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The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday charged Trump Media’s audit firm and the auditor’s owner with “large-scale fraud” for the business that affected more than 1,500 SEC filings announced by the federal regulator.
Auditor BF Borgers CPA and owner Benjamin Borgers agreed to be permanently suspended from practicing as accountants before the SEC, and also agreed to pay a combined civil fines of $14 million, while admitting or denying the allegations, the SEC said.
The agency accused BF Borgers and its owner of “deliberate and systematic failures to comply with Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) standards in audits and reviews included in more than 1,500 SEC filings from January 2021 through June 2023,” according to the media. launch.
Respondents were also accused of falsely telling clients that an auditor’s work would comply with PCAOB standards, fabricating audit documents to make it appear that the work conformed to those standards, and “falsely stating in audit reports included at more than 500 public companies.” SEC filings state that the company’s audits comply with PCAOB standards, the statement said.
“Ben Borgers and his audit firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets,” Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in a statement.
The stock price of Trump Media, which owns Truth Social, fell 9% shortly after trading began on Friday.
A Trump Media spokeswoman did not immediately respond for comment on the SEC complaint.
-Additional reporting by CNBC Brian Schwartz
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