Trump Media Auditor Charged With 'Massive Fraud' By SEC, Slapped With $14M in Penalties and Lifetime Ban: Report
The SEC charged the auditing firm for Trump Media with "massive fraud" this week.
May 3 2024, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the auditing firm for Trump Media – BF Borgers CPA and its owner, Benjamin Borgers – with "massive fraud” this week, RadarOnline.com can report.
In a sudden development to come weeks after Donald Trump’s media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, merged with Digital World Acquisition Corp and went public in March, the SEC revealed BF Borgers’ allegedly fraudulent accounting work impacted over 1,500 SEC filings.
The SEC revealed that BF Borgers’ allegedly fraudulent accounting work impacted over 1,500 SEC filings.
According to CNBC, the auditing firm and its owner agreed to a permanent suspension from practicing as accountants before the SEC. They also settled to pay $14 million in civil penalties. It should be noted that the auditing firm did not confess or refute the accusations made against them by the SEC.
Meanwhile, the SEC denounced BF Borgers as a "sham audit mill," claiming the company and its owner intentionally neglected to conduct audits in accordance with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s standards.
This misconduct was allegedly in more than 1,500 SEC filings that spanned for over two years from January 2021 to June 2023.
“Ben Borgers and his audit firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets."
According to the SEC, the Lakewood, Colorado-based auditor misled clients by assuring them that their work met PCAOB standards.
The firm also allegedly forged audit documents to falsely show compliance with PCAOB standards and falsely claimed that their audits adhered to the PCAOB’s standards in over 500 public company SEC filings.
“Ben Borgers and his audit firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets,” SEC Enforcement Division Director Gurbir Grewal said in a statement on Friday, according to CNBC.
“As a result of their fraudulent conduct,” Grewal continued, “they not only put investors and markets at risk by causing public companies to incorporate non-compliant audits and reviews into more than 1,500 filings with the Commission, but also undermined trust and confidence in our markets.”
During the period stated in the SEC complaint, BF Borgers served as the auditor for Trump Media.
During the period stated in the SEC complaint, BF Borgers served as the auditor for Trump Media.
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Trump Media was a privately held company at that time and was in the process of merging with the publicly traded shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the merger between Trump Media and DWAC was ultimately completed in late March 2024 – leading to Trump Media being publicly traded under the DJT ticker symbol.
Trump Media's board decided to retain BF Borgers as their auditor for the year 2024 just three days after Trump Media officially became a public entity.
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Trump Media's board also decided to retain BF Borgers as their auditor for the year 2024 just three days after the media company officially became a public entity.
Although Trump Media – which owns Truth Social – opened at a whopping $78 per share when it went public on March 26, the stock has since plummeted significantly.
According to a NASDAQ market summary, Trump Media dropped to only $48 per share shortly before trading closed for the day on Friday evening.
“Trump Media looks forward to working with new auditing partners in accordance with today’s SEC order,” Trump Media spokeswoman Shannon Devine said shortly after the SEC permanently banned BF Borgers this week.
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