The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges on Friday against an auditing firm, BF Borgers, recently hired by Trump Media and Technology Group, for what it called “massive fraud.” However, the charges were not related to any work performed for former President Donald Trump’s media company.
The SEC accused BF Borgers and its owner, Benjamin F. Borgers, of “deliberate and systematic failures” in over 1,500 audits. The charges include failure to comply with accounting rules, creating fake documentation to conceal shortcomings, and falsely stating in audit reports that their work met audit standards. BF Borgers agreed to pay a $12 million fine, while Benjamin Borgers agreed to a $2 million fine.
Trump Media appointed Borgers as its auditor on March 28, as per the company’s latest annual report filing. The company disclosed that Borgers had also conducted audits before the company went public by merging with a cash-rich shell company called Digital World Acquisition Corp. Prior to hiring BF Borgers, the company had changed auditors at least twice—one resigned in July 2023, and another was terminated by the board in March, coinciding with the re-hiring of BF Borgers.
Both BF Borgers and Benjamin Borgers agreed to permanent suspensions, effective immediately, which prohibit them from handling SEC-related matters as accountants.
Trump Media stated that it “looks forward to working with new auditing partners in accordance with today’s SEC order.”
The SEC investigation revealed that BF Borgers’ shortcuts included copying audit documentation from a previous year, changing dates, and presenting it as current documentation. The fake documentation also detailed planning meetings with clients that never happened and falsely claimed that both Benjamin Borgers and another reviewer had approved the audit work.
Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division, stated, “Ben Borgers and his audit firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets.” He added, “Thanks to the painstaking work of the SEC staff, Borgers and his sham audit mill have been permanently shut down.”
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