Trump Media fires auditing firm that US regulators have charged with 'massive fraud'
Posted 5/6/24
NEW YORK (AP) — Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, has fired an auditor that federal regulators recently charged with “massive fraud.”
The …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Trump Media fires auditing firm that US regulators have charged with 'massive fraud'
FILE - Pedestrians walk past the Nasdaq building as the stock price of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. is displayed on screens, March 26, 2024, in New York. On Friday, May 3, Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, fired BF Borgers, an auditor that federal regulators recently charged with “massive fraud.” (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
Posted
NEW YORK (AP) — Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, has fired an auditor that federal regulators recently charged with “massive fraud.”
The former president's media company dismissed BF Borgers as its independent public accounting firm on Friday, according to a securities filing — which also notes that Trump Media engaged with Arizona-based accountant Semple, Marchal & Cooper as BF Borgers’ replacement over the weekend.
BF Borgers' dismissal arrived on the same day that the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm and its owner Benjamin F. Borgers with “deliberate and systematic failures” in more than 1,500 audits.
The charges, which include failing to abide by accounting rules and fabricating documentation to cover up its shortcomings, do not involve any work that BF Borgers performed for Trump Media. To settle the charges, BF Borgers and Borgers agreed to pay a combined $14 million in civil penalties as well as permanent suspensions effective immediately, set to prevent them from handling SEC-related matters as accountants.
BF Borgers' time with Trump Media was brief. It named the Colorado firm as its auditor on March 28, according to a recent annual report filing. At the time, Trump Media disclosed that BF Borgers had also handled its audits before it went public by merging with shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp.
Trump Media had previously cycled through at least two other auditors — one that resigned in July 2023, and another that was terminated its the board in March, just as it was re-hiring BF Borgers.
In its regulatory filing, Trump Media said that “the decision to change independent registered public accounting firms was made with the recommendation and approval of the Audit Committee of the Company.” The Associated Press' reached out to the company for further comment Monday, including on whether Semple, Marchal & Cooper would review BF Borgers' previous work for Trump Media.
BF Borgers and Semple, Marchal & Cooper did not immediately respond to requests' for statement.
!role~Preview!mt~photo!fmt~JPEG%20Baseline)
