraud

provisions of federal securities laws. The company had agreed to

a cease-and-desist order and to pay an $18 million penalty if it

closes the merger.