Auditor BF Borgers, whose clients include Trump Media, and its owner Benjamin Borgers are charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with “massive fraud” that affected more than 1,500 SEC filings. The agency announced Friday.
To resolve the SEC charges, BF Borgers agreed to pay a $12 million civil penalty and Benjamin Borgers agreed to pay $2 million.
The companies also agreed to a permanent suspension of their accounting services with respect to SEC filings, effective immediately.
Borgers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters could not immediately confirm which filings or companies were affected.
But the SEC said that as a result of the enforcement action, a “significant” number of public companies will have to change accountants within days.
Borgers served as Trump Media’s auditor starting in 2022 and was still serving as auditor as of last month, according to the filing.
“Trump Media complies with today’s SEC order and looks forward to working with our new audit partners,” a spokesperson for former President Donald Trump’s media company said in an email.
Borgers has also worked for fintech companies, crypto companies and a number of other small issuers, according to SEC filings.
According to the SEC, Borgers failed to properly prepare and maintain audit documentation, fabricated audit planning meetings, and in some cases simply missed previous audits in the current audit period.
Of the 369 BF Borgers clients that included BF Borgers audits and reviews in their filings from January 2021 to June 2023, at least 75% included audits that did not comply with SEC rules.
“Ben Borgers and his audit firm BF Borgers were responsible for one of the massive gatekeeper failures in our nation’s financial markets,” SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal said in a statement. Ta.
