The SEC charges Trump Media’s newly hired auditing firm with ‘massive fraud’

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday charged an auditing firm hired by Trump Media and Technology Group just 37 days ago with “massive fraud” — but not for the work it did for former President Donald Trump’s media company.

The SEC has accused accounting firm BF Borgers and its owner, Benjamin F. Borgers, of “willful and systematic failures” in more than 1,500 audits. The accusations include failing to follow accounting rules, fabricating documents to conceal his deficiencies and misrepresenting in audit reports that his work met auditing standards. BF Borgers agreed to pay a $12 million fine while its owner agreed to pay a $2 million fine.

Trump Media named Borgers as an auditor on March 28, according to filing of the company’s most recent annual report. The company revealed at the time that Borgers also conducted its audits before the company went public by merging with a cash-rich shell company called Digital World Acquisition Corp.

The company had already brought in at least two other auditors – one who resigned from the account in July 2023 and another who was fired by the board in March, just as it was rehiring BF Borgers.

BF Borgers and Benjamin Borgers have agreed to permanent suspensions, effective immediately, that will prevent them from handling SEC-related matters as accountants.

In a statement, Trump Media said it “looks forward to working with new audit partners in accordance with today’s SEC order.”

The SEC found that BF Borgers’ shortcuts included copying audit documentation from a previous year, changing the relevant dates, and then passing it off as current documentation. In addition to falsely documenting work that was never actually performed, this false documentation detailed planning meetings with clients that never took place and “falsely stated” that Benjamin Borgers and another reviewer had approved the audit work.

“Ben Borgers and his auditing firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest mass gatekeeper failures in our financial markets,” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the Bank’s enforcement division. DRY. “Thanks to the careful work of SEC staff, Borgers and his fictitious audit mill have been shut down for good.”